Buford Thanksgiving: Football and Food

What would Thanksgiving week be without a blog about football and food?

Buford and Football:

Sports have always been important to Buford's history. From the 1930s through WWII,  Buford's own semi-pro baseball team, the Bona Allen Shoemakers, was much revered by the town. Basketball and softball also became important over time, but it is football that has held the reigning position in Buford's sports history for the last 40 years.

The first high school team, even then named the Wolves, wasn't formed until 1941, but prior to that, in  the late 1920s through the 1930s, Buford had its own "sandlot" football teams. The first of these was a "midget" team, with players who weighed under 150 pounds. First called the "Austins" after a "mini" auto of the era, the name was later changed to the "Blue Wave" because of the team's blue and white jerseys. Unlike the Shoemakers, the Blue Wave was never officially sponsored by Bona Allen, though both the tannery and other local businesses helped provide uniforms and other expenses.The Blue Wave was undefeated for two years, and won the 1936 state sandlot football championship in the midget division.*

The late 70s saw the beginning of what would become a high school football dynasty in Buford. After losing the state championship the year before, the Wolves came back for the win in 1978. Overall, the hometown team went on to win a total of eight state championships between 1978 and 2010 -- 2007 through 2010 consecutively -- with a bump up to AA Division classification in 2002. Pro football players such as Darius Walker, Lorne and P.K. Sam, and Tim Wansley all hail from Buford High, with more stars on the horizon. This year the team is fifth in AAA Division rankings for the state of Georgia,  as  the green and gold  carries on the tradition of winning that started with those early sandlot teams.

A Feast of Cookbooks: 

And of course, what's Thanksgiving without mention of food? The museum library contains at least 100 favorite recipe compilations from churches, guilds, school fund raisers, etc.  from Buford and surrounding communities. They date from the 1970s and up, and although there are many similarities between them -- every church published book seems to contain the "Scripture" recipe -- many contain some unique gem, or so it seemed to me when I perused several of them recently. So, with Thanksgiving in mind, here is a quick and simple recipe from "Bread of Life" (Buford Church of God, publication date unknown):

Yam and Cranberry Casserole:

40-ounce can of canned yams, drained

1/2 cup pecan halves

3 cup fresh cranberries

1 small orange, sliced

1/4 cup orange juice

1 1/2 cup sugar

3/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. nutmeg 

Combine all ingredients except yams in a 2-quart casserole dish. Dot cranberry mixture with butter. Bake uncovered at 375 degrees for 30 minutes. Stir yams into cranberry mixture, bake for 20 minutes. Serve with turkey.  Contributed by Mary Jane Toole

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

Rebecca & the Museum of Buford

*This, and all other historical information in this post, are from Handsel G. Morgan's Historic Buford (City of Buford, 1993) on sale at the museum and City Hall for $35.