Francis and I were very good friends through Capitol Heights Jr. High, Lanier High, and Auburn University. His wife and my wife had been good friends at Lanier. Francis' son, Doug, worked with me for a couple of years.
Francis was one of the best atheletes I ever saw. He excelled at football and track & field. He was an outstanding pole vaulter and I saw him walk to the vaulting pit at Auburn in his street clothes where he asked one of the top vaulters what his best vault was. He the set the bar at that height and cleared it on his first jump. No warm-up, no track cleats and in a button up shirt and a pair of jeans.
I never knew why he didn't go out at Auburn, he always said he wasn't good enough.
James E. "Buck" Godwin (1953)
Francis and I were very good friends through Capitol Heights Jr. High, Lanier High, and Auburn University. His wife and my wife had been good friends at Lanier. Francis' son, Doug, worked with me for a couple of years.
Francis was one of the best atheletes I ever saw. He excelled at football and track & field. He was an outstanding pole vaulter and I saw him walk to the vaulting pit at Auburn in his street clothes where he asked one of the top vaulters what his best vault was. He the set the bar at that height and cleared it on his first jump. No warm-up, no track cleats and in a button up shirt and a pair of jeans.
I never knew why he didn't go out at Auburn, he always said he wasn't good enough.