by Leslie Lytle, Messenger Staff Writer
Did you ever lose something precious, and after resigning yourself to never seeing it again, have it returned to you? This past Christmas, Jane Tolley Harper received the gift of a Sewanee football charm she lost in 1943. Collector of Sewanee memorabilia Rocky Morris brought together Jane and the precious talisman that was awarded to her father, Lee Tolley, in 1914 to commemorate Sewanee’s historic win over Vanderbilt that year.
On a balmy autumn weekend in 1943, Jane Tolley and her friends gathered on Missionary Ridge in Chattanooga for a game of tag football. Unbeknownst to her father, Jane had slipped out of the house wearing the 14-karat gold football charm on a chain around her neck. In the course of the afternoon’s spirited play, Jane lost the charm. Furious when he learned what happened, her father insisted they return to Missionary Ridge to look for the keepsake, but they never found it.
Robert “Lee” Tolley played football for Sewanee from 1911 to 1914. Captain and quarterback his senior year, Tolley led Sewanee to the team’s first win over Vanderbilt since 1909. Reporting on the game, the Nov. 28, 1914, Hopkinsville Kentuckian said, Tolley “contributed one of the most spectacular runs ever witnessed on Dudley Field when he returned a punt 75 yards through the entire Vanderbilt brigade for Sewanee’s second touchdown.”
The football charm that 16-year-old Jane Tolley Harper lost had paid tribute to Tolley’s role in the historic game. Engraving on the charm reads, “Captain Lee Tolley” and includes the game’s score, “Sewanee 14,” “Vanderbilt 13.”
In September of 2013, Rocky Morris, a Sewanee resident and collector of Sewanee memorabilia, came across the football charm on eBay. Raised in Winchester, Morris lived in Chattanooga for 25 years; he moved back to the Franklin County area in 1985. He began collecting local picture postcards and developed a special fascination with postcards featuring Sewanee and the surrounding vicinity. His interest in Sewanee postcards led to Morris collecting other Sewanee memorabilia, especially jewelry.
Morris checks the Internet several times a day for collectibles. The eBay seller who posted the gold Sewanee football charm gave prospective buyers two options: “buy it now” or “make an offer.” The lacing on the football was visible in the photograph of the intricately engraved piece, as well as a dominant letter “S,” still showing traces of purple paint and the year 1914, “19” left of the “S” and “14” to the right.
Afraid he might lose the football charm to a higher bidder, Morris took the “buy it now” option. When the charm arrived and Morris got a closer look at the engraving, he researched the story behind the historic game memorialized in the inscription and began searching for people who might have known 1914 Sewanee football star “Captain Lee Tolley.”
Morris first contacted Lynn Tolley, ambassador for Jack Daniel’s Distillery, having seen her name in advertisements. When he came up empty with this Tolley, Morris began an extensive online search for Tolleys in Tennessee. Finally, he connected with Mark Tolley, a car salesman in Nashville who graduated from the University of the South. When Morris questioned him further, Tolley said, “Lee was my great uncle. His daughter Jane is still living. She’s 88 years old and lives on Signal Mountain.”
Morris phoned Jane Tolley Harper, and when he began to describe the football charm he purchased on eBay, she filled in the blanks, exclaiming excitedly, “It’s gold, isn’t it?”
Jane told Morris the story about losing the charm 70 years before while playing tag football on Missionary Ridge. Lee Tolley had gone on to serve as an official for the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association, and along with the football charm, Jane wore her father’s referee jersey that day.
“I thought I was so cute,” Jane said remembering. “I was just 16.”
In November, Morris received a phone call from Mary Bach, Jane’s daughter. She wanted to buy the charm for her mother as a surprise Christmas present.
“I hated to part with it,” Morris said, “but it needed to go back home.”
On Dec. 11, Mary Bach and Rocky Morris met at the Blue Chair Café in Sewanee to share stories. Among the many coincidences, two stand out. Bob Tolley, Lee’s father, was a distiller from Lincoln County, and Lynn Tolley from Jack Daniel’s Distillery is, in fact, a distant relative. Even more curious, the U.S. Postal Service delivered the charm to Rocky Morris on Sept. 17, Jane’s birthday.
Christmas morning, Jane and her extended family gathered to exchange gifts. After the flurry of present unwrapping, a small silver bag containing a tiny silver box remained under the tree. With more than 20 family members looking on, Jane Tolley Harper unwrapped the gift from her daughter, Mary Bach.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Jane said, stunned and pleased.
The eBay seller who Morris purchased the charm from specializes in estate sale jewelry, but he doesn’t recall where he acquired the charm. Lee Tolley’s football charm is back home, but where the charm spent the past 70 years remains a mystery.
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