Jimmy Gatwood admits that lots of folks thought he was crazy back in the 1950s when he was quarterback for the Pearl River College Wildcats. 

"I loved to practice," said Gatwood, who spent 33 years coaching football before retiring in 1995. "And it was because of Coach (Dobie) Holden. I loved the man and that made me love to practice for him. There was never a dull moment around Dobie." 

Gatwood arrived at The River in the fall of 1955 as a high school senior after playing at Petal High School for Coach Louis McKissack, a former Holden disciple who was inducted into the PRCC Hall last year. 

"Coach Holden just pestered my daddy so much that he and Coach McKissack agreed that it was a good move," Gatwood said. "Back in those days the (Poplarville) high school was part of Pearl River and the football team played with the college guys." 

Gatwood warmed the bench in 1955, but moved into a starting role as a college freshman in 1956, guiding the Wildcats to a state championship with a perfect 9-0 record. But his inauguration as a signal-caller is a story in itself, as he arrived at The River as a running back. 

"Coach Holden already had two quarterbacks. Billy James, a big old boy who could knock a mule down with a ball at 40 yards, and Danny Mac Summers of Picayune," Gatwood said. "Billy would get rattled by Dobie's hollering and Danny Mac would just holler back. 

"One day I was standing around listening to all this and Dobie walks up to me, hands me a football, and says, 'here, you're now a quarterback.' I said, 'no coach, I don't want to do this,' but Dobie says, 'look, if you play quarterback, I guarantee you'll be an All-American.' 

"I guess he knew what he was talking about, but I didn't get a lot of teaching stuff. I learned to play quarterback by watching Billy and Danny Mac." 

Gatwood said he agreed to play QB under one condition. 

"I've told some of my old teammates this and very few of them believe me," he explained. "I walked into Dobie's office and told him 'I'd play quarterback for him, but the first time you cuss me, I'm heading back to Petal.' 

"He never did and I never headed back to Petal. Coach Holden knew how to get the most out of you," Gatwood said. "He knew what to say, when to say it, and what not to say. One night we were playing Sunflower (now Mississippi Delta) and I wasn't running very well and Dobie asked me if I was yellow. That's all it took. That fired me up." 

That 1956 team, which scored 207 points and allowed only 49, was selected to play in the Junior Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, but the Mississippi Legislature prohibited Holden's team from participating because PRCC's opponent—Compton Junior College from California — had black players on its roster. 

"That would've been a trip of a lifetime," Gatwood said. "But back in those days of segregation, it was a big deal to the legislators." 

Gatwood ran for 12 touchdowns in 1956, while passing for 14 and earned All-State honorable mention status. 

In 1957, the Wildcats finished with a disappointing 6-2-1 mark (lost to eventual state champ Hinds 35-32, Co-Lin 14-13, and tied East Mississippi 13-13), but Gatwood again rushed for 12 TDs and earned All-State and All-American recognition. He even played quarterback and punted in that year's All-American Junior College game in Jackson. 

A full football scholarship to the University of Miami ensued for Gatwood and Wildcat teammate Paul Highstreet (a tackle), but the duo didn't take much of a liking to South Florida. Gatwood sat out of football for a year, then enrolled at Louisiana College, a much smaller school in Pinedale, La. 

"Paul and I left after one quarter of school," he said. "We are home boys and missed Mississippi. It was quite a contrast for a couple of Dobie boys to go to a school where you had four practice fields and changed from one to another every 15 or 20 minutes. 

"Looking back, that was probably one of the biggest mistakes I ever made in my life," Gatwood continued. "I was the biggest quarterback down there and I could've started." 

Former Kentucky coach Frank Cursey and former Vanderbilt coach George McIntosh were also QBs for the Hurricanes during Gatwood's stint in Florida. 

Following his graduation from LC, Gatwood started his lengthy coaching career, spending two years at Northwest Junior High in Meridian, which were "two of the finest years I ever had. Those kids would work their butts off for you." 

He then moved on to Petal High School for a season, then took over the head job at the University Military School in Mobile, Ala., where he stayed for three years before moving on to Watkins for his first of two stints (1968 until 1972). The 1973 and 1974 seasons were spent at West Jones High School, then he returned to Watkins as an assistant under head coach George Blair. 

Blair and Gatwood were both from the old school and expected their players give it all they had. 

"I can remember playing against one of Bull Sullivan's Scooba (East Mississippi) teams one year and I ran out of bounds on their side of the field. Some guy kneed me in the face and knocked my two front teeth back and I couldn't close my mouth and could hardly talk. Coach Holden came over and pulled my teeth out straight." 

"I went back in, handed-off to the fullback 11 straight times, and drove the ball 70 yards down the field for a score. I had a high tolerance for pain, but you don't see that much any more. Coach Holden expected you to play and you'd play your heart out for him." 

Gatwood enjoyed his retirement years, spending time with his three daughters Ava Shoemaker, Shirley Hensarling, and Stephanie.