33 Blue Devil Years 

by Leland Keene

1951-56

1951

Team Members

Schedule

Pahokee total points 149  Won 4, Lost 6
Opponents total points 178
Head Coach:   Dub Kendricks   Line Coach:  Bill Howard

Cheerleaders

Belle Glade Game Sponsors:  Shirley Watson and Wynelle Gillis
Football Managers:  Oral Adams, Robert DeLoach, Eugene Buchanan

All Conference
Line:  Charles McCurdy     Line:  Gordon Hoyle
Back:  Carney Wilder made Little All State

Pahokee had a great high school passer in Carney Wilder.  Pahokee used the single wing attack.  Bill Hatton was the power runner up the middle.  Bobby Schroeder was one of the fastest backs Pahokee ever had.  He could really run to the outside.  bobby was one of the top scorers in the Suncoast Conference in 1952.

Probably the best game of the season was against Seacrest.  Pahokee was expected to lose but Hatton powered up the middle and Schroeder ran to the outside and Wilder passed brilliantly to upset Seacrest 27-0.

In the final game against Belle Glade, Bill Hatton caught a great pass thrown by Carney Wider to temporarily put the Devils ahead but Belle Glade won 19-7.  In the Okeechobee game the referee kicked center Lewis Pope at the end of the game.  Coach Kendricks was young and hot headed.  He charged on the field and knocked the referee cold.  Football relations were strained between the schools for some time.

1952

TEAM MEMBERS

SCHEDULE

Pahokee total points 122  Won 3  Lost 7                Head Coach:  Web Pell
Opponents total points 205                                     Line Coach:  Bill Howard
Football Managers:  Darryl Davis and Morris Hughes
Best Back:  Bill Hatton    Best Lineman:  Benny Sims

Cheerleaders 

Belle Glade game sponsors:   Sylvia Wilson and Ann Atkins

This was Coach Pell's first year at Pahokee.  It took the Coach a while to size up the team material.  He had to do a lot of experimenting.  He was very displeased when Clewiston beat Pahokee in the opener 20-0.  In the next game against a rugged Key West team, Pahokee looked a little better scoring a touchdown but Key West scored four touch downs to win 27-7.

In the next game Pahokee played a hard fought game only to lose 13-7, and Roy Spooner caught some nice passes from Fullback George Mills.  Gordon Hoyle ran down a Lake Worth back from behind to prevent Lake Worth from scoring again.  Benny Sims played a vicious game a tackle and they didn't make much yardage against him.

Hal Rosenberg began to show his great running form against Seacrest making numerous first downs but Pahokee lost 20-7.  Against St Ann's, the Blue Devils began to show some of their famed offense.  Bill Hatton and Hal Rosenberg made long runs to beat St Ann's 26-13.

It was against a great Ft Pierce team that Rosenberg was able to make 60 yards, around right end to score for Pahokee.  It was his longest of the year and the ear marks of a greatness were beginning to show up.

Pahokee had an easy victory over Okeechobee 20-0.

Pahokee played Stuart next and beat them 34-0.  Theron Rodgers ran a nice punt back against Stuart.  Mills, Rosenberg, Sims and Hatton played outstanding ball.  Coach Pell had never been to Vero before and I guess none of them had.  Pahokee got lost and were late getting out on the field and were penalized 5 yards for delay of game.  Pahokee was still lost and confused because Vero won the game 61-7.

1953

Team Members

                                                        ____________________________

What team reversed their quarterback, so that he stood to the back of center, facing his own goal line
for the snap of the ball?  Pahokee team of 1950, when they used the inverted T.
                                                       _____________________________

Schedule

Pahokee total points 301                Head Coach:  Web Pell
Opponents total points 146            Line Coach:  Bill Howard
Won 7, lost 2, tied 1                      Manager:  Hunter Latham

Cheerleaders

Belle Glade Game Sponsors:  Bonnie Faye Meeks and Joan Kautz

Pahokee appeared to have good prospects for a tam.  The Blue Devils opened with Clewiston and they found a weakness at the Blue Devils tackle and made five touchdowns to Pahokee's one touchdown.  Buford Justice made a 60 yard run for a touchdown to give Pahokee fans a thrill.

We lost a heartbreaker to Pompano 25-24.

It was mostly Lake Worth during the first half but Pahokee came back with some fancy runs during the second half to earn a 20-20 tie with Lake Worth.  Pahokee tore up Seacrest 38-18.

Pahokee didn't have much trouble against St Ann's.  Rosenberg and Justice ripped St Ann's to pieces.  Pahokee knocked Ft Pierce off 26-13 with Hal Rosenberg running wild.  This was the only game Ft Pierce lost that year.  Buford Justice made several long runs against Okeechobee with Robert Goodson running the option and pitching to Justice at the last moment.  

Stuart and Vero were easy meat for the Blue Devils.  George Mills did some great blocking and Don Waddell played an outstanding game at Left end.  The Elliott boys did some outstanding blocking in the line.  Jimmy Hoyle was great as a defensive line backer.

Don't believe this!  Pahokee 41 - Belle Glade 12.  It was Buford Justice and Hal Rosenberg running wild.  Hal Rosenberg was the leading scorer in the Suncoast Conference, making 120 points.  He was chosen All Conference Half Back.

1954
SUNCOAST CONFERENCE CHAMPS

Team Members

Schedule

Pahokee total points  285                Head Coach:  Web Pell
Opponents total points 96                Line Coach:  Bill Howard
Won 9 games  Lost 1                       Best Linesman:  Jimmy Hoyle
                                                        Best Back:  Hal Rosenberg

Cheerleaders

Belle Glade Game Sponsors:  Billie Stokes, Betty Harrison and Marchia Guthrie

The 1954 football team was the greatest that Pahokee ever fielded.  Hal Rosenberg became the greatest
running back in the history of the Suncoast Conference.  He could sweep the end or run inside.  Hal could take three steps on the straight away play and hit the line and break into the secondary and be off for a long run for a touchdown.  It was not uncommon for him to score two or three touchdowns a game.  George Mills the quarterback was a smart cookie who would roll out and pass usually to Chat Clark who was a tremendous pass catcher.  Donald Waddell was a great blocker at Left End and usually sprung Rosenberg away for the touchdowns.  Richard Weeks was a powerful back and could make bruising runs up the middle.  Tommy Elliott was a great tackle and Jimmy Hoyle was one of the finest Linebackers  this school has ever known.  Jerry Roberts was a back that could hurt you on the outside runs. 

Probably the best game was against Vero Beach and the score does not indicate how hard the game was played.  Vero scored during the early stages of the game and was leading 6-0.  Pahokee tried about everything but was unable to score.  Vero kicked off to Pahokee at the beginning of the second half and Rosenberg picked up the ball and raced down the middle of the field shaking off tacklers and suddenly he was in the open and scored a touchdown and made the extra point.  George Mills begin to hit Clark on the long pass for a couple of scores.  Chat, playing on defense picked off a Vero pass and returned for a touchdown.  Final score 26, Vero 6.   Pahokee beat Belle Glade 26-12 in the final to win the conference championship.

1955

Team Members

Schedule

Pahokee total points 224            Head Coach:  Web Pell         Won 7, tied 1, lost 2
Opponents total points 78          Line Coach:  Bill Howard
Best Lineman:  Ronnie Berry      Best Back:  Pat Turbeville
Most Improved:  Lineman:  Ronnie Berry
                           Back:  Buddy Parker

Cheerleaders

Pahokee shook off the old "Indian sign" and whipped Clewiston 14-7.  Pompano fell easily to the Devils 26-0.
In the Stuart game Max Beverly played an outstanding game tackling the Stuart back three times in a row for a total losss of 39 yards.  

Ft Pierce was a heartbreaker.  Pahokee threw a screen pass to Cliff Stuart who was behind a wall of blockers. He was too eager and dropped the ball.  Ft Pierce returned a punt back for 60 yards and the Ft Pierce ball carrier was in the clear with three blockers in front of him when Pahokee fullback Weldon Cardin played off the three blockers and knifed in to make a tackle and prevent a touchdown.  The game ended a 0-0 tie.

Pahokee easily won from Seacrest 26-6 and they got a little over confident.  When they traveled to Okeechobee the Devils whipped them everyplace but the scoreboard.  Pahokee was inside Okeechobee's 15 yard line 7 times but Okeechobee managed to hang on for a 7-6 victory.

The wildest game ever played in the Suncoast Conference was played against Vero Beach.  Pahokee had Vero 19-0 in the first five minutes.  Ronnie Berry picked up a fumble and scored one of the touchdowns.  Although leading 19-0 Vero was fired up and came back to tie the score.  Buddy Parker sneaked a touchdown into the end zone for a touchdown.  He fumbled and the game officials said that he didn't make it.  Game movies proved that Parker was four steps in the end zone when he fumbled.  Vero had the ball on the fourth down and 20 at the Pahokee's 20 yard line.  Everyone expected Vero to pass which was the sane thing to do.  However, Vero ran a fullback draw play with Jim Young carrying the ball to score.  The game ended 33-19 in favor of Vero Beach.  Pahokee won from Belle Glade by a score of 27-7 in the final game of the season.  Pahokee placed second in the Suncoast Conference in 1955.

                                                        _______________________________

Who was one of the best tackles in the state of Florida yet weighed only 145 pounds?  Charles Dickson 1950.

                                                       ________________________________

* note:  Somewhere between the years 1955 ??? thru 1963  the book has the wrong years.  They seem to be off one year.  Exactly where it starts I don't know.  Perhaps some of you could shed some light on it for me.  We noticed that it says 1959 but it is really the 1960 players, and 1960 is really 1961 players.

1956

Team Members

Schedule

Pahokee total points 97                        Head Coach:  Web Pell
Opponents total points 175                  Line Coach:  Bill Howard
Won 2, tied 1, lost 7                            Best Lineman:  Harry Sheppard
Best Back:  Richard Weeks                 Most Improved Lineman:  Richard Shackford
Most Improved Back:  Ray Waddell

Cheerleaders

Belle Glade Sponsors:  Pat Crady, Judy Shackford and Betty Raineri

This was one of the biggest teams Pahokee ever fielded and best, at least on paper.  They looked good in practice and would really hit against each other.  They had about the same speed so they were deceptive at least to the coaches.  We had high hopes for the season.

Bartow beat us in the first game 18-7.  That took a little wind out of sails but Pahokee was not discouraged.
Pahokee journeyed over to Clewiston and were formally introduced to a guy by the name of Glen Glass.  He returned two long punts back for touchdowns.  He ran towards his protection walls set up by the sidelines and being hemmed in reversed to the other side of the field and with tremendous speed and power.  He was able to shake off tacklers and raced 70 yards for a touchdown running the last 20 years with his back towards the goal line and laughing at Pahokee.  In short, he tore Pahokee up and scored most of Clewiston's 45 points. That was when we found out Pahokee had a slow ball club.

The best game of the season was against Pompano which we tied 20-20 and if Ronnie Hitchcock had not jumped offside Pahokee would have won.  Pompano had a great quarterback in Frank Budka and a tall big end in Ronnie Hughes.  Budka completed 33 of 37 passes and still was only able to tie Pahokee,  Belle Glade beat Pahokee 14-0 in the season's final game.

                                                     ________________________________

When was the first field goal ever kicked in the Suncoast Conference?
October 1957.  Seacrest kicked it against Pahokee, only to lose the game 19-3.

BACK