3rd Annual “Bert “Chig” Ratledge Lift-A-Thon”

Article by Jeff McQueen
Photos by Lidilia Graves

On Tuesday, March 15, the LHS football field house was alive with the smell of sweat, the sound of clanging iron, and the animal sounds of extreme effort! The football team has spent the winter in the weight room, in preparation for the fall 2005 campaign; they were out to showcase their achievements. Two exercises were performed: Bench Press and Squats. Each player worked hard to achieve maximum lifts during these workouts.

But first, Jeff McQueen (LHS, 1975) of the Redskins Football Booster Club, Emceed a program titled “Redskins of the Past, Redskins of the Present, and Redskins of the Future”. McQueen extended a welcome to everyone on behalf of Principal John Bartlett, Assistant Principal Mrs. Cheri Parish, Athletic Director Bill “G” Thompson (LHS, 1969), and Redskin Head Football Coach Jeff Harig.

Team Chaplain Jeff Harris - Mr. Harris offered the invocation. Jeff meets with the team before each game and through out the season, holding a devotional service on Thursdays.

McQueen also outlined four significant things that have happened in our Redskin family in the past year: 1st - The stadium was named “Chig Ratledge Stadium, Dukes Field - Home of the Loudon Redskins” a great honor bestowed on Coach Ratledge and the Dukes family; 2nd - The coaches office in the field house was named “The James C. Cardwell Football Office” in honor of the late Jim Cardwell who was head coach of the Redskins in 1956; 3rd - Principal and Assistant Coach Jim “Hoot” Gibson (LHS ’73-’76), lost a long battle with cancer; 4th - former Redskin statistician Tom Delaney also lost a long battle with cancer, Mr. Tom roamed the sidelines for 27 seasons taking stats.

The guest of honor was introduced:

Coach Bert “Chig” Ratledge - (29 years at the helm, three state championships, a record of 172-127-9, a 2000 inductee in the TSSAA Coaches Hall of Fame; A fine coach, a finer man…), Coach Ratledge lamented about the old weight room sharing space with the drivers ed. car, and how he used buckets of concrete for weights in the old days - a far cry from the new state of the art Redskin Field House.

The program continued with the introduction of:

Mr. Steve Harrison, President of the Redskins Football Booster Club - Steve explained the roll of the Booster Club, an integral cog in the “Big Red Machine”
Bill Henderson, LHS 1932, representing her late father, Mrs. Ruth Henderson McQueen displaying her father’s 1930 and 1931 varsity letterman’s sweaters. Mrs. McQueen also shared colorful stories and pictures of players from the early 30’s.
Bill Henderson - fullback and end
LHS record: 1930, undefeated 1-0-0, beat Lenoir City 6-0
1931, 4-3-0, beat Lenoir City 12-0
Chiny Littleton, LHS 1950, #64, nephew Bart Littleton displayed his late uncle’s varsity football and basketball letterman’s sweater. Mr. Littleton had a rare kidney disease; he went down with an injury during the Lenoir City vs. LHS game in 1950…going blind in the process and passing away later that year.
LHS record: 1950, 10-1-0, lost to Spring City 38-0 in The Jaycee Bowl
Dicky Blankenship - LHS 1970, #64, guard

LHS record: 1969, 11-0-1, tie was against Kingston 7-7, 6 defensive shutouts, first of 3 State Championships for Coach Ratledge
David Grissom - LHS 1976, #84, unique honor of playing on Back-to-back State Championship teams!

LHS record: 1974, 12-0-0, only undefeated State Championship team in 82 years of Redskin football
LHS record: 1975, 11-1-0, third State Championship for Coach Ratledge
Rick Wiggins - LHS 1983, #21, field painting crew LHS record: 1982, 7-3-0
Mark and Susan Hackney - field painting crew

Greg Hackney - LHS 2002, WR/DB, field painting crew LHS record: 2001, 6-4-0
John Paul Hackney - rising senior, OL/DL, led down lineman with 21 tackles last year. JP has been working hard in the weight room in preparation to the 2005 season opener.

The hardest and most time consuming job in the Football Booster’s Club is the “Field Painting Crew”, thank you Hackney family (Mark, Susan, & Greg), Rick Wiggins, and Donnie Conner for your great pride and dedication in keeping “Dukes Field” the premier field in our Region if not all of East Tennessee!

The following future Redskins were introduced:

#46 Jake “Unit 1” Mashburn - played football for the Loudon Quarterback Club Cricket team. 2 carries for 6 yds & (2) 2-pt. conversions 55 tackles + 1 sack
#47 Zack “Unit 2” Mashburn - played football for the Loudon Quarterback Club Cricket team. 26 carries for 65 yds & (4) 2-pt. conversions 27 tackles + 1 fumble recovery

The Cricket team had a record of 3-7 in 2003, last year (2004) the team improved to 10-3, and was the Conference Runners-up. The Mashburn brothers were a large part of their team’s success!

Nothing left to do now, but lift weights… At the conclusion of the event, the classifications were announced and the following trophies presented:

Fly Weight
1st place     Mark Harrison          515 lbs
2nd place     Cody Fritts            500 lbs
3rd place     Bobby M. Russell       475 lbs



Light Weight
1st place     Jeremy Johnson         595 lbs
2nd place     Mark Longworth         585 lbs 
3rd place     Tom Cruz               540 lbs 



Light Middle Weight
1st place    Clay Matlock            605 lbs
2nd place    Bo Harrison             435 lbs
3rd place    Daniel Laughlin         430 lbs



Middle Weight
1st place    Tim Ramsey              645 lbs
2nd place    Josh Brown              635 lbs
3rd place    Taylor Eldridge         560 lbs



Light Heavy Weight
1st place    John Paul Hackney       725 lbs
2nd place    Thomas Davis            625 lbs
3rd place    Jimmy McQueen           615 lbs



Heavy Weight
1st place    Matthew Packett         770 lbs
2nd place    Tyler Roberts           685 lbs
3rd place    Dustin West             520 lbs

Redskin Head Coach Harig thanked everyone for supporting the Redskins; he explained how the money raised during this event would be used for new games jerseys and enhancements to the weight room equipment.

Guest of Honor - Coach Ratledge

Booster Club President - Steve Harrison

Honoree Mrs. Ruth Henderson McQueen, displaying her late Fathers’ 1930 & 1931 varsity football letterman’s sweaters.

Honoree Bart Littleton, displaying his late Uncle’s 1950 varsity football and basketball letterman’s sweater.

Honoree Dicky Blankenship, a guard on the 1969 State Championship Team.

Honoree David Grissom, unique honor of playing on Back-to-Back State Championship Teams. David had several interesting stories to tell about the ’74 and ’75 teams.

Redskin of the past, and Redskin of the present; Rick and Cody (rising senior) Wiggins.

Redskin family - the Hackneys…Mark (adopted Redskin), Susan (LHS 1974), Redskin of the Past Greg (LHS 2002), Redskin of the Present John Paul (rising senior).