No?

You’re not alone. Even the most fanatic fans probably don’t remember the days when freshmen were not allowed to participate in varsity sports, thus the need for freshmen teams.

The nickname for the University of South Carolina Gamecocks’ freshman team was the ‘Battlin’ Biddies.’

Pretty clever, huh? Biddies are, after all, young chickens.

The members of the 1969 squad, of which I was a member, had a reunion this past Friday night in Columbia. It was the first time many of us had seen each other since we lived in the ‘Roost.” That was the name of the athletic dorm. Again, pretty clever, huh?

Even our head coach, Pride Ratteree, attended the reunion. That shocked a lot of Biddies. “I thought he was in his 60s when he coached us,” someone said.

He was actually in his late 40s. But to a wideeyed 18-year-old fresh out of high school, anyone over 30 was pretty much past their prime and considered ‘old.’ Over 40 was considered ‘ancient.’

So, there we were, ourselves now well past middle age, talking about the good ol’ days and catching up on where life’s paths had taken us — a couple of preachers, a judge, dentists, contractor, truck driver, bankers, managers of various types, college professors and one newspaper publisher. Including the tailgate party Saturday morning before the Kentucky game, about 25 of the ’69 Biddies attended. With four teammates deceased and about 35 on the team, I’d say that was a pretty good turnout. (See our picture on Page 6B. I promised I would put it in the paper even though none of you will recognize any of them. One of our teammates, John LeHeup, did make All-America.)

One thing that struck me is how many of us had ended up back in our hometowns. Another was how many have retired. Who retires at 58? Who CAN retire at 58? Who WANTS to retire at 58?

My wife heard a lot of stories about my college years. As I tried to tell her, these Biddies are prone to embellishment. Shoot, I heard some stories about me that I didn’t remember and even now question whether or not the events occurred as told.

Another popular topic of discussion was children. All parents delight in singing the praises of their children and/or commiserating about their problems.

All in all, I suppose these types of conversations are fairly typical of most reunions and with Gaffney High School’s homecoming in a couple of weeks, there will be a lot more reminiscing during that weekend, just as there surely was in Blacksburg and at Central school this past weekend.

Families, churches, schools, military associations ... you name it, there’s a reunion somewhere, sometime.

But they don’t just happen. It takes someone to organize it. That person or persons puts a lot of time and effort into even the most simple of get-togethers.

The Gaffney High Class of 1969 had reunions at 10 years, 20 years, 30 years and maybe at 25 and 35 years. I honestly don’t remember. I was president of the senior class, thus was expected to be the organizer. I did help but most of the credit for those successful events goes to several of my other classmates. This year, it looked as if we wouldn’t have a reunion due to a lack of interest, but just yesterday I received word that Kathy Baines (489-4501) and Mike Clary (487- 1403) have put together a luncheon at the Aegean on Friday, Oct. 23. Call one of them if you plan to attend.

As I was reminded last weekend, it is important to renew old friendships, so I encourage you to make every effort to attend any and all reunions involving groups of which you were a part.

Before you go, however, remind your wife or husband not to believe everything they hear.

Cody Sossamon (cody@gaffneyledger.com) is publisher of The Gaffney Ledger.