In the second trailer released for this documentary, hear how the inspiring phrase “Pick up your bed and walk” inspired an amazing turnaround for the Fike High Cyclones. In addition to announcer C.H. Bedgood, hear from Head Coach Henry Trevathan Sr, players Lynn Daniell and Carlester Crumpler, and alum Tonya Bradley.
ANNOUNCER: And the final score in the opening game…
TREVATHAN: After that first loss…
ANNOUNCER – C.H. BEDGOOD: Winston-Salem 13, the Fike High Cyclones 7.
TREVATHAN: It’s a pity party. We’re feeling sorry for ourselves, here we go again. One of the players…
DANIELL: Ralph Cherry. Ralph was a preacher’s kid…
TREVATHAN: spoke up and said…
DANIELL: Guys, were not sick.
TREVATHAN: Let’s pick up our bed and walk…
DANIELL: That was a turning point…
TREVATHAN: His comment caught on. When our players met each other in the hallway, they said “Pick up your bed and walk.” Pretty soon the student body picked up the same cadence. We won three state championships in a row after that comment.
CRUMPLER: There was a bigger hunger. And just playing the game the way we were coached to play it was really what got us through.
ANNOUNCER – C.H. BEDGOOD: And off the corner, he’s out wide to the right. He’s got running room. He’s out to the 40, dodges…
BRADLEY: Carlester running and just couldn’t be caught. It was exciting. You got to the games, the band playing, the colors, the gold and navy blue uniforms – they were the prettiest uniforms that Fike had. Fike Cyclones.
ANNOUNCER – C.H. BEDGOOD: Bedlam reigns in Charlotte. They are state champions for the state of North Carolina.
LYNN DANIELL: It was our dream to win the state 4A championship in football in North Carolina. And particularly when you are a small high school like us.
TREVATHAN: it is not how good you are or what position you play, it is that you were a part of something bigger than yourself.
DANIELL: We were the pioneers. Nobody had done that before. And here we were, a group of guys that had come together and done it. And then the next two years, the guys followed.
The first trailer for this documentary is narrated by Jeff Gravelly. It lays the foundation for this story, that started with a group of high school football players and spread throughout their humble Wilson, NC community.
A spirit swept through the tobacco community of Wilson, NC in the fall of 1967. As scripture says, “The wind blows as it wishes. And you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going.”
This spirit ignited among a group of high school boys known as the Cyclones. And the spirit blew through their community. But success didn’t come until Ralph Cherry, the preacher’s quiet kid, spoke up. “We’re not sick. Why don’t we pick up our mats and walk.”
And so, the spirit swept through a struggling football team, unifying a community amidst societal changes that divided other communities.
