Hadacol Days: A Southern Boyhood

by Clyde Bolton

Overview

Clyde Bolton has long been a dean of the Southern sportswriting community. Now this popular columnist focuses his beguiling prose on his boyhood memories in his delightful memoir, Hadacol Days. The title is taken from a high school cheer: “Statham Wildcats on the Ball, They’ve Been Drinking Hadacol.” The Statham in the cheer refers to Statham High School, Statham, Georgia, now as long gone as Hadacol, but equally effervescent in the author’s nostalgic but clearheaded look back at what life was like in small Southern towns of the 1940s and 1950s.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781603060639
Publisher:	NewSouth Books
Publication date:	07/01/2010
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	192
File size:	959 KB

About the Author

CLYDE BOLTON retired after forty years as a sportswriter and columnist with the Birmingham News. Prior to that he had written and edited for the Anniston Star, LaGrange Daily News, Gadsden Times, and Montgomery Advertiser. He has also written eighteen books, been married for fifty-four years, and raised three sons. He and his wife, Sandra, live in Trussville, Alabama.

Editorial Reviews

There is much to like in this enjoyable book, especially if you, your parents, or your grandparents grew up somewhere in the American South in the 1940s, 1950s, or even the early 1960s. Hadacol Days is nostalgic entertainment at some of its very best.

Third-Chance Book Reviews - Si Dunn

Great coming-of-age memoir.

Shelf Awareness - Christopher R. Kerr

Hadacol Days is an absolute delight from beginning to end. It’s the story of one boy’s love affair with a small Southern town and the people who lived there. It also tells the story of the larger world, especially in the forties and fifties, and of the life of a very gifted and accomplished writer whose impressive body of work keeps on growing. Clyde Bolton has done it again, and his obvious joy in writing this lovely memoir is now ours, too.

author of The Campfire Boys and The Flower Seeker - Philip Williams

A warm read, a delightful read.

Anniston Star

Clyde Bolton, renowned Southern sportswriter and author of a dozen books about Southeastern Conference football, has given it his best shot in Hadacol Days. The book isn’t just a memoir; it’s a tribute to a different time and place.

Athens Banner-Herald

Thoughtfully written to convey the past in a way that even a 12-year-old can understand, Bolton brings to light the changes of Southern lifestyle, everything from money and possessions, relationships to race relations ... There are lessons to be learned about life and living by taking the time to listen to older folks talk about life in the old days. Bolton compiles the simplicity of life “in the day” in a nice little streamlined book that is easy to read and, at times, quite funny.

SourceARTS in Alabama Magazine

Clyde Bolton's Hadacol Days is a wonderfully written book that reminded me of my own childhood of the 1960s and early '70s. Like Bolton, I had a lot of fun and have fond memories of that period in my life. Bolton's latest book is a true treasure in describing his Southern boyhood of the 1940s and '50s.

author of Mill Daddy: The Life & Times of Roy Davis - Bill Lightle

I have never enjoyed a read more ... Clyde Bolton has brought those simple and innocent [Hadacol Days] to life in a most delightful way.

Vincent Dooley

As a son of the small-town South, I can testify that what Clyde Bolton has written in Hadacol Days is honest, genuine, and heartfelt. Clyde proves beyond a doubt that a place can be a character in a tale, and in his case, one to be cherished. A lovely piece of writing by a truly gifted storyteller.

author of Dairy Queen Days and Captain Saturday - Robert Inman

Hadacol Days is a delightful trip back into a simpler time. The clock ran slower and the sun shined brighter. Clyde Bolton is a masterful tour guide, leading us through Statham, GA, introducing us to many of the colorful characters and antics of his youth. "Old-timers" who were raised in this era can easily identify with the happenings in Hadacol Days. "Youngsters" who have never heard of Hadacol and wish to learn about growing up in the 1940s and '50s can enjoy an entertaining and educational trip through the years. Bolton's writing comes across as if he were sitting on your front porch relating tales of his colorful past with his great gift of storytelling.

author of The Bridge Crew: Growing Up in the Blue Ridge Mountains in the 1940s & 1950s - Samuel E. Shumate