“Valdosta High is a GIGANTIC high school”
In the 1960’s I lived in the Atlanta area, and the Atlanta newspaper (Atlanta Journal and Constitution?) had a long article about the Valdosta High School(Lowndes County, Georgia) football program. The article said the locals would scout all over creation for middle school age sure fire future studs.
When they figured out who they wanted to target, a delegation of locals would go to the family of the stud, and find out what kinds of work the daddy could do. Next, somebody in the Valdosta area would come up with a job offer. Then, they would negotiate a “how much would it take” salary amount with the family. Then, before the next school year began a caravan of good ole boys with pickup trucks would head out to move the family to their new home (locals would get together and come up with a house).
The old coach (Wright Bazemore??) was a legend in Georgia, and won a number of State (Georgia)and National high school football championship titles.