The History of Six-Man Football + Girl's Basketball [1945-69] in North Carolina - Clayton High School

THE HISTORY OF SIX-MAN FOOTBALL IN NORTH CAROLINA 1945-1969 The first six-man game was played in Nebraska in 1936. Evidence was found and that the game was played in North Carolina as early as 1938 in Rowan County. It was not until 1951 that Clayton decided to give the six-man game a try. Mr. Joe Hicks, who was hired to coach basketball at Clayton, was assigned the job of coaching the team. Coach Hicks said the idea of six-man football at Clayton was the brain-child of Clayton’s new principal, Mr. James Waters. Coach Hicks had no formal training in the six-man game but as one of his former star players [Clark Davis] said “Coach Hicks had never coached football, so he learned with us. He was a very inspiring but gentile coach. I played football for a lot of coaches, but there was no coach who compared to him when it came to explaining what you needed to do.” One of the coach’s great qualities was that he was realistic. In 1951, the team’s first venture into the game, he stated, “Actually plans for this first season are really being, made more with next year in mind. We realize that it is late to start and for that reason we intend to do the best we can with what we have this year and make broader plans for next season." Was he ever so right. The team’s second year and first full season, they went 13-0 and won the state championship. BONUS THE HISTORY OF GIRL’S BASKETBALL IN NORTH CAROLINA 1945-1969 The girl’s basketball team never quite reached the pinnacle status of the football team, but they did manage to win multiple county or conference titles. They were also one of the few teams to be selected to represent high school girl’s basketball in the Third Annual Reynolds Coliseum Challenge games.