MOULTRIE — As a youngster, Clint Chafin enjoyed autumn Friday nights when his father Bobbie H. Chafin would put on a tie and take him to Mack Tharpe Stadium to watch the Moultrie High School football team play.

As he grew, he learned that one of his favorite cousins, Lester Passmore, had been an excellent end and punter for Moultrie High.

And, in fact, Passmore played for one of the community’s most notable teams, the 1963 Packers, the first Moultrie team to play for a state championship in 26 years.

The more Chafin learned about the team, the more determined he became to put together a narrative of that 1963 season.

“Gridiron Glory, The Story of the 1963 Moultrie Packers ‘Golden Herd’ Football Team and More” is the result of several years of work.

The 106-page book features game coverage by then-Moultrie Observer writer Jimmy Knight, photos of the players, coaches, cheerleaders, majorettes, flagettes, the 50th Regiment Band and others associated with the team.

Those Packers overcame a number of obstacles on their way to a 9-3-1 record.

They suffered a late-season loss and a tie, but won the Region 1-AAA championship by one point in a playoff on the day President Kennedy was shot in Dallas.

The following week, they earned the South Georgia championship and ultimately reached the state championship game against Avondale.

The Packers lost their bid for what would have been the school’s first title, but the 40-0 defeat at the hands of the Blue Devils might have helped the players form what team captain Bob Montgomery fondly calls its “bond.”

The players remained remarkably close over the years, sharing in each other’s successes and struggles.

Only a handful of those Packers remain 59 years after the journey to the state championship game, but they continue to stay in touch.

Passmore, to whom Chafin dedicated the book, died at age 41 in 1986.

The book includes a pair of recollections by Montgomery and Clark Murphy, another member of the 1963 Golden Herd, and a number of “looks back” by fans who braved the December cold in Avondale.

“Gridiron Glory” will take the reader from the varsity’s game against the “has beens” in March 1963 that signaled the end of spring practice, through preseason practices at Spence Field to a schedule that got off to a 4-0 start and a No. 1 ranking in the state.

A 21-6 loss at Columbus dropped Moultrie to 4-1, but the team rebounded to defeat Warner Robins and its quarterback Sonny Perdue, the future governor of Georgia and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture.

A week later, the Packers shut out Valdosta 32-0, dealing the Wildcats their first home loss since 1958.

But then there was a 7-6 loss at LaGrange and a 14-14 tie with Willingham before the Packers defeated Albany 21-6 in the regular-season finale.

That set up a rematch with Columbus in Moultrie for the region championship on Nov. 22.

When the Columbus players got off the bus in Moultrie for the game, they first learned that President Kennedy had been assassinated.

The two schools elected to play the game and the Packers avenged the earlier loss with a 7-6 victory.

A Tommy Sumner extra point was the difference.

The Packers claimed the South Georgia title by blanking Glynn Academy 26-0 the following week at Mack Tharpe Stadium.

But Knuck McCrary’s 13th Golden Herd could not get by Avondale.

Chafin fills in all the blanks surrounding a team that was inducted into the Colquitt County Sports Hall of Fame in 2018.

McCrary and assistant coaches Bud Willis, Tom White and Ace Little also are in the Hall of Fame as are three of the team’s players: Montgomery, Tom Beard and Bobby Cobb.

“Gridiron Glory” is on sale for $19.95 between 2-5 p.m. at Chitty Supply Co., located between Conger Gas and Southside Veterinary Center on Veterans Parkway.

It is also available from Amazon.

Chafin can be reached through messenger on his Facebook page.