Jerry and Linda Butler

'Square' Peg? No, he's probably just Decatur County's oldest sports fan!

He's 93 years old and is, arguably, Decatur County's oldest living sports fan.

James "Square" Roberts, who was coach at Decaturville School in the 1950s and '60s, can spout off the scores, plays, and details of games he played in 1920s and '30s, as well as the scores and stats from games he coached later on.
And what did he coach?

"Everything!" explained Square. "Back then you had one coach - I was girls' basketball and boys' everything else." To this day, say his son and daughter, former players still call him "Coach".

Roberts grew up in Decaturville and has always been a sports fan. "We just didn't have that much else to do back then," he recalled, although a few incidents with his cousin, Thomas Houston, come to mind that really don't have anything to do with athletics. Their mischief, Square says, was just a product of growing up on a rural farm.

"Me and Thomas, we used to roam the woods for fun. We played in the creek and rode bull calves, even though we weren't supposed to."
His son, Ronnie, said, "Daddy, tell about the time you and Thomas tied the washtub to the calf."

Square replied, "Well, me and Thomas thought it'd be fun to do that (tie a washtub to a calf) and ride it. The noise was so loud that it stirred up all of the cattle and they got riled up and all got loose. Of course we got caught, and we deserved a whoopin', but we didn't get one!"

A couple of other times, Thomas and Square put a cat into a butter churn to see if it could swim, and they tied two cats together and put them on a clothesline.
So, you see, athletics can turn future juvenile delinquents (just kidding, Square) into fine, outstanding young men.

At Decaturville School, Square and his friends grew to be active in basketball, where he played center, and football, where he played end. The legendary (in Decatur County, at least) C.A. Palmer was his coach.

Square's daughter, Anna Laura Wyatt, showed me a picture of her father's team in the early 30s. These were the days when players didn't have very much protective equipment. There was no such thing as a facemask penalty...simply because there was no facemask! Square explained that the leather helmets could be folded up and put in one's own back pocket. "You smashed your head pretty good, wearing those ole things," he said nonchantly.

Helmets with no facial protection...hmmmmm. So, out of curiosity, I asked if there was a penalty for gouging someone in the eyeballs, for example. His reply was instantaneous: "Naw. Not unless you got caught! Just like a facemask (penalty) now...sure you can do it if you don't get caught. It's a tough sport now...but it was even tougher then!"

In 2000, Square made the Jackson Sun All-Century West Tennessee Team, for winning all-tournament honors as a member of Decaturville School's basketball team in 1935-1937. Back then, his athletic prowess got the attention of UT Martin scouts, and Roberts went to college on both basketball and football scholarships. He became a star athlete at UT Martin.

He remembers not having any money, and being the cliche'd broke-country-boy-college-student. After all, he was on scholarship and came from a farm in rural Decatur County. And this was during the Depression. "Coach Grantham noticed I didn't have an overcoat. All the other boys had one though, and one day he told me to go downtown and pick up a package for him."

The package turned out to be a brand-new overcoat, just for Square. "I'll never forget that; Coach took care of his players," he maintained.

Every weekend, Roberts would have to thumb a ride home, where he helped out on the farm. His college career paid off; Roberts was leading scorer in his conference while on the basketball team, and learning from his coaches planted the seeds for his future athletic endeavors; coaching and refereeing.

After college, Square moved to Nashville, where he played semi-pro basketball for two years, while also working for the Brown Shoe Company.

Square began coaching at Decaturville School in the 1950s. He told me that he particularly enjoyed reading about Donald "Duck" Dickson in the Chronicle recently. (I appreciate the compliment, Square - I enjoyed doing the article and talking to the Dicksons.) Duck, who played for Parsons High School, was recently inducted into the Ole Miss Hall of Fame.

For those of you who don't remember, games between Parsons and Decaturville schools were a bitter rivalry, up through the 1980s. But Square will always recall the year that the Decaturville Rams defeated the Parsons Tigers, who featured Dickson in his prime. "The year was 1956, and we beat 'em 7-0. Anytime Decaturville could beat Parsons, well that was great!" He went on to say that Dickson was "the best player he'd ever seen from around here" and that he respected him tremendously.

He kept a strict curfew on his players: 10 p.m., even on weekends. "That's what's wrong with these teams today! They party all the time, stay out too late, and are too tired to play like they need to." Roberts explained how several players suffered the consequences of breaking curfew: a group of them got caught "partying it up in Jackson" and they had to sit out of play for two weeks.

To his children's dismay, this curfew applied to them as well! Anna Laura said, "There was one time I got to stay out past 10 and the school was having a New Years' Dance. Daddy let me go, but he said, "You better be back by 12:05!" she chuckles. "And I was a senior in high school!"

After his coaching career ended in the 1960s, he became a well-known referee, calling basketball and football games all over West Tennessee. And for those of you who grew up in Decaturville, you may remember the store he operated, which was located where the current Board of Education facilities are now.

His daughter, Anna Laura Wyatt, says her daddy is the biggest sports fan she knows. "You can go over there during the summer, and there'll be a baseball game on TV. He'll have it turned down, flipping channels, but he'll turn the radio up and listen to the St. Louis Cardinals. I'd say he's their oldest and biggest fan in Decatur County."

Square told me how he became a Cardinal fan: "Mr. Simmons at Decatur County Bank used to let us boys sneak in and listen to the old radio they had in there. It would fade in and out, but we got to hear a lot of games that way."

His son Ronnie added, "A few years ago, when Jack Buck (famed Cardinal announcer) was still alive, I traveled to St. Louis and met with Mike Shannon and Jack Buck. They were live on the radio. It was late, and I told them to say something to Daddy, even though it was late and I knew he was probably in bed or sleepy. Buck said, "Square Roberts in Decaturville, wake up!"

Ronnie continued, "We came home, and Daddy said, 'Jack Buck was talking to me on the radio.' So daddy was listening. We knew he would be."
Square also wants to make sure everyone knows that "Mark McGwire got a bad deal about the Hall-of-Fame thing" this year, and that "if it weren't for McGwire and Sosa's home run race back in the late '90s, baseball would have never recovered from the strike a few years earlier."
Square's living room is dotted with UT checkerboard pillows and other various sports-related items. He enjoys all kinds of events on a wide-screen TV that he watches whenever he can, from his favorite recliner, pipe in hand.

I asked him who was his favorite college team , despite the obvious. He looked me straight in the eyes and said, "There was many a time when me and Judge England (well-known Decatur County Judge and Vanderbilt Alumnus) went to UT/Vandy games together. We sat together...'course he was pulling for Vandy, and I pulled for UT. I had a friend I went to school with, Cheek Duncan, who went on to play for UT. I had to cheer for Cheek and I was and always have been Vol fan!"

That isn't just football, folks...he might be the Lady Vols' biggest fan too: "Doesn't matter...I like 'em both. Girls, too. Watch them whenever I can. Good game the other night against LSU, wasn't it?"

Finally, I asked Square which is his favorite pro football team. I was pretty sure I knew the answer. "Peyton Manning's team...the Colts! Peyton Manning is the finest quarterback in history," he said with an authoritative nod. "Best ever played." Square was one happy fan, just like the rest of Vol Country, on Super Sunday.

Square still resides on the same farm in Decaturville where he grew up. His first wife, Naomi, passed away in 1972, and a second wife, Clara, died about 10 years ago. Though he still lives independently, his children, Ronnie and Anna Laura, check in on him often. He has 5 grandchildren, and 7 great-grandchildren.

• Angie Smith, The Decatur County Chronicle, February 13, 2007