Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Wells' GHS Catch Lives On (cont) (cont)

r with me. We're going to Arkadelphia. I want you to go out for Reddie football.'

"I had heard of 'em. I had seen 'em play one time." I said, `Okay, let me get my extra shirt and I'll be on my way."

According to Wells, Brown took three other boys with him to Henderson.

"I played football, basketball and baseball for Henderson for three and a half a day," he joked. "That was three meals and a half-a-bed. I had me a pair of corduroy pants for the week and an oxford-gray suit for the week end."

The rest, as is said, is history.

In late November, 1989, Leah said Duke had been preparing the Christmas lights. It was a tradition around the Wells home to decorate for Christmas after Thanksgiving.

He had taken the lights out of the closet and untangled them, leaving the blinking beacons strung out on a floor.

Duke and Leah went to lunch with some friends. Upon returning home, she said he complained the food had not setwell with him, and he would lie down till he felt better. Duke Wells never got up again.

Leah said there are no sad stories about Duke, though. When the children visit and talk about him, they remember the fun times and funny stories.

The boys, she said, are like their father -- always looking to help others.

"He was a fun person," she said. "He could be serious, though."

Whitten remembers Wells as a person fun to be around. "We all loved Duke," he said. "He was always popular growing up. He liked to kid people, but was the kind of person people liked being around. Always optimistic.

"He was laid back. I always felt relaxed around him. He was a good family man, but he liked telling tall tales."

Looking back on her life with Duke, Leah said, "There is no better life (than we had). You don't get rich, but money doesn't mean that much if you're happy.

"He always told our children not to brag. `If you're good,' he told them, `you don't have to brag, people will know.'

"There were never any hard times with him."

She said he always took the losses better than she did. "He took everything in stride. When he lost, he said the sun would come up in the morning."

And, it does. Wells knew when all was said and done, football is still a game. A game to be enjoyed by all interested. A game which can help mold a boy into a man and teach him discipline that can be used all his life.

Wells taught this to his players, as well as his own children. All who knew him loved him, respected him and enjoyed being around him.

While Duke Wells is no longer with us, his teachings live on in his children, his former players, and all who knew him.