When Starkville Academy faces off against Oak Forest (La.) for the Class AAA, Division II state championship game Saturday it is certain to evoke powerful memories in the grandstands.

As is often the case with small private schools such as Starkville Academy, football is a family tradition. Sons follow the footsteps of their dads. It is especially true with this year’s Volunteers’ squad, whose lineup is dotted with players whose fathers played and won state championships at Starkville Academy.

In fact, five of the players who will take the field Saturday have dads who played on the 1974 state-title winning Volunteers team.

Clay Richardson is one of those dads. His twin sons Tyler (offensive line) and Andrew (defensive end, tight end) are seniors this year. Steve Massey’s son, Houston plays linebacker on this year’s team and Jim Moorehead’s son, Ben, plays cornerback and receiver. Sammy Slaughter’s youngest son, Blake, plays safety and receiver and is the last of Slaughter’s three sons to play at Starkville Academy. His oldest son, Sam, played on the last team to win the state title in 2005.

By now, Starkville Academy football isn’t something that Slaughter did more than 30 years ago; it’s become a way of life.

“It’s been 14 years, going to these games,” Slaughter said. “And in private school football, that means a lot of driving. I think I’ve been down every road in this state at some time or another.”

A Starkville Academy win will give the Slaughter household an impressive collection of state titles: six.

“I was a freshman on that 1974 team, but I also played on the 1975, 1976 and 1977 teams that won state championships,” Slaughter notes. “It’s still the only time one team has won four state championship in a row. Jackson Prep never did it; neither has Jackson Academy.”

Richardson said his favorite part of watching his sons play is something others might not notice.

“I’m happy for the team and the success they’ve had, especially because we had a couple of tough years before this year,” Richardson said. “But for me, probably the coolest part is the times that they line up next to each other at tackle and tight end. I can’t explain it, really, but it’s special to me.”

Through their sons, the old Volunteer players find that the memories of their own playing days are kept alive as they reunite and reminisce.

“My supper club, we have about four or five guys that played for Starkville Academy,” Slaughter said. “Funny, we get better every time we meet.”

It is something that Richardson has noted, too.

“When we played, it wasn’t like it is today when you have everything on DVR,” he said. “All we had was those old grainy game films and just about the only people that had that film was the coaches. It’s not on YouTube, like now.

“Well, we had one guy who was talking about what a great player he was and, somehow, somebody found some of that old game film. We watched it. It was pretty clear he wasn’t nearly as good as he thought it was. It was pretty funny. We gave him a pretty hard time on that one.”

No matter the outcome Saturday, Slaughter said his long years of following the Volunteer football team have been a source of immense pleasure.

“I think that’s especially true here in Starkville because both Starkville Academy and Starkville High School have had a lot of success recently,” he said. “I think both schools and their fans and parents really pull for each other and I know it’s not like that everywhere.

“But it’s pretty cool to go to a home game and look across the way and see the lights on at their stadium. You can hear their band playing, hear the crowd cheer. It’s just a neat deal to be a part of that environment. It’s pretty special.”

Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].

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