1964 Championship Team
From 7-7-14
The 1964 season began with high expectations and a chip still on their shoulder of the Rams after not going to the big dance the previous year in spite of the 29–3 record. As one of the most publicized athlete in the state, Tim Christian was a marked man every game, but he relished the challenge. Tim's junior year he averaged 21 points, 12.4 rebounds per game, despite being hounded by college recruiters from all over the country. The guard play was in the hands of seniors Terry Smith, 11 points per game, and Grady Campbell, 8.3 points per game. The forward spots were manned by two outstanding players, Stan Harris, 10 points per game, and sophomore Wayne Hall, eight points per game and these two players were both Allstate candidates. Help was plentiful with Steve Smith, Jeff Hinton, Gary Bloodworth, Bob Richardson, and Steve Smith available.
The Rams swept through 27 straight opponents including an early season 2 point win over Winder. The night before our final game of the season, an Atlanta reporter called and stated that a winder coach had called them and stated that they wanted the press available the next night, as they were going to beat the Newton County Rams.The next day at school, word was sent informing the Newton County fans that the game was a complete sellout and there was no reason for fans to come from Covington. So Newton county fans, that has relatives in Winder, heard about the flyers being circulated concerning the sellout game and headed out to Winder early, in order to make sure they could get in the gate. It was the only game in my career, where one of our teams arrived at the game site, and could not find a place to sit, but could not even find standing room. Our team, sat in the dressing room, listening to the band play, as our girls team was preparing to play the Bulldogs. We had a few loyal fans, that found their way to the back door into our dressing room, and when we heard familiar voices, we opened the door, and let those fans in, and where they went, I have no idea. The game hadn't started good before Tim Christian had three fouls on him, so we sat him out the rest of the first half. We instructed Tim not to play any defense in the second half, but to only play on offense, in order to have him available to our team. All of our instructions went out the window in the second half as Tim got his fourth foul on the third-quarter tip, and when the ball went down the floor and the rebound came off on the floor opposite Tim, he was called for his fifth foul and was sent to the bench for the rest of the game. The game went into overtime with Winder winning 59-51. The following week the Rams won the subregion tournament, with wins over St. Pius, and Baldwin County. Now came the game that everyone was talking about, with the Winder team that ended our 1963 season, and was the only team to beat the Rams over what proved to be a 70 game stretch. Most of the fans in the packed house were well aware of what this game meant, as a trip to the state tournament was on the line, and they also knew about the shenanigans that were going on prior to the game, which led to both teams coming out in dark jerseys. It was a night that will long be remembered as a revenge seeking Tim Christian owned the game as he broke the school record with 42 points and almost equaled by himself the 44 points Winder scored in the 61-44 Ram victory. Tim was aided by his classmate, Stanley Harris's 14 points and the excellent guard play of Terry Smith and Grady Campbell. Tim was paraded around on his teammates shoulders as he offered handshakes to his adversaries whose season was over. At the motel after the game, a happy principal, Mr. Homer Sharp, greeted the team with a Beetles' wig on his head. The next post will capture the Rams March to the state championship.
