Simply Put- “The Trio is Gone”

By: Clint Cox
May 22, 2008

I’ve written before how 3 young guys met at Troy Teacher’s College while playing football in the late 40’s and became life long friends. The three included Jackson County natives Harry Howell and Mack Rooks. It also included a young fellow from Clanton, Al. named Charlie Cox. After college the trio stayed pretty close. Howell came back to Jackson County to coach at Marianna. Rooks and Cox followed him to the area in the mid 50’s. Cox came to Marianna in 1954 to coach basketball and football at Marianna. Rooks went to Defuniak Springs to coach football. In 1960 the trio all teamed up again at Marianna High with Howell as Principal, Rooks as Head Football Coach and Cox as Head Basketball Coach.
Even after they had left coaching and moved into more lucrative careers in administration, the trio remained in the Panhandle area and remained close friends. As the youngest son of Cox, I grew up listening to the "war stories (a.k.a. Marianna football / basketball stories) of Howell and my dad. Those stories made an impression on me and shaped my future aspirations. I knew from a very early age I wanted to play football for the Bulldogs. I wanted to be a part of that tradition that I had heard about so many times as a youngster.
Mack Rooks entered my life 18 years ago when he married my mother after my father’s passing. He carried on the tradition of telling me "war stories" about Bulldog athletics. He even took me further back to the 1940’s as well. Those stories also had an impact on my life as I covered Bulldog athletics on the radio and in the newspaper.
The trio became my story tellers. I love to listen to stories about days gone by. And I must admit that as I get older I like to spin a story or two myself. Story telling is part of how we pass on our traditions. I’ve always admired the Native American culture how they passed their "family tree" down to each generation through the art of story telling.
But the trio of story tellers are gone now. First it was my dad in 1982, then Howell a few years ago and now Rooks, who passed away last month. I don’t mean this as a sad column, because such is the circle of life. Rather this column is to pay homage to the stories these men passed on to me and to pledge to carry on the tradition. One of the reasons that I love what I do on the radio and in the newspaper is that I’m carrying on that tradition of being a story teller. Simply Put, I learned it from the trio, who were three of the best.

From the front porch: Uncle Bob said that while the early bird may get the worm, it’s the second mouse that gets the cheese from the trap.