The Saturday Journal: What We Didn't Know Then

tathelmillerwriter
20 hours ago
4 min read

It was Wednesday morning–the day following, when the world heard the heartbreaking words, “Dolly Parton has died at the age of 80”. And it was early–before sun up and I laid there, not ready to get out of bed. I picked up my phone and began seeing all the Dolly social media posts–interviews, songs, movies–all the good things she had done over her lifetime. And my eyes watered–my pillow caught my tears.

Dolly was a huge part of my childhood–the Lackey family always watched the Porter Wagoner Show every Saturday night–followed by Hee Haw. And if my memory serves me right–seems like the shows began at 7pm.

Now if me and my siblings happened to be at either of my grandparents’ homes on Saturday evening––TV time for us kids started much earlier–you know why?! Wrestling was on! The WWF show with the wrestling greats such as “Nature Boy” Ric Flair, “Wahoo” McDaniel–just to name a few. And I can remember vividly, my grandparents yelling at the television–they might as well have been in the ring with “Wahoo and Nature Boy”! And every so often they'd yell at us grandkids--when one of us was foolish enough to bring up the question or concern of the "realness" of the "fighting".

And today, my son and his son–are still carrying on this family tradition and the love of watching “this so-called wrestling” sport.

This past summer for the first time in a long time I watched Wimbledon–sat down and watched the women's brackets–match after match. During my teenage years, Chris Evert was just coming on the scene in the tennis world and I learned much of the game from watching her. My first racquet was the Chris Evert Autograph made by Wilson–purchased with money I had saved from my summer job at Hardees.

I special ordered it from a small sporting goods store in Wilkes–golf and tennis mostly. The store owner suggested a small grip for me–4 ¼ inches. I can still see the inside of that store and the day I picked up my racquet--holding it in my hand for the first time. I was so excited. I asked him, ‘how much to spray paint a “W” on the strings--like Chris Evert's racquet?

He quoted me a price…

‘I’ll bring it back next week.'

The racquet cost every cent I had saved.

That fall--my senior year of high school, North Wilkes High School fielded the first-ever girls’ tennis team and every day–that racquet was as much a part of me as my text books.

After watching Wimbleon, I decided to search on Ebay for a Chris Evert Autograph racquet--like the one I had--curiosity, for the most part until I saw it! Identical to the one I used to have–same size grip, at a price, I couldn’t refuse. The only difference, there was no “W” sprayed on the strings.

And when my racquet arrived in the mail--it was like reliving a special time--holding the grip--swinging through my forehand--my backhand. I have no plans to play tennis with this treasure–I may hit a few–one of these days–but for now–it’ll hang on the wall–reminding me of beginnings–endings, and some of the best of memories.

And in that same senior year–come spring–girls’ softball was offered and our coaches, Coach Phyllis Saine and Coach Reba Whittington announced for the team to come to the girls’ locker room during break and try on our new uniforms. The uniforms–shorts, tube socks up to our knees–shoes of our choice–mine, black cleats. And our jerseys--the colors of Viking blue, gray, navy, and white.

And as we were all standing there with our new uniforms on--beaming with pride, Coach Saine pulled out one softball cap out of the box–only one and she threw it to me and said, ‘Put this on–hurry–we’re going to see Mr. Mitchell (the principal).

So here we go–up the hall--storming into his office. And he looked at Coach and then at me and said, ‘What’s wrong, Coach Saine, this girl giving you trouble?’

I’ll have to admit, it did startle me a little--until he grinned.

‘No, no. Nothing like that,' she answered, ‘We came to show you our uniforms and show you how good these softball caps would look on our girls! Can we order them?’

He never asked how much they cost–or how many we needed.

He simply said, ‘Sure, go ahead!’

And she did.

Our team–a dozen of us Lady Vikings made up of freshman, sophomores, juniors and one senior, along with our coaches and scorekeeper, we went undefeated that first season–won the Blue Ridge Conference Championship and was invited to the state playoffs because of our record! Sadly, we didn’t make it past the first round–but still we made it!

Today, the legacy of North Wilkes Lady Vikings’ fielding tennis and softball teams carries on--now in their 49th and 50th year. Wow, that's hard to even put on paper--say it out loud and these numbers don't just apply to North Wilkes–girls’ athletics in our county have come a long way-- at every high school--and at every middle school too.

And my oldest granddaughter--all of twelve–she’s sitting in the back seat–quiet, and I glance in the rearview mirror and say, ‘Did you hear Dolly Parton died today?’

‘Who’s Dolly Parton?’ she asked.

I play “Jolene”, on the car stereo--a song Dolly wrote and first released on October 15, 1973--and my granddaughter–she said, ‘Oh yeah, I know Dolly Parton.’

And here we are, some fifty-three years later, me and my granddaughter riding down the road singing every word, together.

“Dream big, think big, pray big,” this preacher said. Lord, I thought, that’s

just what I want to spend my life doing!"

Dolly Parton