The former J.C. Price High School building. Photo by Wayne Hinshaw, Salisbury Post

 

By Mike London

Salisbury Post

SALISBURY — The Salisbury-Rowan Hall of Fame will induct an entire team for the first time when ceremonies for the Class of 2025 are held on Aug. 9 at the Civic Center.

The induction of outstanding teams has been standard practice for many Halls of Fame, but this will mean the breaking of new ground for Salisbury-Rowan.

A concern has been space. The Salisbury Civic Center doesn’t have unlimited seating capacity, and if a 50-man football team showed up for a ceremony, it would be a problem.

Space will not be an issue regarding the first team induction, as the men who made up the roster of the 1940 J.C. Price Red Devils football team all have passed. Their deeds and legacy will be represented by members of the J.C. Price Hall of Fame Executive Committee and a few descendants of team members.

Rowan schools have won a colossal number of NCHSAA team state championships — the five in baseball, seven in football, seven in boys basketball and nine in girls basketball — are just the tip of the iceberg.

There have been 24 NCHSAA team titles won by Rowan schools in the realm of track and field. There have been 14 NCHSAA team titles in tennis and 12 in golf. Rowan teams also have prevailed in soccer, wrestling, softball, cross country, swimming and cheerleading.

Rowan schools also won a sizable stack of WNCHSAA championships in the 1960s and 1970s, including some of the most famous athletic triumphs in county history against schools such as Shelby and Crest.

Beyond that, there are several state championships that were won in the NCHSAC (the association for Black schools during segregation).

So why were the 1940 Red Devils the Hall of Fame committee’s first pick in a loaded draft?

Well, the 1940 Price team, coached by Hall of Famer Spencer W. Lancaster and featuring star players such as Spotlight Jones and Scooterbuck Gaston, did some things that separated it.

The Red Devils didn’t have any outrageous scores, but they pummeled opponents 336-0 in an 11-0 season.

Yes, zero points allowed.

The Red Devils’ most lopsided win was 46-0 against the Ridgeview team representing Hickory that traditionally was very good. Price staged major battles with Ridgeview in the early 1950s.

It’s notable that J.C. Price was completing in an open classification in NCHSAC in 1940. Every Black school in the state, huge or small, that played football was playing for a single trophy. The Booker T. Washington team from Raleigh that was battered by Price, 19-0, in the state championship game probably had five times as many students as Price.

The NCHSAC (North Carolina High School Athletic Conference) was formed in 1928. The association was governed for about 25 years by W.T. Armstrong, a medical doctor in Rocky Mount. At its peak, the NCHSAC had 215 schools.

J.C. Price opened in 1922. The 1930 Red Devils outscored opponents 147-7, and the Red Devils were powerful in the late 1930s. They were state runner-up to Durham’s Hillside High in 1938 and 1939, but those losses set the stage for the overwhelming success of 1940.

J.C. Price played its final football game against Reidsville in early November 1968. James Partee caught a pass for the last touchdown scored by the Red Devils. Kenny Holt’s PAT was the last point scored by J.C. Price football.

 

1940 J.C. Price football scores

Price 46, Hickory 0
Price 27, Morganton 0
Price 39, Martinsville, Va. 0
Price 32, WS Atkins 0
Price 34, State.Morningside 0
Price 42, Carver, Spartanburg 0
Price 26, Reidsville 0
Price 18, Dudley 0
Price 33, High Point Wm Penn 0
Price 13, Asheville Stephen Lee 0 (Western)
Price 19, Raleigh Wash. 0 (State)