Jerry Cole

Cole was a three-year starter in football for the Golden Eagles, earned honorable mention all-county status at tackle as a junior in 1951 and was first-team all-county as a tackle in 1952, his senior season. Cole’s junior and senior seasons were two of the best the Golden Eagles enjoyed under coach Ernest (Banty) Newman, 7-2-0 in 1951 and 8-2-0 in 1952. After graduating from high school in May 1953, Cole played for the North team in the Alabama High School Athletic Association’s sixth annual North-South all-star football game that August.

Jacksonville State football coach Don Salls offered the 215-pound Cole a football scholarship and Cole accepted.

Most importantly, a pretty, pert girl named Ellen Goins moved to Jacksonville from Danville, Va., during his high school years.

At Jacksonville State, Cole became a four-year football letterman and two-year starter for the Gamecocks. He was a part of the 10-1-0 team in 1955 that upset previously undefeated and highly favored Rhode Island 12-10 in the 1955 Refrigerator Bowl in Evansville, Ind.

Cole received an ROTC commission and after graduation in 1957, he spent about three years in military service. When he was discharged from the army, he and Ellen returned to Weaver where they built a home in 1960. They raised their three children there and were living in that home when he died. Mrs. Cole still lives there.