H.S. FOOTBALL: JCM-Haywood game is a family tradition

Samaj Davis is a senior football player at Jackson Central-Merry. He’s played against Haywood three times so far, winning once.

He’d like to help his team pick up a win against the Tomcats in their final game in West Tennessee’s oldest rivalry, for the sake of bragging rights and also to help erase the memory of last week’s loss to North Side.

“We’d like to come out and get this win, because I think that would be a step back for us if we were to win,” Davis said. “We didn’t come out last week mentally ready to play or focused, and it cost us.”

There’s another reason Davis would like to help the Cougars win – family tradition. Davis is a third-generation football player facing a team from Brownsville.

His father is Derick Fuller, who played for JCM from 1992-94 and went 2-1 against Haywood.

“The rivalry isn’t now what it was then,” Fuller said. “I guess it’s kind of fallen off some the last 10 years or so.

“But they were fun games – tough games. But they were memorable.”

Derick’s father is Billy Fulmer, who played for Merry High School in the late 1950s and early ‘60s. He rode to JCM’s practice field with Derick Thursday afternoon, and it’s not a place he visits often anymore.

“Being here brings back a lot of memories,” Billy said as he watched his grandson and his teammates stretch on the practice field behind the Cougars’ fieldhouse and school building. “A lot of good memories. We spent a lot of time out here preparing for battle.”

Billy Fulmer’s time playing for Merry was about a decade before Jackson schools were integrated. Merry played teams as close as Humboldt or Brownsville and as far away as Nashville or Cairo, Ill.

“We traveled a lot back then, but Brownsville was probably our biggest problem,” Billy Fuller said. “I don’t know what kind of team they have now, but they were a very good team back then.”

Billy wasn’t a part of actual games between JCM and Haywood. Merry played the black school in Brownsville, Carver High School. But the history and tradition of Brownsville vs. Jackson football still remains despite both programs’ inconsistency in recent years.

“We hope Semaj and this senior class can be a foundation for bringing this program back to what it was,” Derick Fuller said. “The alumni is getting more involved, and the players are cleaning up areas that need it as far as becoming better football players.

“Hopefully that will continue, and JCM will be a great football team again.”

Brandon Shields, 425-9751