6th Graders of Wilson Street Elementary, ca. 1962. 

 Top row...  ?, Jerry Keel, Jean Ellen Powell, Wendell Flournoy, Tom Barrentine, Rona McKnight, Wanda Tew, ? ,Darryl Anderson, Saundra ?, Steve Atwell, ?
 

Middle row... Mrs. Cotton, Dennis Williams, Mike Compton, Jerry Palmer, Nicky Romano, Johnny Crews, Bobby Dean, Mary Glenda Vann, John Hunter, Frank(ie) Stephenson, Bruce McNeil, ? , Mrs. Peterson(Principal)
 

Bottom row... ?,  ?  ,Evelyn Adams, Pearl Hulvey, Judy Davis, Pearl ?, Regina Shellhouse, Joyce Knowles, Diane Johnson.

 

BABY TIGER Jerome Lamb carries the ball during Young Jr.'s epic victory over Girard in 1962.

N.K. Jenkins on the right; brothers Eulas (left) and Baxter (center)

N.K.'s Daddy died of pneumonia when he was 7. He worked on the family farm in the Crossville community in Lamar County, Alabama (the famous Alabama outlaw, Rube Burrow is buried in Crossville's Union Chapel Cemetery) with an older brother, 3 sisters, 2 younger brothers and his Mother.

N.K. is  on the top row, 2nd from left. I am very familiar with with the yellow pressed brick of N.K.'s alma mater. I worked in the Vernon High School building for seven years teaching Biology to part-time students @ a branch of Bevill State Community College. I worked in the same lab room that N.K. used as a student @ Vernon High.

early college picture from Florence State Teachers College (present-day University of North Alabama)

college days @ Florence State

1940 Florence State Lions: N.K. is #8, a freshman on varsity

1940 Florence State Lions: N.K. is #8, a freshman on varsity

Mom and the Jenkins brothers: (youngest to oldest) Eulas, Baxter, Mom- Ellie, N.K., Bailey

Baby brother Eulas (Red) Jenkins was a fullback on Coach Johnny Vaught's 1947 Ole Miss SEC Football Champions along with All-American end, Barney Poole, and later New York Giants quarterback and original "Marlboro Man",Charlie Conerly.

1944-1946: U.S. Army, China/India/Burma Theater

During WWII, eldest brother Bailey entered the U.S. Army Air Corps and N.K. quit school to run the farm and then served in the U.S. Army from 1944 to 1946 in the China/Burma/India Theater.

N.K. returned to Florence State to finish his degree while starring as #20 on the 1948 and 1949 Florence State Lions basketball team.

While finishing college at Florence State, N.K. married Tressie Lee DuBose in 1948 and Sheila Kaye was born in 1949.

clipping from a 1948 Florence State student newspaper

The early Fifties saw N.K. settle his family in Fayette where he ran a small shoe store that had an upstairs apartment. While living there, he commuted to Tuscaloosa to finish his Masters degree at the University of Alabama. Son, Stan, was born in 1952.

N.K. began his coaching career at Fayette County High School as an assistant football and basketball coach under head coach J. B. McClendon.                                                         

After 1957, McClendon accepted a position as Dothan High basketball coach and learned of an opening for a coach at Young Jr.

In 1958 N.K. moved his family to Dothan and he began coaching Young Jr.

taken late in Coach Jenkins' Young Jr. career

After Young closed, 1980 at Honeysuckle Middle School

The victory celebration for one of Young Jr.'s epic battles:

THE 1962 GIRARD GAME IN WIREGRASS STADIUM

N.K. never called any team “his best”, but this group was definitely the most accomplished.

Undefeated in football- city champs; undefeated in basketball- state champs; track team meet
record 3-2, but also won state championship (by ½ point over Girard, who’d bested them in 2
regional meets earlier in year).

Tommy Wade receiving MVP trophy. Made all-tournament team also, along with Sid Cox.

1962 TEAM: top row:15- Sonny Calhoun, 31- Phil Houston, 23- David Ritchie, 35- Ricks Warren, 43- Mike Buckley, 25- Eddie Keel, 45- Tim Walker, Coach Jenkins

bottom row: 13- Don Hardy, 11- Jimmy Kennedy, 33- Tommy Wade, 21- Tony Ingram, 41- Sid Cox

Young Jr.'s Last Team 1977-1978: Top Row~Reginald Jones #22, unidentified #85, Steward Dease #12, Wendale Cummins #32; Bottom Row~Mark McCurley #87, Roger Barrett # 75, Andy Thomas #65, Lawrence Dubose #50, Kim (Walter?) Kennedy #66, Greg Monday #54, Wiley McNeil #80

N.K. in retirement

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