Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Wells' GHS Catch Lives On

How rich is the tradition between Gurdon and Prescott when it comes to football?

Consider one of the most unusual plays in the history of football.

Unusual not only for football, but unusual because it occured in a high school football game.

The year was 1931, and at the time Gurdon was undefeated and untied. The Go-Devils were the powerhouse in high school football as they had pummelled every team they faced.

This night they hosted the Curley Wolves for their homecoming game.

The play set up like this: quarterback Wray took the snap and winged a forward pass near the Curley Wolves' goal line. Players for the two squads battled for the pigskin. The ball was batted around and landed on the back of Gurdon's John Duke Wells, who threw his hands around it and headed for the goal line.

According to an article dated Dec. 19, 1931, Wells was tackled several feet back of the goal but officials ruled he had crossed the plane for a touchdown, though the ball had been knocked out of Wells' grasp.

This play went into the record books as Wells having caught a touchdown pass behind his back, and is listed in the "Guinness World Book of Records."

But this was not Wells' only accomplishment of the season. In fact, he was most likely the highest scoring prep school player in the state that season, as he scored 122 points, with 19 touchdowns and eight extra points in his second year as playing football.

The Go-Devils were no slouches either. The team scored 304 points during the season, while allowing a miniscule 19 in posting an 11-0 record.

The story of Wells catching a touchdown pass on his back is legendary in and around Gurdon, but it tells nothing of the man himself.

According to those who knew him, he was a kind and gentle man, except on game day when it he was said to get "testy." Wells treated all with respect and courtesy and enjoyed life in general. Dolphus Whitten, who graduated with Wells from the Class of '32, said he was a real character with a good sense of humor. "He had integrity," Whitten said.

"He expected his players to do their best, taught them good sportsmanship and was a good role model."

Whitten was in the GHS band when Wells made the historic catch. "It was incredible," he said. "It was exciting. At the time we didn't realize what a phenomena it was."

The "Catch" was just something Wells lived with, thinking nothing special about it. In fact, Whitten said Wells was a modest man, giving credit for victories to the team, though he relished winning.

The person who knew wells best, however, was his wife, Leah, who still lives in the family's modest home in Arkadelphia.

She said life with Duke was wonderful, and she wouldn't change a single aspect of her life with him if she could.

"He never knew he was great," she said. "He was a kind human being, a good man, always willing to help anyone and a wonderful husband and father."

Leah Marks met her husband at Henderson College, where they dated. However, she said there is an unwritten law in her family which said they had to prove they could make a living for themselves before getting married.

Because of this "law," Leah, after graduating with her teaching degree in 1939, a year after Duke, went to Sheridan and taught for a year.

Wells had accepted a job as assistant coach at Hot Springs High School after he graduated in 1938, and went to Camden in '39, also as an assistant coach.

Duke and Leah exchanged wedding vows in the summer of '40, living in Camden.

When the job of head coach opened at Henderson, Wells was offered the position and took it, even though he had never beena head coach. At the time, 1945, he coached all sports and was the Dean of Men. He and his new bride lived in a dorm with the boys. "We had a lot of fun with those boys," Leah said. "There was no better life."

Wells coached the Reddies from 1945-61, winning two Arkansas Intercollegiate College championships, 1950 and '59. His winning percentage wasn't great, .484, with 72 wins, 77 losses and 12 ties, but he got everything his players had to give. Additionally, Wells was the athletic director at HSU from 1961 until he retired.

Wells' best year as a coach at Henderson 6-0-2 in 1959. The Reddies posted a 5-2-2 record in their championship season of 1950.

His record against arch-rival Ouachita Baptist University was 2-2-1, with a 54-0 pasting of the Tigers in 1951.

Wells is known as the "Duke of Henderson Athletics," for his efforts at the college, and was called a "prime mover" in the growth of the school's athletic programs.

Those already familiar with the honor of feats on the gridiron may already know of the tradition involved in the game Friday night when the Curley Wolves line up to face the Go-Devils again.

But how many of these young men who take the field on Friday will be able to accomplish as much as Wells did in his life on and off the playing field?

At Henderson, Wells won letters and honors from 1932-34, where he played fullback and halfback at 155 pounds. While a Reddie, the team won two championships, and Wells was named All-State.

He also excelled in basketball, leading the Reddies to the Arkansas championship in 1933, earned three letters in the sport and named to the second team All State squad.

Wells left college after two years, heading to Little Rock where he played with the Travelers. An injury ended his baseball career and he returned to college, where he graduated in 1938.

During World War II, Wells was the physical training director for the U.S. Army Air Force at Henderson.

But most of his accomplishments at Henderson came under Wells' leadership asAD. Haygood Field saw the field lighted with Wells as AD. The basketball team moved into Day Armory. But, perhaps his greatest accomplishment was getting a new football field for his beloved Reddies in 1967.

Wells was a president of the Arkansas Athletic Association and chairman of District 17 NAIA for three years. The NAIA also presented him with an Award of Merit. He is also in the Arkansas Football Hall of Fame and the NAIA Hall of Fame.

As a player for the Reddies, however, Wells was devastating. He managed to gain enough weight to tip the scales at 170. In his first game, he entered the contest as a substitute, picked off a pass on the next play, returning it for a touchdown.

Wells was a regular from then on.

In his first two years at Henderson, the only loss the Reddies suffered was to Centenary. He passed for an estimated 18 to 20 touchdowns a season as well, ran and punted for coach Bo Sherman.

Sherman literally built his offensive attack around Wells, who actually got off to