PURPOSE - We petition the SCHSL to give credit to the players of the Gaffney Indians 1961 State Champions football team in the SCHSL official record book. Gaffney should be listed as 1961 champs, and at the very least named Co-Champions for 1961 by the SCHSL. These men are getting on in years and a lot have already passed away. Please give these men the credit they deserve while they can still enjoy it.

THE DISCREPANCY - Here’s the reason why some newspapers will say we’ve won 16 and some will say we’ve won 17 (we’ve won 17!):
The reason for the discrepancy in state titles is this: In 1961, Gaffney went undefeated and was voted the #1 team in South Carolina by The State, The Greenville News, the Charleston Post & Courier, and every other newspaper in the state. At that time, there were no playoffs but every major newspaper had a poll. Gaffney won them all going away. However, the SCHSL says that Greenwood, even though they lost one game, won one more AAA games (top classification at the time) than Gaffney, so when they published their record book in later years, Greenwood is listed as the state champ for 1961. However, Gaffney was crowned state champs by every poll and the football jackets from that season carry a patch that reads “S.C. State Champions”. Certainly, you couldn’t have paid Greenwood to play the Indians in ’61!! The SCHSL refused to list Gaffney, so there will always be that discrepancy. Some daily newspapers know that and give us credit for 17 (as of today) and some don’t. That’s the real story!

Credit - Tommy Martin, Editor and Gaffney football unofficial historian has covered every “championship” game since 1960 and is proud of that, and proud of Gaffney and all the great players who have worn the gold and black!