1987 Greenbrier Football · The Brier Patch

1987

The Last Chapter of the Corlew Years

A 2–8 finish closes Buddy Corlew's nine-season head-coaching run. Four dated game masters preserve the middle of the schedule, Aaron Keith posts a 177-yard rushing game, and the final autumn becomes the bridge to the Sorrells rebuild.

Head Coach: William “Buddy” Corlew9th & Final SeasonDistrict 10: 0–5 · 6th

2-8100 PF · 283 PA

1987 closed a nine-year head-coaching run for William “Buddy” Corlew. Greenbrier finished 2–8 overall and 0–5 in District 10, scoring 100 points and allowing 283. The Bobcats finished sixth in a district headed by White House and Portland.

Assistant coach Buddy Corlew talks with Greenbrier player Ricky Green during the 1977 Brentwood Academy game — **Before the head job.** Assistant coach Buddy Corlew talks with Ricky Green during Greenbrier's Oct. 7, 1977 game with Brentwood Academy. Corlew became head coach in 1979; a decade after this photo, 1987 became the last season of his nine-year run.

The season opened with four losses, but the narrowest one preserved an individual high point. Greenbrier fell 16–13 to Trousdale County while Aaron Keith ran for 177 yards — the top Greenbrier rushing performance listed for 1987 in the program's 100-yard ledger.

The archive becomes unusually tangible in mid-September. Four consecutive game masters survive with dates in their filenames: Springfield on Sept. 18, Houston County on Sept. 25, Westmoreland on Oct. 2 and Hickman County on Oct. 9. Houston County became the first win, 14–7. Greenbrier later beat Cheatham County 10–7 before Portland closed the season, and the Corlew tenure, with a 41–7 result.

Nine seasons on the sideline

Corlew's head-coaching tenure ran from 1979 through 1987 and finished 35–57. The peak was the 8–3 Industrial Bowl season in 1981. After the 0–10 low of 1984, Greenbrier rebounded to 5–6 and a Tobacco Bowl appearance in 1985. The next page in the archive is 1988: Steve Sorrells' first season.

100-Yard Rushing Ledger

Aaron Keith — 177 yards vs. Trousdale Co.

Four dated master films survive

Sept. 18 · SpringfieldMaster game film preserved

Sept. 25 · Houston County14–7 win · master game film preserved

Oct. 2 · WestmorelandMaster game film preserved

Oct. 9 · Hickman CountyMaster game film preserved

Brier Vault media
4 master game films located and cataloged.
Film Credit: The Brier Vault. Public archive pages do not link directly to storage.

Archive audit: No newspaper clipping is being labeled as 1987 on this pass. Several search/OCR candidates were inspected and proved to be material from 1977, 2003 or 2004. The four dates above come directly from surviving master-film filenames; dates for the other six games remain unassigned rather than inferred.

#	Opponent	Score	Result	Note
1	BGA	7–28	L
2	Macon Co.	14–26	L
3	Trousdale Co.	13–16	L	Keith: 177 rush yds
4	Springfield	0–45	L	Sep. 18 · film
5	Houston Co.	14–7	W	Sep. 25 · film · first win
6	Westmoreland	0–29	L	Oct. 2 · film
7	Hickman Co.	21–56	L	Oct. 9 · film
8	White House	14–28	L
9	Cheatham Co.	10–7	W	Second win
10	Portland	7–41	L	Corlew finale

Primary reconstruction sources: Greenbrier's all-time score ledger, head-coach ledger, 100-yard rushing ledger and surviving master-film inventory. Record and District 10 placement were independently cross-checked. Unverified dates and newspaper identifications are intentionally left out.