Never
in a million years when I started this website did I expect
it to go global, then just a few days ago I got a very nice
email. Lee Elder, is a 1979 graduate from JCHS and now
serving our country. Elder, is a Tennessee Army National
Guardsman deployed to Iraq as a print journalist with the
133d Mobile Public Affairs Detachment.
Lee
contacted me to let me know how much he enjoys keeping up
with the Panthers by visiting the site. He also wanted to
let me know that while checking out the history section of
Pantherfb.org he discovered that I had made an error in
listing that years team (1978-79') with a record of 4-5.
Even after I sent him my proof and source, Lee insisted that
both Pantherfb.org and IHSA.org were wrong. On Thursday
night I went to the library to investigate, after all who
was I to doubt Elder who was a member of the "Panther
Press" and actually attended that last game in
Carrollton. The Panthers went into that game against the
Hawks with a 4-4 record and just as Lee had promised,they
whipped Carrollton 15-6, marking the first
winning season under then Head Coach Larry Decker.
Lee tells me that even though he
did not play football for JCHS, (he was involved with the
Basketball and Baseball programs) he is a very big fan of
Panther football. Besides his current stint in Iraq (his
third mobilization), he also served in Operation Desert
Storm with the VII Corps Public Affairs Office and at Camp
Dobol in Bosnia. He has more than 22 years of service.
In civilian life, Elder serves as the chief of advertising
and public affairs for the U.S. Army Recruiting Battalion
Nashville. He also is an adjunct professor at Austin Peay
State University where he teaches journalism.
A career journalist, Elder has worked at daily newspapers in
Nashville, Tenn., and Clarksville, Tenn. He was editor of
the Fort Campbell Courier, which won the Keith L. Ware award
as the Army’s top newspaper each of the three years he was
there.
Lee in
Iraq
Elder’s
work has also appeared in publications such as Christianity
Today, Baptists Today and many Army newspapers and
magazines.
I want to thank Lee for being a regular visitor to the site
and for also setting the record straight on the 1978
Panthers. He told me that he hopes to be back to Jerseyville
in time for a Panther game this fall. I know I will be
looking forward to meeting him, but until then it's nice to
bring just a little bit of Jerseyville to him.
Upon
Graduation Lee was a Sports Editor for the
Democrat-News from 1980-84'.
Article
Source: The Alton Telegraph November 4, 1978
