Linton Ingraham and other school name honorees

Many, many Georgia schools have been named for geography. The announcement that the soon-to-open Denmark High in Forsyth County was to be named for a person was a bit of a surprise. Few persons see their names on high school buildings here.

In the days of segregation, many schools were named for geography: Gray High, Tift County Industrial, Houston County Training, etc.

But there were many that weren’t, especially with new buildings opening in the 1950s.

George Washington Carver was a popular name for schools.

How the Minimum Foundation Program transformed the state, Part III

The Minimum Foundation Program is here for you.

Now how do you improve your schools?

When losing is perhaps your only option

The football season was not a good one in Morgan in 1955.

Calhoun High, the home team in that locality – not to be confused with Calhoun High in the city of Calhoun – had played five football games through the first week of October. In those five weeks, the squad had been shut out three times and had scored a grand total of two touchdowns.

An October 14 game against equally winless Sylvester might have seemed potential salvation, but not for head coach Wright Wilkins.

Already a small school, injuries had decimated the squad and local interest in football was waning.

Wilkins thought the right thing to do would be to abandon the rest of the season, forfeiting where necessary.

But not so fast.

The Georgia High School Association apparently told Wilkins that Calhoun had to play or else forfeit the guarantees for the contracted games.

In the midst of trying to prove that Calhoun could stay afloat without consolidation, Wilkins had little choice. They had to press on.

“Thus,” said the Sylvester Local, “Morgan has decided to field the best team they have to finish out the schedule.”

In a final jab to Calhoun’s troubles, Wilkins believed it was necessary to move the game from Calhoun’s home field location of Leary to Sylvester. Without local support, Calhoun did not see a home game as being financially worth it.

Sylvester, which entered with a six-game losing streak dating back to 1954, thankfully put Calhoun out of its misery early, rolling to a 25-0 win.

Wilkins and Calhoun managed to finish out the 1955 campaign, though they scored only 20 more points.

Calhoun played a partial schedule in 1956 before giving up football. The high school consolidated with Edison in 1963 to form Calhoun County. No further football would be attempted until 1971.

Sources: Sylvester Local, Oct. 13, 1955; Georgia High School Football Historians Associaton.