By MONTE DUTTON

I have been remiss in overlooking Chip Porter’s significant book, which, in a way, isn’t a book at all.

The Little Bronze Derby That Was! is a scrapbook that tells the remarkable story of the lost, much lamented football rivalry between Presbyterian and Newberry colleges, contested for most of its history on Thanksgiving Day on alternating years in Clinton and Newberry.

The book was delivered to me at an unfortunate time, while I was lying in the hospital awaiting emergency abdominal surgery. Studying its contents helped me get through a month-long recovery that followed. I even wrote a small, insignficant part of it. Like thousands of residents of the two towns, I experienced the annual game. I didn’t go to either school – Porter graduated from PC a year after I escaped Furman – but I never missed the game and wrote about it a number of times.

The Bronze Derby now resides at PC because the Blue Hose won the last game. Like every other truth in the rivalry’s wacky epic, the derby began with a fracas at a game of basketball between the Blue Hose and the then-Indians in 1947.

What quelled undue enmity between the schools was having to derby cast in bronze and passed back and forth between the winners. Up until 1955, it was swapped based on the outcome of baseball, basketball and football games.

The football game was played from 1913 through 2006. The schools and towns are 25 miles apart, so achingly similar that the rivalry’s unceremonious end ought to be against the law.

It wasn’t just a football game. It was a gathering of two communities. It was turkey dinner and all the fixings in the dining hall of the home team.

Published by Maudlin Pond Press of Tybee Island, Ga., it ought to be on the coffee table of every household in the two towns. It’s 635 pages long and worth every penny of its $45 purchase price.

Buy it here. You’ll peruse it countless times.

What was previously a banquet to induct members into the Laurens County Sports Hall Fame is changing.

Now billed as the Laurens County Sports Awards, it’s scheduled for Thursday, May 22, at Presbyterian College’s Belk Auditorium in Clinton. Tickets are to go on sale on April 1.

Imagine the ESPYs for Laurens County, or, for that matter, the Oscars, Emmys or Tonys. Imagine a red carpet, not a catered meal. Ir is to honor contemporary athletes from Clinton High School, Laurens Academy, Laurens District 55 High School and Thornwell Charter School.

“It will be a great night to showcase the phenomenal athletes and teams that have excelled in sports in Laurens County high schools this year,” said Billy Dunlap, the organizer. “We have been blessed with much success this year and it will be a great opportunity to bring everyone together for one night to celebrate those accomplishments as a collective community.” 

The Laurens County Sports Awards will be held in conjunction with the induction of the Class of 2025 into the Laurens County Sports Hall of Fame. The sixth class consists of Ed Prescott, Travis Langford, Andy Bee Young, Stan Whitlock and Hall King.

Twenty-seven awards, each decided among three nominees, are to be given to the outstanding nomineees from the current school year.

Among them: Male and Female Athlete of the Year, Team of the Year, Coach, Scholar Athlete, Best Performance, Service, People’s Choice, Courage, and best players in 18 sports.

Mid-Carolina opened Region 3-2A softball play with a 13-3 victory over Clinton on Tuesday.

The Rebels outhit the Red Devils 13-4 and belted two homers.

Me-Me Smith and Halleigh Luke led Clinton (3-4, 0-1 region) with a couple hits apiece, with an extra-base hit – Luke tripled, Smith doubled – in both cases.

Wofford has never beaten Presbyterian in softball.

Okay, the Blue Hose have only played the Terriers twice because Wofford only added a team a year ago, but PC won, 2-1, for second year in a row.

Kasey Wolfe was 3/3 and drove in both runs. She also closed out the game in the circle, relieving Peyton Duncan in the seventh inning. Wolfe’s record is 5-6.

Brianna Stanley was 3/3 for Wofford (16-10). Margaret Axelson (8-4) took the loss.

I feel as if the world has passed me, not to mention my abdomen, by. My doctor confirmed on Wednesday that I am getting better.
Most of my books are available at Amazon and other online bookseller sites. The most recent, The Latter Days, is a baseball novel, which you may enjoy in part because, well, the Paladins no longer play it. If you’d like to sample my fiction, Longer Songs is a collection of short stories derived from songs I’ve written.
Thanks for putting up with me.