Yearbook pages from the 1965 Black and Gold highlight the championship-winning football team.

By Sam Doughton
Editor-in-Chief

The mood in the locker room was somber. The two-time defending 4-A state finalist R.J. Reynolds Demons had fallen 25-6 to the Yellow Jackets of Lexington in their opening game of the football season. Amid the disappointed players, the team’s captains walked in with a large banner.

“They had written on the banner, ‘We Shall Never Lose Again,’ ” recalled interim Assistant Principal Harold Smith, a member of the 1964 Reynolds football team, “and they made us all sign (the banner).”

The Demons never lost a game the rest of the year, riding a stout defense, an intimidating offensive line and a host of dangerous weapons out of the backfield to an 11-1 record and 14-6 state championship victory over Durham High School.

These Demons are reuniting on the 50^th anniversary of their state title run to celebrate their accomplishments and reminisce about the group’s exploits at Bowman Gray Stadium in a variety of activities, including a ceremony at halftime of Reynolds’ football game at Deaton-Thompson Stadium against North Davidson on Friday.

The team will meet at the landing Friday at 4:30 to go into the media center for a performance of a medley of Reynolds songs by A Cappella. The group also will be treated to short speeches by Principal Pat Olsen, varsity football coach Scott Saalweachter and a spokesperson from Home Field Advantage, Inc., the organization behind the potential new stadium on the RJR campus.

Following these speeches, the players will spend time giving short anecdotes about what they have done since that fateful year. Afterward, a professional photographer will take pictures of the team in front of Reynolds Auditorium. The photographers will also be available for players to take individual or small group pictures, Smith said.

The players and their wives will then go share a meal at Twin City Diner before departing to Deaton-Thompson Stadium for the halftime ceremony, where each player will be announced along with his uniform number and any all-conference or all-state honors they received.

Smith, who went on to play football at Elon, is excited to share the school once again with his teammates.

“I plan on offering a tour of the school to anyone who wants one on Saturday,” Smith said.

Team co-captain Frank Murphy is currently the team member coming from the farthest away, flying in from Colorado for the event. The reunion will also include team members that currently live in Florida, Virginia, Tennessee and South Carolina, as well as many people that still live in the Tarheel state.

The 62-member playoff team should have at least 32 members in attendance on Friday, Smith said. Other Reynolds fixtures of years past also are expected to attend, including former Principal Bob Deaton, former football coach Moser Smith and former athletic director and football coach Herman Bryson.