August 21, 2003 – The memories come back to William Ottis Hurst of Bruce frequently.
“Sometimes I’ll be driving down the road and I’ll start thinking about one of those games.”
Like the 1957 showdown with Tennessee in Crump Stadium in Memphis. Hurst scored the game-winning touchdown in the 14-7 win that helped send the Old Miss Rebels to the Sugar Bowl where they routed Texas 39-7.
Hurt’s football memories begin at Bruce High School where he played with Bobby archer, Tiny Murphree, Red Logan, Bobby Henderson, Johnny Kimbrell and Ottis Crocker to name a few.
“i played when we had a lot of guys coming home from the war. We had guys like James Ferguson and the Logan boys on the team who were several years older and much bigger than us high school boys,” Hurst said. “I always credited Ferguson and the Logans with making me so fast. There was no way I was going to let them catch me. I was scared they’d kill me.”
Hurst was coached by Lawrence Matledge from 8th through 10th grades. Coach Matledges is currently in a nursing home in Slidell, Louisiana. Hurst said he talks to him regularly and he remembers those Bruce days as if they were yesterday.
1957 Ole Miss backfield - from left, Raymond Brown, QB; William Ottis Hurst, FB; Billy Lott, right HB; Leroy Reed, Left HB.
Coach Kitchens took over for Matledge, whom Hurst described as more of an offensive coach, compared to Matledge’s defensive style.
Hurst played tailback for Bruce, but was converted to a full back at Ole Miss.
Hurst finished his high school career representing Bruce in two all star games - The Mississippi All Star Game in Jackson and the All American High School Game in Memphis
“The all star game in Crump stadium in Memphis was a special game,” Hurst said. “There were boys there from all over the country.”
Four members of Hurst’s high school team earned SEC scholarships- Hurst and Ottis Crocker to Ole Miss, although Crocker never accepted the scholarship; Tiny Murphree and Red Logan to Mississippi State - while six more received junior college scholarships.
“Coach Swayze recruited me for Ole Miss, but it was Coach Vaught that came down to sign me,” Hurst said.
He was the second player Vaught ever signed, but the signing wasn’t easy.
“Coach Vaught showed up at the house to get me to sign but my father was at the sawmill in Belzoni. It was pouring rain, but Coach Vaught told me to get in the car, we were going to get Belzoni,” Hurst said. “He was afraid I would sign with someone else.”
Hurst had offers from 21 different schools including Paul “Bear” Bryant at Texas A&M.
Freshman were eligible to play in those days which forced Hurst to watch his teammates roll to a 9.2 season, although they were defeated by Navy 21-0 in the sugar bowl. Hurst hit the field in his sophomore year where he learned what football practice was really like.
“Water wasn’t allowed at practice,” Hurst said. “We would practice for up to two hours and were lucky to get one drink of water.”
Hurst said his roommate Billy Lott once lost 22 pounds in two practices.
Rest didn’t come often, but Hurst and his teammates discovered one way to catch a break.
“Buster Poole was our defensive coach, so if we needed a break we would tell him we didn’t understand something. He stuttered when he talked so it would take him 20 minutes to get it out.”
The Rebels cruised to a 10-1 record in Hurst’s sophomore year and a 14-13 victory over TCU in the Cotton Bowl.
Hurst’s Greatest successes came against LSU and Mississippi State, to whom his Ole Miss Teams never lost. Although it was the 1957 battle with Tennessee in Memphis that he most remembers.
“It was a big game for us,” Hurst said. “Besides scoring the winning touchdown, what I remember was a collision with UT tailback Johnny Majors.”
In addition to his fullback duties, Hurst also saw time defense for the rebels at linebacker.
“Majors took the hand-off in a short-yardage situation and the line just formed a big pile. So he decided to go over the top. We left the ground at the same time and collided in mid-air over the pile. I put a hit on him like I had experienced from Red Logan in Bruce.”
Hurst crawls over the center of the LSU line during the 14-12 Homecoming win over LSU in 1957.
In three years of play at Ole Miss, the record books show that Hurst only had one play for negative yardage as a fullback. It was a loss of one yard.
Hurst attributes the Ole Miss success to the coaching staff.
“We had a great coaching staff at Ole Miss with coach Vaught, Bruiser Kinard, Ray Poole , Buster Poole and Wobble Davis,” Hurst said. “Coach Davis was responsible for the freshmen. We were scared to death of him.”
During his time at Ole Miss, Hurst played with Billy Brewer, Bobby Franklin, Robert Khayat, Jackie Simpson, Charlie Flowers, Raymond Brown, Billy Lott and Leroy Reed.
Hurst recalled one time when a National Guard helicopter landed beside the dorm. Jackie Simpson, Billy Lott and Hurst decided to jump in it and check it out.
“Jackie started hitting buttons and the next thing we knew that helicopter started jumping off the ground,” Hurst said. “Thank goodness they had the propellers anchored down. We ran off and never got caught. They never knew who was messing around in the helicopter until Paige Cothren’s book came out.”
Players back then got four tickets each to every game. They would turn around and sell those to get their spending money.
“That’s why we liked going to bowls so much,” Hurst said. “We could sell those bowl tickets to alumni for big money.” Hurst’s first ever taste if seafood was in New Orleans a the 1954 sugar Bowl.
“I’ve been hooked on it ever since,” he said.
Hurst powers in for the winning touchdown versus Tennessee at Crump Stadium in Memphis in 1957.
One of Hurst’s favorite road trips was going to LSU. The team would take the train from Batesville to Louisiana.
“We always loved that train ride,” Hurst said.
But the fun ended once they got off the train.
“I remember playing at LSU and they were throwing whiskey bottles that would be hitting us in the head,” Hurst said. “I didn’t know what to think about that.”
Hurst’s first time on an airplane was when the Rebels traveled to Atlanta to play Georgia.
“They told me not to sit back in the tail but to sit over a wing,” Hurst said. “So I did. When we landed I saw the guys coming out of the back of that plane and they were sick as a dog.”
Hurst never got the chance to play Alabama, Auburn or Florida.
“They didn’t want to play us back then,” Hurst said.
Hurst’s college career ended with the 1957 Sugar Bowl win over Texas. He was fist drafter by the New York Giants of the NFL, but ended up signing with the New York Titans. An ankle injury in practice kept him from ever making it to the regular season.
He later tried a stint with the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League, but didn’t care for the Canadian conditions.
“I just didn’t like it at all,” Hurst said.
Hurst recently gathered with some of his old teammates for a reunion at Ole Miss.
“I hadn’t seen some of those guys in 20 years,” Hurst said. “We hope to make it an annual event now.”
Hurst remains loyal to his alma mater attending all home games and some road games when his health permits.
The excitement is still there every August as football season nears. but for Hurst, cherished memories help make every day football season.