A group of Columbus High School basketball players will face off with a much longer-in-the-tooth team dubbed the Possum Town Trotters, led by Columbus Mayor Robert Smith, at 6 p.m. Thursday in the CHS Gymnasium in a charity game for the Relay for Life.
Tickets are $5 and can be purchased at the door or in advance at The Dispatch office on Main Street. The Dispatch is organizing the event. All proceeds will go to the American Cancer Society.
Smith will return to the sideline after coaching junior high basketball in the district more than 30 years ago. Across the court will be friend and Columbus High basketball coach Sammy Smith, who said his team is ready to play.
“Now, everybody calls him ‘Mayor Smith,’ but I still call him ‘Coach Smith,'” the Falcons coach said of the mayor. “He’s coming back to see if he can still coach some. We’ll just have to see which ‘Coach Smith’ is the best on the sideline Thursday night.”
Older or not, Robert Smith said his roster boasts a few former Falcon basketball players, as well as two players who played college basketball.
“I look for it to be a competitive and challenging game,” the mayor said. “Our players will be very competitive. This is going to be a great event for the community and for a good cause.”
Neither coach has been willing yet to divulge his starting lineup for Thursday. Sammy Smith said he wants to keep his plans close to the vest due to the mayor reporting he had a “secret weapon” for the charity contest.
The mayor, for his part, told The Dispatch he didn’t know what Sammy Smith was referring to. Although a former college athlete himself, the mayor hesitated to say whether he would shed his coaching shirt at any point Thursday for some playing time.
“I’m just the coach,” he said.
Festivities will also include a Color Guard performance at halftime and maybe even a dance-off between the teams’ mascots. Concessions will be available.
The CHS cheerleading squad will back the Falcons on Thursday, while a four-member squad of Columbus-Lowndes Visitor’s Bureau Executive Director Nancy Carpenter, Main Street Columbus Director Barbara Bigelow, Edwina “Mother Goose” Williams and Columbus police officer Rhonda Sanders will cheer on the Trotters.
A former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader, Bigelow said she is thrilled to be a part of the charity event. She added, however, not to expect any special stunts.
“I do have the pictures to prove (being a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader), but it was a long, long time ago,” Bigelow said. “(On Thursday), you’ll see me shake my pom-poms as hard as I can, and that’s all I can say. If I tried some of the stunts now that I used to do, it probably wouldn’t end well.
“I thought this would be a fun event,” she added. “And I’m sure the city has an awesome basketball team. So they need awesome cheerleaders to go with it. It’s going to be fun to watch our basketball team win.”
Beyond the fun and games, Bigelow said she supported the cause. Her mother, she said, is an 87-year-old cancer survivor, and her aunt died of the disease. She said one of her close friends was recently diagnosed with breast cancer.
“We all have that connection (with cancer) somewhere,” she said. “Fundraisers have a great awareness factor because they are a real way to alert people of the dangers of cancer.”
Sammy Smith said he is honored to have his team involved in the effort on two fronts — to raise cancer awareness and to see his young players become involved in community service.
“We’re proud to do it,” he said. “We’ll have some fun with it, but we’ll stay focused on what it’s for.”
Columbus High “Falcons” roster
Javonta McDavid
Larry Hyde
Joshua Turner
Jarvis Jackson
Tavarest Gray
J.J. Swanigan
Caleb Thomas
Chris Delocah
Brandon Williams
Jaron Thompson
Artavious McDyess
Possum Town Trotters roster
Coach Robert “Smitty” Smith
Martin “Buffalo” Andrews
Dale “Hot Sauce” Ballard
Trey “High Flya” Doughty
Dr. Phillip Hickman
Chris “Mr. Bean” Van Houten
Kendall “K-Fly” Jackson
George Leech
James “J. Lew” Lewis
Kevin “Eyefull” McCrary
Joseph “To Go” Mickens
E.J. Petty
Milton Rawle
Chris “Call of Duty” Smith
Orlando “O” Smith
William “Bald Bomber” Browning
Dr. Paul “The Poison” Veal
Larry “Stud” Webber
Robert Woodard
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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