College football wasn’t always what it is today.
Stadiums seated fewer fans. Equipment was not as protective. Players were smaller. And, every game wasn’t readily available on radio and television.
Most reading this column won’t remember those days. They can’t because they weren’t born yet.
But, Reese Slaughter remembers. He remembers them vividly because he was there. On Saturday at some point early in the game against Arkansas, almost six months after his 97th birthday, he will be recognized on Pat Dye Field in Jordan-Hare Stadium as the oldest living former Auburn football player.
Today, Slaughter lives in Bremen, Ga., with his wife, Mary. He has been retired from positions in school administration and coaching since 1982, 40 years away from the day-to-day interaction with young people and student athletes.
When you visit the Slaughter home in Bremen, it doesn’t take long to realize the significance that education, sports and especially Auburn has had in his life. From the Auburn flags outside, to the wall-mounted career honors inside, to the historic Auburn memorabilia displayed in his room downstairs, it’s a trip back through his successful career.
Becoming a football player wasn’t an easy road to travel for Slaughter. He was born on May 10, 1925, the son of a farming family in Camp Hill, Ala. He attended Camp Hill High School, an educational facility that no longer exists. He had two older sisters, as well as an older brother who passed only a few days after his birth.
Back then, prep football games were played on Friday afternoons.
“They let school out for the games,” Slaughter remembers. “The game had to be over in time so that students could still take the bus back home.”
Slaughter just played one season at Camp Hill. He was the only eighth grader on the varsity team, a small but fast running back, a tailback in a Single Wing offense. But the football team was discontinued the following year and wasn’t restarted during his time in school.
“You just had one coach back then and our coach, who also taught science, left and went to Opp,” Slaughter said. “So, we would play some pick-up football, but no games. There wasn’t a coach.”
With good hand-eye coordination and speed, he was a starter on the Camp Hill basketball team. His coach took him to Auburn to meet head coach Carl Voyles to discuss possibly playing football on the Plains. But, when graduation time arrived in 1944, the U.S. was fighting World War II against the Axis powers. Slaughter was drafted two weeks before graduation.
He served in the Navy and wanted to be a pilot, but “washed out on the first day” due to medical considerations, so he attended mechanics school in Atlantic City before being stationed in Norfolk, Va. He served on the Midway aircraft carrier in the North Atlantic, “somewhere between Greenland and Iceland.”
“We were in that area in case we might have to fight against Russia,” he said. “I was in charge of a plane, so I had a lot of odd hours … and a lot of bologna sandwiches.”
When the war ended, Slaughter was finally ready to go to college. He still wanted to enroll at Auburn, but faced another unexpected hurdle.
“I don’t guess that I really became a big Auburn fan until 1946 when I was able to consider enrolling as a student. I didn’t think that I would be able to enroll because of the cost, but the G.I. Bill allowed that to happen,” he explained. “But I had to go to Fort Benning for testing and got more bad news. The doctor told me that I had contracted rheumatic fever and that I ‘could live a normal life, but had to avoid much activity’. I told him, ‘You don’t know me.’”
So, the family prayed about it – “you know my mother had a direct line” – and when tested again, the signs of rheumatic fever had disappeared.
Reese Slaughter, the 21-year old freshman, was ready to try Auburn football.
“Coach Voyles had told me that he would be giving me a scholarship, but in February after we went through Spring practice, Coach Voyles called me into his office,” Slaughter recalled. “He said, ‘Reese, don’t tell anybody, but they’re firing me after this season, so I won’t be here to give the scholarship.’”
That didn’t deter the 135-pound Slaughter, who was still dealing with knee issues. He was a reserve running back with that 1947 Auburn team – wore jersey No. 22 – that went 2-7 with wins over only Florida and Louisiana Tech. He lived in the athletic dorm that year.
He participated in Spring practice in 1948 under new head coach Earl Brown, but no longer lived in the athletic dorm. He had to live out of a coach’s office and was still wearing No. 22. At that point, his career took a different turn.
With a recommendation from former Auburn football, basketball and baseball star Joel Eaves, who later became the Tigers’ legendary head basketball coach, Slaughter coached the football team at Lyman Ward Academy in Camp Hill, while also coaching boys’ basketball and baseball “down near Andalusia.” He attended Auburn classes on Saturday working toward a degree in Physical Education.
It was that year when the Auburn-Alabama football series was renewed. The teams hadn’t played since 1907 (a 7-7 tie) due to several factors that had festered and grown over the years. They would play again in 1948.
“I remember it well,” Slaughter recalled. “Everybody everywhere was excited about it. We weren’t very good that season (1948) and they beat the stuffing out of us (55-0), but we still wanted to play the game. That’s the Auburn Spirit.”
The following season saw one of the biggest upsets in the storied rivalry. Alabama, led by Ed Salem, was favored over Auburn, led by Johnny Wallis, George Davis and All-American Travis Tidwell. The Tigers won, 14-13.
“I knew those guys,” Slaughter said. “Travis Tidwell was an outstanding quarterback from Day One. He was tough. Our 1949 team still wasn’t very good, but going into that game, we had good practices. We were excited and we jumped on them with both feet. The Tigers took a 7-0 lead, then led 14-7 before Salem missed an extra point late in the fourth quarter to cement the Auburn win.
“I was in Legion Field for the game,” he recalled. “I was standing up, hollering and yelling. It was a great day.”
Slaughter was the football coach (they only had one coach back then) at Lyman Ward from 1949-1951 and his first team went 5-2. He graduated from Auburn with his Physical Education degree in 1952. He earned his Masters degree in Administration from Auburn in 1962 and in 1972 received the 6-Year Degree – Specialist in Administration and Guidance from Auburn.
Back in 1952, Auburn head coach Ralph “Shug” Jordan recommended him for the job as assistant head coach at Hogansville (Ga.) High School. He accepted that position and the team finished as the undefeated Georgia state champion.
He coached three seasons there, then was head coach at Dadeville (Ala.) High School and Rockmart (Ga.) High School, three seasons each. While at Dadeville, he met Mary, who was supervisor of the school lunch program for the Tallapoosa County Board of Education, as well as part-time Truancy Officer. They’ve been married 64 years.
While coaching in Rockmart, Slaughter developed stomach issues. He tried to combat them with a unique regimen.
“Every Friday before our games, I took two eggs down to the pharmacy and had the pharmacist make me milkshakes,” he said, but acknowledged that it didn’t solve the problem.
“After that season, the doctor told me that I had an ‘occupational challenge.’ I needed to get out of coaching because of the stress and the schedule. So, I gave up coaching and moved to Bremen, GA as a school administrator. The following summer, I had borrowed a boat to take my family to Lake Altoona, when the Water Patrol stopped me. The chairman of the Bremen School Board sent him to tell me that the football coach just resigned and wanted to know if I would be their football coach that year. We only lost two games.”
Slaughter actually did retire in 1982 having more than three decades experience as an elementary school principal, guidance counselor and coach/athletic director. He has seen a lot of changes in football since his playing days.
“Start with the equipment,” he said. “In the training room, the weights, the facilities. Back when I played, our linemen could be 190-210 pounds. Now, you have 250-pound running backs. And the offenses are so different now with so much spread offense, men in motion, things like that.”
What advice would he give to high school and college football players today?
“Know who you are and be yourself,” he started. “Be committed. Be your best. And, be a teammate. A lot of things can come under that heading. Be a sound player. Know your assignments. Know the fundamentals. Apply those to your game and to your personal life.”
What did Slaughter say when his daughter, Ellen Winton, broke the news that he was being recognized by his alma mater as its oldest living former football player?
“Woooo, how about that!” he said. “I was so excited when I found out this was happening. You know, thinking about it, I’m happy but in a way sort of sad. There were so many good players, so many great people that I was privileged to associate with. I wish they could still be with us and wish that they had been able to have the coaching and the facilities that players have today.”
Slaughter said that he has tried to live his life by the Auburn Creed, a statement of what it means to be an Auburn person.
“Being associated with Auburn has meant everything in my life,” he said. “It gives us an identity, something to enjoy, something to focus in on. I think it has helped make me a better person.”
He said that he almost always has a copy of the Creed with him and that it is kept prominently displayed at his family’s place on Lake Martin near Alexander City.
“I believe that this is a practical world and that I can count only on what I earn. Therefore, I believe in work, hard work.
“I believe in education … honesty and truthfulness … a sound mind … obedience to law … the human touch …
“I believe in my country, because it is a land of freedom and because it is my own home, and that I can best serve that country by doing justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with my God.”
College football may not be the same, but some things never change.
That’s Reese Slaughter, a true Auburn man, the last of an era.
