Prater’s Creek Nine of Diamonds Almost Flawless

The Prater’s Creek Polecats baseball team brought home the school’s sixth state championship as Prater’s Creek High defeated Irmo in the State High School Playoffs. The Polecats beat Irmo in the final game, avenging an early season loss to the high-falutin snobs, the Polecats’ only loss of the regular season.

What makes this championship taste even sweeter than the other five is that the team only had nine players on the entire team this year. “Well, there wasn’t but a few boys eligible to play this year” Prater’s Creek coach Stumpy Caldwell said. “Not many boys that age right now in Prater’s Creek, and we lost a couple of players due to circumstances. Lamar Fuller, our best hitter last season, was kicked by a mule back in February and missed the whole season. Little Earl McCutheon, one of our best pitchers, was accidentally shot when his daddy, Big Earl, filled him full of buckshot. Big Earl thought he was some revenooer messin’ around down by his still.”

Coach Caldwell had this to say about the Polecat season. “We were real lucky this whole season. The boys we had stayed healthy. Mike Arms passed his math test to be able to keep playing. We’s sweatin’ that one out. And it’s cheap to maintain a baseball field” he said referring to the school having trouble raising enough money to build an indoor basketball court that will meet the South Carolina High School Board of Education’s sports regulations. The Prater’s Creek basketball team had to forfeit all of its home games last season.

“Yeah” Caldwell said as he cut off a big hunk of Black Maria chewing tobacco with his pocketknife, “We didn’t have to forfeit no home games. And we didn’t have to play with a rock instead of a real ball like the football team did for the first few games of their season. The Widow Jenkins and the other ladies of the Prater’s Creek Quilting Society have been winding and stitching our baseballs for three years now. Since they’ve been 'on the wagon’ they've churned out so many quilts, ain’t nobody needs another quilt. So I says, I says, ‘Widow Jenkins, all our boys need baseballs. Y’all think you ladies could stop your quiltin' for a while and make us some baseballs?’ And they do a good job too. Good as any store bought ball! And we shorely got plenty enough cowhide in Prater’s Creek to make ‘em with!”

Carp Fishin’ Tourney To Be held

 It’s time for the doughballs again. No, the volunteer firemen ain’t having a chicken and dumpling supper. The doughballs are bait for cyprinus carpio, the mighty carp. “It’s like a game of checkers,” says two-time champion Jack White, “matching wits against a carp.”

The carp was brought to our country from Europe in the late 1800’s to be used as food fish. “They kept ‘em in big ol’ pens up in DC” White said, “then they hauled them around on these trains built just for the occasion. My great granddaddy always talked about the day the train brought ‘em here. The whole town turned out to see ‘em!”

The anglers all come up with their own special recipes. The carp has quiet a sweet tooth and molasses makes for a good coating for the doughballs. “They like corn soaked in pineapple juice” White told me and Dorris, “And I do too!”

Carp are attracted to bright colors. The fishermen will all be trying to come up with the right color as well as a secret recipe to attract the carp. The tourney starts Saturday morning at 6 am with registration at Livwright’s General Store and the Reverend Ernest Carswell of Prater’s Creek Baptist Church’s “blessing of the dough”.

Local Picker To Hold Annual Football Camp

 Homer, mandolin picker for The Drovers Old Time Medicine Show, will be holding his annual football camp in August. Every summer many former Pittsburgh Steelers and Clemson Tigers donate their time to come to Prater’s Creek to teach the fundamentals of football to the young men of this area. The camp is free to boys between the ages of 10 and 18. The week long camp is also open to other underprivileged young men of the upstate.

“I’s always a big Steelers fan” Homer told The Gazette, “and I talked to some of ‘em and asked would they be interested in coming down here and doin’ somethin’ like this. And Danny Ford (Head Coach of the 1981 National Champion Clemson Tigers) is a big bluegrass fan, so he wanted to get involved.”

Homer said football is not the only thing the boys learn at his camp. “They learn about being a part of a team and contributin’,” he said. “They learn that it ain’t all about “Me, Me, Me”.

William “The Refrigerator” Perry says he comes for the good fishing and “them big ol’ cheeseburgers at the Six Mile Café!”