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 Players of the Past: Mike Peeler By Tim Crane web posted September 22, 2011  SPORTS – Tim Crane continues
finding and
interviewing past players of Strom Thurmond Football over the past 50
years. Today he highlights Mike Peeler who played varsity ball for
Thurmond in 1965 and 1966.Name: Mike Peeler (pictured with grandson Carson.) Head Coach(s): Bettis Herlong 1965 and Hubert Morris 1966. Years at ST: 1963-1967; played varsity football 1965 and 1966. Football Accomplishments: We had some good teams but fell short of our ultimate goal to be state champions. Position(s) Played: cornerback, quarterback and runningback. Present Occupation/Residence: Retired from Olin Chemicals six years ago then taught school at North Augusta High two years after retiring. Now watches grandchildren 4-5 days a week and lives in Beech Island. Marriage/Children: Anice (wife) from Hazelhurst Georgia and we met at University of Georgia. Our 39th anniversary will be coming up this October. I have one son (Todd) and three grand boys. Best Memories of ST Football: Playing for great coaches is one of the top things I remember. Playing football for Bettis Herlong was like going to Paris Island for boot camp. He was tough and no nonsense, but I loved playing for him. He was like a drill sergeant but if he knew you were giving it your all, you were ok in his book. Bettis had command of not just the players but the coaching staff; everyone respected and listened to coach Herlong. He had a running drill in which you would run up and he’d point which way he wanted you to cut, but you had to react as soon as he pointed and he wouldn’t signal until you were right at the cut point. I decided I would guess which way to go so I could impress coach and get through the drill quickly. I guessed wrong. He pointed left and the split second before he did, I cut right. He got a hold to me and said “Son, you ain’t no runningback, take your butt up there with the lineman and practice with them.” I got up there with all of those big linemen and lucky for me, they were doing the “bull in the ring” drill!! I quit guessing after that episode. Bettis would turn blood red when he got mad and it was never more prevalent than after a loss. When I was on jayvee I remember the varsity losing to Graniteville. That Monday all the players were out on the field laughing and cutting up like it was no big deal, but there was an eerie feeling because Coach Herlong wasn’t out there yet. Well, when he came out of his office and onto the field, he was red and mad as fire. Thank God I was on jayvee because when our practice was over I remember pulling out of the parking lot hearing whistle after whistle. Coach was so mad that he lined tackling dummies about 20 yards apart, all the way from the practice field to the front parking lot and had the entire team out there hitting, rolling and going to the next one and they stayed real late that night! Bettis played college football at Duke. Frank Howard (legendary Clemson coach) spoke at one of our banquets and he said Bettis Herlong could do it all. Said he asked Bettis what he could do on the field back when Bettis was younger and Bettis said “I can punt, run, pass and do it all.” That’s just who coach Herlong was, he was good, knew he was good and had a lot of confidence about his self. There is no one that Coach Bettis hated to lose to more than Mooney Player. They were both great coaches and fierce competitors on the field. People wonder how Saluda and Thurmond got to be such big rivals back in those years and I believe it was more to do with Bettis and Mooney than anything else. We (players) would have pickup games against Saluda players during the off season plus we all worked together in the packing sheds. We all knew each other and were competitive but really didn’t hate each other. Mooney was the head man at Saluda, Bettis was the head man at Thurmond but he was from Saluda and they were both great coaches, and that’s what helped create the rivalry. He wanted to beat Mooney and we all wanted to beat Saluda for Coach Herlong. The Saluda-Thurmond game was a big deal back in those days. I remember going to and playing in the games against Saluda. The stadium was always packed out, cigar smoke rolled up like clouds in the air and people had to put chairs in the back of the endzone because there was nowhere else to sit. It was fashion for people to smoke cigars at sporting events back then. Those were great games with great atmospheres. Saluda was our biggest rival, but Batesburg Leesville and Lexington became huge rivals for us also. Bettis offered me a job coaching at Saluda after I got my Bachelors Degree but I was going back to school to get my Masters, so I wasn’t able to coach under him. Hubert Morris became our head coach my senior season and he was another great one. He was tough too but had a different style of coaching than did Coach Herlong. Herlong was outspoken and Morris was more of an introvert. Some people didn’t know how to take him, but that was just the way he was. He was a genius at making adjustments during games. His defenses were great. He always ran a 6-2 defense and would have the linemen set up then shift either left or right, but shoot back to their original assigned hole at an angle. This would confuse the offensive guards. Most teams couldn’t do anything with Hubert Morris’ defense. He played a lot of sophomores when he got to Thurmond and it paid off in the next few years. Hubert always told me to make sure I get a three year contract with any coaching job because it takes a few years to get your system fully implemented. It only took him a few years to get Thurmond a state championship. He went on to coach at North Augusta High and won many state titles at Wardlaw Academy after leaving Strom Thurmond. Coach Morris would made us run sprints up the hill after practice and he had a telephone post out there that he used for drills. He told us that if we could break it, we wouldn’t have to use it any more. Greg Herlong broke it and when the team heard it pop we all were ecstatic! Hubert Morris got me a job as coach at Paul Knox Junior High while he was at North Augusta. He contacted Buren Lown, who was Area Superintendent at that time and is Silver Bluff’s head coach Al Lown’s father. Al Lown was quarterback for Hubert at North Augusta and he was a good one especially when flushed out of the pocket. In the summer I would work construction plus help Coach Morris at North Augusta, then in the fall I was at Paul Knox. We ran a wing t and I ran Hubert’s plays at Paul Knox so the offense would be second nature to the players when they got at North Augusta High. At that time my wife was the area Physical Education teacher for the schools but more importantly she was a great scout. She’d tell me which kids to look out for that were real athletic! Doug Shaw was the jayvee coach and worked with the varsity line his first coaching job at the high school level. He went on to be a legendary coach at Myrtle Beach and won many state titles. He was hard nose and tough, fit right in with Bettis Herlong. Charles Roddy was line coach back in those days and he was a good one. There was nothing like Friday afternoon’s before the game. After we got out school we’d go to Happy Jacks to get a hamburger for a pre game meal. The smell of freshly sprayed cotton fields take me back to the days of practice. It’s funny how when you smell something, you can remember a time of over 40 years ago. We used to smell those cotton fields at practice all the time. I had a few highlights to my career at Thurmond. My two interceptions in one game against LBC. Against Abbeville, my senior season, I ran a punt back for a touchdown after the ball came off punters foot. Coach Morris was yelling for us to get away from it, but I scooped the ball and went for a touchdown. That was short lived because we had a penalty on the defense which gave Abbeville the ball back and erased my touchdown!! We had trouble with a tough runningback from Batesburg named Bedenbaugh. I remember trying hit him and he ran over me, then Sam Stevens jumped on his back, locked his arms and legs around Bendenbaugh’s, but Bedenbaugh kept carrying Sam down the field with him!! Man he was good. I had my hand taped and everything would stick to that tape before the game, but when I went to intercept a pass the ball bounced about three times off my hands before dropping to the ground versus Abbeville! Some of my best memories about Strom Thurmond were not just my games at Thurmond but involved some of my classmates and other great players from Strom Thurmond. Jackie Jackson was a great runningback at Thurmond and he played college football at Clemson. His dad, Homer, would take me to Clemson to watch Jackie play. That was always very exciting. Ben Anderson played two years behind me and was great player that played on the 1968 state championship team. Ben’s brother, Joe Anderson, was quarterback my senior year. Eugene Bolen was another very good player at defensive end for our team. Tony Bledsoe was a strong runningback. I used to go watch Thomas “Tal” Mims and Monk Coleman play when I was younger. Those two boys were rough and tough. They’d whoop you on the field and off the field. I remember Thurmond scrimmaging North Augusta when Tal and Monk slammed their quarterback Charlie Waters down. Charlie jumped up like he was mad and wanted to fight and next thing you know, they had to pull Tal off of him. Tal and Monk were the wrong ones to mess with. They were both great football players. Against Lexington those two drove the ball right down Lexington’s throat to put the game away in the final minutes and when they got inside 5, Monk got the ball and everyone thought he crossed the goal line, but the officials said he was stopped short. Lexington ended up getting the ball back and went 99 yards for a touchdown and the win. Lexington had pink on the sleeves of their jerseys that night and it must have made them mean and tough to come away with that win. When Jackie Jackson and Monk Coleman were on the field at the same time, it was a special duo in the backfield. William Grandy’s 26 yard interception against Saluda was a fun play to watch. Saluda saw a flag and quit on the play. William was smart enough to know that you always play until the whistle blows. The flag was against Saluda, but we declined! Even further back than Strom Thurmond, I remember watching John Ellis playing runningback for the Edgefield Bulldogs and watching Glen Delaughter play multiple positions. Coach Morris sent my film from the LBC and Abbeville games to Western Carolina. They called and told me to ride up to check out their campus. I got there and the dormitory was army barracks! They said they’d pay for my room and board if I played football for them, but I decided to go to the University of Georgia and get an education. How does your team compare to today’s teams: Kids are faster, stronger and bigger than they were back in my day. Our linemen were only 150-170lbs, but now these kids are 300lbs plus. Kids are much more educated in diet, fitness and weightlifting. We didn’t have a weightlifting or a diet program. We had to do 20 pull ups and 20 sit ups before and after practice, but there was no weight rooms back in our days. The game is totally different than when I came along, but it’s still blocking and tackling. Hobbies/interest: Rabbit hunting. I used to have plenty of Beagles but hunting land is becoming scarcer around the area. I enjoy going to River View Park and riding my bike 60-70 miles a week on the Greenway, One place you would like to visit that you haven’t yet: I would like to go to Hawaii. I’ve heard how beautiful the scenery and weather is. I don’t care much for cold weather. © Copyright 2011 All material is property of
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