By Cody Thomason

The Vicksburg Post

“We carry on a bunch of foolishness, but he’s been a real inspiration in my life,” Richard Price said.

Billy Shaw reached over and popped him on the arm, and the two men, now nearing their 80s after storied careers in athletics and business, jostled like the Carr Central High School football teammates they were decades ago.

The two men are quick to shift praise onto the other and away from themselves, both arguing the other whipped them at different stages of their playing careers. Their friendship’s roots stretch back to the athletic camaraderie they shared, but have since been watered with a bond in family, faith and a lifelong mutual respect.

Long before Price cemented his legacy at Ole Miss under historic head coach Johnny Vaught, and Shaw became a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the two played against each other in grade school in Warren County.

Their paths intersected and diverged throughout their lives, but ultimately their friendship has grown to a point where it’s now stronger than ever.

They didn’t become teammates until 1956, when Shaw transferred from Jett High School in the county to Carr Central in the city. Price and the rest of the Greenies had won the Big Eight Conference championship the year before, which was the biggest prize for high school football in Mississippi. 

“We were glad to get him,” Price said. “He was an outstanding football player, and we all knew it and we needed him.”

Shaw said the transition was a learning experience both psychologically and athletically, and gave credit to the team and Price for helping him improve.

“As I go back and think about all the good things that have happened to me personally in my career as an athlete, it has to start right there, and having the opportunity to practice against someone that would eventually become Mr. Football in the state of Mississippi,” Shaw said. “It had to have instilled some competitive spirit, and some athletic tone and my ability to learn the game. Mr. Football in the state, if you could eke out one good hit against him, you felt like you had accomplished something.”

In that 1956 season, Carr Central lost two games by a combined seven points. It missed out on another Big Eight title, but did beat eventual champion Greenville 18-14.  More importantly, the groundwork was laid for a friendship between the two star players that extended far beyond football.

“I didn’t have a good reputation in high school, nor when I was in college, and Billy was one of the kind of guys we called a Sunday school guy,” Price said. “You respected him, he was straight laced, just a good guy. I remember in high school, the kind of person he was, and the kind of fellow I respected for all my life.”

After high school, the recruiting process could not have been more different for the two players. Price found himself a prized jewel. He received over 100 scholarship offers. He eventually settled with Texas, as the coach for his first three years at Carr Central, Mike Campbell, had joined the staff there.

Meanwhile, Shaw had only five offers. He was initially committed to Mississippi State, but a childhood idol changed his mind.

George Morris was a Carr Central football legend whom Shaw had grown up watching, and Morris eventually starred at Georgia Tech. Years later, Morris was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame.

When Georgia Tech’s head coach dropped by for a visit and brought Morris along, things changed.

“They offered a scholarship, and coach (Bobby) Dodd was very impressive, and it was kind of a no brainer, following my idol from Vicksburg to Atlanta,” Shaw said. “It was a great opportunity.”

While Shaw had to immerse himself in his studies to keep up with the course load at Georgia Tech, Price’s college career was off to a rocky start.

He was overwhelmed by homesickness at Texas. Before his first semester had even started, he hitchhiked the 500 miles back to Vicksburg and made his way to Oxford to join Ole Miss. Price found early success playing for the Rebels.

“As far as I know, I’m the first sophomore to ever start for Coach Vaught,” Price said. “I had just turned past 18, and all those other guys were 23 and 24 years old. I was very young, but playing for him he just took an interest in me. When he’d get in trouble, he wanted me in the ballgame.”

Price was quickly impressed by how cerebral and meticulous Vaught was and went on to be a star guard and linebacker for three storied Rebel teams. He amassed a 29-3-1 record over his career, along with three bowl wins and two national championships that Ole Miss claims. While there, Price also learned a lot from the coaching staff off the field.

“Bruiser Kinard and Buster Poole, Johnny Vaught, Roland Dale, I learned from these men,” Price said. “Even though I wasn’t serving the Lord then, I did learn from these men about character, and responsibility, and keeping your word.”

Meanwhile, Shaw competed at Georgia Tech back when they were still a part of the Southeastern Conference.

The Yellow Jackets were never better than 6-5 in Shaw’s four seasons, but he said he didn’t regret going there.

“It was a great experience, the education eventually was a major plus for me and benefited me well in business life,” Shaw said. “If I had to do over, would I do it? Yeah, I would if coach Dodd were there. He was a great man.” 

Both went on to have storied college careers, with Shaw earning All-America honors and Price being named All-SEC with the Rebels.

Shaw and Price got one last chance to play together in the Senior Bowl, and were next to each other on the offensive line — along with Johnny Brewer, another Vicksburg native who attended Redwood High School and Ole Miss.

“To have three guys from Vicksburg, playing side by side by side, was one of the highlights of my football career,” Shaw said.

Price and Shaw had lost touch when they moved away for college, but playing alongside one another again rekindled their friendship.

“We had a good time at the Senior Bowl,” Price said. “We met each other’s wives. Billy, he was a great player at Georgia Tech, no doubt about that, and he was a great player at the Senior Bowl.”

Shaw felt that the Senior Bowl reflected especially well on their former head coach at Carr Central, Gene Allen.

“We wouldn’t have been there, honestly, if it wasn’t for him being such a great tutor in the beginning,” Shaw said. “It was a lot more fun for me to see him have that kind of honor, than to play in the game.”

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After the Senior Bowl, the paths of Price and Shaw diverged again. Shaw became immersed in preparing for the pros and Price was beginning his post-football career.

Shaw played in the 1960 College All-Star game against the NFL Champion Philadelphia Eagles. It was there that legendary Cleveland Browns quarterback Otto Graham would change his career.

Shaw began practicing as the second team defensive tackle, but Graham, who was the head coach, decided to flip him to the starting guard spot.

When it came time to make his way to the pros, Shaw was selected by the Dallas Cowboys of the NFL and the Buffalo Bills of the AFL and enlisted the help of Coach Dodd to make his decision. The Bills wanted him to primarily play offensive guard, and the Cowboys had interest in him as a linebacker.

Dodd advised Shaw to go with the Bills. He thought Shaw’s best position at the next level would be at guard, especially for a running team like the Bills.

“I maybe would not have gotten to play on other teams that played different brands of ball,” Shaw said. “That was a blessing that coach Dodd led me to that team knowing what I brought to the table.”

Dodd’s advice turned out to be prescient. Shaw went on to star as a pulling guard for the Bills and helped them win back-to-back AFL championships in 1964 and 1965.

Post-football, Shaw and Price once again set out on different paths. Shaw made a successful venture into the concrete business, while Price started working as a salesman for a drug company. After three years, Price started an insurance agency in Columbia that grew to be successful.

“Everybody said I was an idiot for starting it,” Price said. “And I probably was, but I still believed that if you wanted something bad enough and worked hard enough, and sacrificed enough you could be successful.”

Price later found success in some investments as well.

“I have no complaints,” Price said. “I’ve had a colorful life, a wonderful wife, wonderful children, great friends, and more than anything, a great Lord.”

•

Though Price and Shaw now share a strong bond in their faith in Christianity, it wasn’t always like that. Shaw held a strong devotion to the church early on, but it wasn’t until 1971 that Price found his salvation.

“In the environment I grew up in, I knew I had to get out of Vicksburg. There was only one way to get out for me and that was to get a scholarship,” Price said. “I trained hard, and I worked hard and then I married the most wonderful girl in the world. I changed as a husband, but I hadn’t changed inside as a person. I’d always thought that anything I wanted I could get if I worked hard enough and sacrificed.”

Price’s entire outlook on life changed one day after a horse riding accident led to a serious head injury for his then-7-year-old daughter Paige.

“For the first time in my life I was totally helpless,” Price said. “For three days, she wasn’t supposed to make it through the night.”

That night, Price had an epiphany.

“God worked on me that night,” Price said. “I gave my life to Jesus Christ. My life is to serve him.”

Paige was in a coma for six weeks, but eventually made a recovery. Price however, would never be the same.

“I live every day to be a good husband, to be a good father, to be a servant of Jesus Christ,” he said. “That’s what I want to do, until the day I die. Jesus Christ changed me.”

Price was made a member of the Ole Miss Hall Of Fame because of his contributions on the field, but when former Ole Miss chancellor and Price’s former roommate Robert Khayat set up the Richard Price Courage and Compassion Award, it took more than his play into consideration.

The award is presented annually to a rising senior lineman who, in the opinion of his coaches, has demonstrated extraordinary courage and compassion in his dedication to his team and to Ole Miss. The first recipient of the award was Ole Miss’ current head coach Matt Luke.

“It’s a great honor to be thought of, and a lot of it is based on later on in life I think,” Price said. “God has used us to help a lot of people, and I hope it continues.”

Meanwhile, Shaw received the highest honor possible for his career when he was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1999. Shaw is the only player in Canton to have played only in the AFL.

“I didn’t realize the significance early on, but it’s become a trivia question in many cases since,” Shaw said. “I was so overwhelmed with the opportunity to get selected, what a great honor that is, I wanted to make sure that I did it the right way.”

For Shaw, the right way was for him to use the fame and recognition that football had given him to share about his faith in God.

“When I got on that big stage to give my speech, I got the opportunity to give my testimony, and let people know where I stood,” Shaw said. “And since then, it’s been like that. It’s put me and my beliefs on a big platform, and that’s kind of the way I look at it.”

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After the Senior Bowl, it was almost 40 years before Price and Shaw saw each other again at a high school reunion. It was the faith that they had found that caused them to rekindle their friendship, and instead of losing touch like before, they’ve maintained it.

“We ran up on each other for that reunion, and the first thing Richard did was share his testimony. We made each other a promise, and we kept it for a number of years, that I’d call him on odd months, he’d call me on even months,” Shaw said. “We did that for 10 years.”

Today, their friendship is stronger than ever. They see each other in person several times a year when Shaw and his family come to Vicksburg to hunt with Price, and keep in contact with each other.

The two still have long conversations about how God has impacted their life, the love they have for their families, and occasionally banter over who was better at certain stages of their career. But looking back over the careers, legacies and families they built, and the coaches and mentors who were instrumental in their success, it’s a life that the two kids who scrapped between the goal posts never could have imagined.

“The Lord just took charge and directed me to the right places at the right times,” Shaw said.” It’s kind of embarrassing to get the credit, when really the credit is due to the people that spent their time mentoring you when you were at that age.”