A century later, Hattiesburg High plays for a second state title

Anyone who has read this column regularly through the years knows my love of history, Mississippi sports history in particular. That passion only increases when it involves my hometown, Hattiesburg.

This Saturday night, the undefeated Hattiesburg High Tigers will play Grenada for the State Class 6A Championship. Should Hattiesburg win, it would mark the school’s first state football championship in precisely 100 years. That’s right: On Dec. 5, 1924, undefeated Hattiesburg defeated Louisville 20-14 at Laurel for the state championship.

Hattiesburg High has won several state championships in other sports, but the 1924 championship remains the school’s only state football crown. And boy oh boy, is there some history there.

Let’s start with this: Hattiesburg businessmen chartered a 12-car train from Southern Railway for the 30-mile trip to Laurel. What’s more, they had the cars decorated in school colors, purple and gold. According to reports in the next day’s Hattiesburg American, more than 3,000 Hattiesburgers — nearly 1,000 on the train — made the trip, especially impressive since the entire town’s population was then just over 13,000 in the 1920 census.

More than 5,000 fans in all attended the championship game, at the time the second largest crowd to attend a sporting event in Mississippi history, second only to an Ole Miss-Mississippi State football game at the State Fairgrounds in Jackson.

Since there were no stadium lights back then, the state championship game was played in the afternoon. When the victorious Tigers and their huge following arrived back in the Hub City at 6:47 p.m. they were greeted by all the town’s industrial whistles and police and ambulance sirens. Hattiesburg telephone operators reported nearly 2,000 calls from alarmed residents wondering what in the world had happened to cause such a ruckus. A parade led by the mayor through downtown Hattiesburg drew a larger crowd than the parade that celebrated the end of World War I, the Hattiesburg American reported.

“The Tigers of Hattiesburg were in possession of the city,” the American reported the next day. “The sweet taste of victory sent the crowd of more than 3,000 into a riot of cheering … This kept up until late in the evening.”

So much history: Two of the Tigers heroes that night were brothers Gerald “Gee” and Harvey “Hubby” Walker, who would go on to become football and baseball stars at Ole Miss and then on to play Major League Baseball. Gee Walker was an American League All-Star who batted .353 in 1936 and remains the only player in Major League history to hit for the cycle (home run, triple, double and single) on Opening Day, which he did, in that order, in 1937 with the Detroit Tigers.

For the Hattiesburg state champs of 2024, Gee Walker caught the passes that his brother Hubby threw. Hansel Batten, a sturdy, handsome youngster, was the Hattiesburg running star who scored two touchdowns, including the game-winner. Batten would go on to star at Ole Miss, where he was teammates again with the Walker brothers. Batten played both running back and linebacker and captained the Ole Miss football team. After that, his story takes huge turn.

Batten would become the sports editor and sometimes news reporter of the Hattiesburg American, often writing about the sport he once played so well. Tragically, in 1932, Batten was the victim of an apparent murder. Tom and Venie Jones, a husband and wife, were charged with the crime. The husband was convicted and sentenced to life in prison, but later granted a new trial and acquitted. The wife was acquitted after a series of trials. The story of Batten’s mysterious death and the trials that followed is covered in a fascinating podcast series “Reckless on the Rails” by Ellisville journalist/historian William T. Browning that can be accessed here. I highly recommend.

A much happier story is that the modern day Hattiesburg High Tigers, coached by Tony Vance and quarterbacked by his son Deuce Vance, will play for a second state championship 100 years after the historic first. Former Mississippi State standout Michael Fair coaches Grenada, which enters the championship game with a 14-1 record. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. Saturday night. 

It should be a terrific game. One thing is certain, should Hattiesburg (13-0) win, the Hub City will have a hard time topping the historic celebration that occurred 100 years ago this week.

Columnist Rick Cleveland is a 1970 graduate of Hattiesburg High and a former sports editor of the Hattiesburg American. His father, Robert “Ace” Cleveland, was sports editor of the Hattiesburg American when Rick was born. Ace Cleveland, a four-sport letterman at Hattiesburg High, earned his nickname when the Hattiesburg American referred to him as Hattiesburg High’s “ace placekicker.” It stuck.