By Jesse Smithey
With expectations high and the spotlight bright on the South-Doyle football team this season, what better platform and time than this fall to pay tribute to the school’s layered past, right?
The Cherokees (2-0), the No. 4 team in the 5Star Preps rankings, will wear the pictured jerseys against region-foe Halls (2-0) on Friday, Oct. 18. — which will be South-Doyle’s first home game in more than a month’s time when it is played.
The jerseys read “SOUTH OF THE RIVER” across the chest and have an emblem on the upper left chest with logos of the four schools that ultimately combined to now form South-Doyle.
The jersey colors also reflect those of South-Doyle’s roots, which include South High (Rockets, red), Young High (Yellowjackets), South-Young (Trojans, blue and gray) and Doyle High (Pioneers, red and gold).
Young High was established in 1913 and South High in 1952. Those two schools consolidated in 1976. Doyle High opened in 1967 and consolidated with South-Young in 1991 to form South-Doyle.
These throwback jerseys, as well as other “South of the River” apparel” can be purchased online, HERE: https://julievwilkerson.wixsite.com/mysite?fbclid=IwAR2k4LeFaUJYOFnFMXyX577NQBS7ZYCSn9ckC-sG0_S-y056lbJ3kCw6N0k
These alternate South-Doyle uniforms follow in the footsteps of what Alcoa did during the 2018 season, when the state’s all-time leader in state titles (17) wore blue Hall High jerseys. Hall High was an all-black school in Alcoa that integrated with Alcoa in 1968.