MOULTRIE – It had been 26 years since a Packers football team played for a state championship when the buses from Moultrie pulled up at Avondale’s “Death Valley” in 1963 bent on winning the school’s first title.

Knuck McCrary’s tenacious team had lost two games and tied another, but had won a rematch with Columbus to win the Region 1 championship and dismantled Glynn Academy in the South Georgia championship game.

But the Packers would have their hands full with one of coach Gordon Ramsey’s best Avondale teams.

The Blue Devils had lost just one game and took a nine-game winning streak into their meeting with the visitors from south Georgia.

In the two previous weeks, Avondale had defeated Westminster 28-0 and North Fulton 34-0.

And the Blue Devils were well-coached. Ramsey led the program from 1951 to 1969 and posted a 167-33 record.

Avondale won it all in 1958.

The Blue Devils set the tone early on Moultrie, driving for a touchdown on their first possession. The Packers never recovered and lost 40-0.

“Everything just came apart,” says Bob Montgomery, an outstanding two-way end and one of the Packers’ three captains, along with Bobby Cobb and Joe Linder.

But the loss appears to have had a bonding effect on the 1963 Packers, who remained a close-knit group in the coming years, often holding reunions and revering the coaches who led them from a grueling preseason camp to the gut-wrenching finale 200 miles from home.

“Coach (Tom) White said the reason the team was so close was because of that game,” Montgomery says. “That game brought us all together. We shared victories and we shared a terrible defeat.

“Even in the years that followed, we have cared for each other. We all pulled together for our teammates. We stayed close.”

The offensive starters for the Packers that season included ends Montgomery and Dickie Traylor; tackles Cobb and Bobby Ricks; guards Jay Cranford and Bobby Gene Knight; center Doug Tucker; quarterback Doug Hall; and halfbacks Linder, Dennard Robison, Irvin Dorminey, Stanley Redding and Tom Beard.

On defense, the starters were linemen Montgomery, Ronnie Harrod, Eugene Rabenstein, Jimmy Jeter, Jay Cranford, Tommy Sumner and Clark Murphy and backs Linder, Buddy Taylor, Lester Passmore and Andy Cummings.

Also playing for the Packers in 1963 were Jimmy Freeman, Tommy Bradberry, Jack Norman, Huey Lastinger, Franklin Walker, Butch Rabenstein, Michael Christie, Johnny Carmichael, Wayne Floyd, Bo Baell, Norman Millsap, Danny Hiers, Kaiser Norman, Ervin Wood, Bud Beaty, Ray Williams, Duncan Beard, Randy Summerford, Mike Allegood, Larry Henderson, Glenn Parker and Robert Aultman.

Assisting McCrary were coaches Tom White, Bud Willis, Ace Little and Doug Carmichael.

The 1963 Packers football team will join the Riverside Cotton Mill baseball team and nine individuals as part of the Colquitt County Sports Hall of Fame’s Class of 2018.

The individuals are football players Sherard Reynolds, Brian Jordan, Brian Knighton and Matt Parker; “Voice of the Packers” Durwood Dominy; basketball players Sarah Edwards and Britney Wetherington Mobley; and track athletes Amy Paine Hines and Armanti Jamal Hayes.

The banquet will be held at the Colquitt County High School cafeteria. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased at the Colquitt County Chamber of Commerce and Modern Cleaners.

The honorees also will be introduced on the sideline facing the home stands on Tom White Field at Mack Tharpe Stadium before the October 26 Region 1-7A football game between Colquitt County and Lowndes.

Three players – Montgomery, Cobb and Beard – have already been inducted into the Colquitt County Sports Hall of Fame, as have four of the coaches, McCrary, White, Willis and Little.

The 55 years since the chilly night in Avondale have taken away nine of the 1963 Moultrie High players, including Linder, who was an honorable mention All-State back.

Also gone are Hall, Ricks, Knight, Cummings, Passmore, Carmichael, Henderson and Millsap.

McCrary suffered a heart attack on the sidelines of a game at Mack Tharpe Stadium in 1965 and died that night.

Willis, who coached the ends, took over and remained the Packers head coach through 1977, posting a 93-34-1 record. The former Alabama star remained an icon in Colquitt County, even after he retired and moved to Tift County.

“He taught us about winning and about toughness,” Montgomery says of Willis, who died in 2016.

White, who provided just the right antidote to the pugnacious McCrary, was also held in high esteem by his players. The field at Mack Tharpe Stadium was named in his honor in 2005. Still known as Coach White to those who learned their blocking techniques from him, he died in 2012.

Ace Little, who was the Moultrie baseball coach and who also has passed away, and Doug Carmichael were on the coaching staff as well.

The survivors, many of whom either remained in Colquitt County or left and returned, still meet to celebrate their memorable season.

And it was a season that started in the heat and humidity of a summer camp at Spence Field overseen by the tough and demanding McCrary, a former outstanding running back at Valdosta High who had coached a state championship team in Adel before moving to Moultrie in 1951.

Many of the players worked in the hay, tobacco and watermelon fields during the summer and were in decent shape when they reported to the abandoned air base outside of town.

But nothing would prepare them for the 10 days of three-a-day practices.

By the time the Packers took the field against Jordan High in Columbus in the season-opener, “We were in shape,” Montgomery remembers. “We were not big and not physical, weight-wise. But we were in better shape than any team we played.”

The Packers took down Jordan 34-18 with Linder and Tom Beard scoring two touchdowns each.

Moultrie went on the road again the following week, trekking to Macon to edge Lanier 13-11.

Linder scored on a 7-yard run and Hall completed a pass to Montgomery who lateraled to Stanley Redding for an 18-yard touchdown.

It had been uncertain at one time before the season whether Hall would play.

Hall’s father insisted he needed his son on the farm after school, relenting only when reassured that someone would make sure the youngster got home after practice.

The Packers, ranked No. 1 in the state, got two touchdown passes from Hall – one to Montgomery and one to Buddy Taylor – the next week in a 21-13 win over Cairo.

Beard rushed for 120 yards and Redding scored the game-winner on a 37-yard run.

Moultrie went to 4-0 with a 14-6 win over Baker.

Hall threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to Dickie Traylor and Beard scored on a 1-yard run.

Ricks and Eugene Rabenstein led the Packers defense.

But the winning streak came to an end the next week at Columbus when the Blue Devils rolled up 304 yards of offense in a 21-6 victory.

The Packers rediscovered their offense the next week when they returned to Mack Tharpe Stadium and pounded Warner Robins 47-12.

Linder and Carmichael each ran for a pair of touchdowns and the Packers rushed for 328 yards.

The Packers went to Cleveland Field the following Friday night and won 32-0, dealing the Wildcats their first home loss since 1958.

Beard scored two touchdowns and Montgomery picked up a fumble and raced 58 yards for another score.

But again the Packers struggled offensively when they traveled to play LaGrange in freezing temperatures on Halloween. Linder scored the Packers only touchdown in a 7-6 loss.

Back at home, the Packers battled to a 14-14 tie with Willingham. Hall ran for a 10-yard touchdown and threw a 10-yard scoring pass to Traylor.

When Moultrie defeated Albany 14-6 in the regular-season finale to go 7-2-1, the Packers had to face Columbus again for the region championship.

The teams’ coaches met in Dawson to flip a coin to determine the home team. Moultrie won the toss and the teams prepared for their rematch with the Blue Devils scheduled for Nov. 22.

Students were in their classes when this news was announced: President Kennedy has been shot to death in Dallas.

Since the Columbus football team was already in Moultrie and eating a pre-game meal at the Gold Leaf Restaurant, it was decided to play the game.

“It was such a somber time,” Montgomery wrote in a story published in The Moultrie Observer on the 50th anniversary of the Kennedy assassination. “The coaches had to find a way to get us mentally ready to play after such an emotional roller coaster of a day.”

The Packers responded in front of some 10,000 fans with a 7-6 victory.

Quarterback Andy Cummings threw a 15-yard pass to Linder for the Packers only touchdown and Tommy Sumner kicked what proved to be the winning extra point.

The Blue Devils conversion attempt after their touchdown sailed wide.

The Packers were back in front of the home fans the following week to play host to Glynn Academy in the South Georgia Championship game.

It wasn’t close.

Passmore scored on a 78-yard end around run and Linder and Beard scored on short runs in the 20-0 victory.

Clark Murphy had 10 tackles and the Red Terrors got inside the Packers 20 just one time.

But the Packers had nothing left for Avondale.

Montgomery was named All-State and All-Region. Beard, Linder and Ricks received honorable mention on the All-State team.

Tucker was named to the All-Region first team. Linder and Beard were on the second team and Bobby Cobb was named to the third team.

Montgomery said he believes having to play Columbus again during what should have been a week to rest and recuperate from the regular season took its toll on the Packers.

Montgomery, as do many of the Packers, still thinks often about the disheartening loss to Avondale. But, looking back, he remembers a team that bonded under fire.

“We were all scrappy,” he says. “And we just jelled as a team. Nobody told us we were any good. We just found out later that we weren’t that bad.”