Such chores kept the then-6-foot, 160-pound Charles O’Neal and his brothers in good shape. They worked the family dairy farm before going to school and playing football with teammates whom O’Neal recalls as Robert Shannon, Fred Nijem, “Hambone” Larsen, J.W. Martin, Reed Odom, Harry Garbutt, Joe George, Frank Garbutt.

The end of high school spelled the end of Charles O’Neal’s football days. He kept to the family dairy farm. He married wife Gladys. They had two sons, Charles Jr. and Jerry, and two daughters Lisa Chapman and the late Susan Metcalf. After the dairy farm, Charles O’Neal also drove an ice cream truck before retiring. He now lives at Heritage House, where he discussed his Wildcat days with The Valdosta Daily Times, son Jerry, and Troy Black.

During the visit, Charles O’Neal shared his recollections of the story behind the footnote for the 1929 game.

Valdosta High was pitted in a hard-fought contest with Albany. VHS ran a play down the middle of the field and scored, but the officials apparently favored Albany. Even though the play was clearly in the middle of the field, O’Neal recalls, officials claimed VHS was out of bounds and the touchdown no good.

1929 Coach Mike Herndon had quite a temper, O’Neal says. “If he called you in, you had better’ve said, ‘yessir,’ or you wasn’t going in,” O’Neal says. The out-of-bounds call piqued Coach Herndon’s temper.

The coach argued with officials, but the officials wouldn’t change their call. Instead of telling his players to return to the field, Herndon “told us to take the bus,” O’Neal says. “We got on the bus and went home. We never did finish that game.”

It’s been a while since O’Neal, now in a wheelchair, has attended a football game. But he listens to them on the radio. He listens to the games of a new generation of Wildcats. He listens to the games of his Lowndes High great-grandson. He listens to these new games, recalling his own games from nearly 80 years ago.