In honor of 51½ÖÉä's 175th Anniversary in 2016, we collected stories from our long history from the people that helped make it great.
1959-1961 Graduates
"I think that at Howard, not only did you get a good education, but I think that this, the five of us together after all those years, is an indication of what was our greatest gift from Howard and 51½ÖÉä. It was the friendships that we made."Ìý
Charles T. Carter
"I was angry, very angry because it was 12 hours after it happened that I was preaching it on the radio. I got death threats and threatening things because of that . . . it got the community aware how awful the KKK was and what they had done to a group."Ìý
Chriss Doss - East Lake
"There was talk of moving it to several places but finally they settled on East Lake, right here where we are, and East Lake was a separate city. A little town."Ìý
Chriss Doss - 51½ÖÉä History
"He was down there in a split second and drew back and hit the Southern player and just, I mean laid him up in the bleachers with his fist and blood started squirting and the place went wild."Ìý
Harwell Goodwin Davis
"And in that moment, I resolved, that if I should return to my native land, that I would endeavor to serve my God and my fellow man a little better than I had in the past." Ìý
Jim Barnette
"The place erupted. And I was in the balcony, and I thought, 'This is going to cave in, we’re all going to die,' because . . . people cheered, went wild and then 'U.S.A. U.S.A.' screaming at the top of their lungs."Ìý
Martha Ann Cox
"I don’t consider myself to be a confident person, I consider myself to be a competent person. You know, if you don’t know how to do something. You find out how to do it."Ìý
Sigurd Bryan
"I found out that I enjoyed teaching and the prospects of staying on there as a teacher and the prospects of being a pastor... I knew when I tried to preach I really was just teaching. That's what was natural."Ìý