By Tracy Gupton
I have lived on a road in West Columbia that bears my name practically my entire life. And I didn’t have to be a Heisman Trophy finalist to earn it. Gupton Lane used to be a dead end street where the most prominent residents on that road were the Gupton brothers–Buff and Phil. Buff, born Samuel Morris Gupton in 1886, and Phil Gupton were the sons of Samuel Doc and Dora Gupton, who owned most of the land surrounding the road in the late 1800s and on into the 20th century. So Gupton Lane it became when the City of West Columbia had to give a name to what was most likely a dirt road at that time.
Sunday evening the City of West Columbia hosted a dedication ceremony officially changing the name of North 17th Street to Cam Ward Way. And Cam himself was in town to handle the unveiling. The hometown hero, quarterback of the Tennessee Titans, is preparing for training camp in Nashville to kick off his sophomore season in the NFL in a week. The West Columbia native will be reporting with the Titans’ veterans July 28th at the Vanderbilt Health Football Center in Nashville under new head coach Robert Saleh and his staff. Former New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll will be the Titans’ new offensive coordinator and Shea Tierney will be Tennessee’s new quarterbacks coach.
Cam Ward Way is the new name of the street running from Highway 35 behind Walgreens and H.E.B. grocery store to 13th Street in West Columbia. Mayor Kincannon proposed the street name change to City Council after Ward became the first former Columbia Roughnecks’ football player to be drafted in the first round of the NFL draft in 2025. And the council members gave her proposal their approval.
A 2020 graduate of Columbia High School, Cameron Ward was taken first overall in the 2025 draft by the Tennessee Titans after being a finalist for the Heisman Trophy following his outstanding senior season at the University of Miami. I bought my grandson, Hatley Gupton, a Cam Ward Miami Hurricanes jersey for Christmas two years ago and he proudly wore it to West Columbia Elementary School after the Christmas holidays ended in 2024. Cam’s parents said in a KTRK-TV channel 13 interview Sunday that Cameron always dreamed of being a professional athlete, either in basketball, football or baseball. He excelled in all sports, which is no surprise, seeing that both parents were outstanding athletes when they were younger. Cam’s mother, Patrice Kyle Ward, is a former head girls basketball coach at Columbia High School where she was a standout athlete in her four years as a Lady Roughneck. And Cam’s father, Calvin Ward, led the Van Vleck Leopards to the playoffs in his days as a high school quarterback.
Cameron Ward attended Barrow Elementary School in Brazoria, West Brazos Junior High in Wild Peach and Columbia High School in West Columbia. He wore number seven in high school and at Incarnate Word University in San Antonio his first two years out of high school. His outstanding quarterback play at Incarnate Word (the only college that offered Cam a scholarship out of high school) led to the former Roughnecks’ signal caller getting an abundance of offers to transfer to major universities across the nation. He left San Antonio in his rearview mirror and headed to Washington State University to be the Cougars starting quarterback. Spending his final collegiate season with Miami University made Cam Ward a nationally known name when he was among the finalists for the prestigious Heisman Trophy.
West Columbia’s own Cam Ward won the Jerry Rice Award in 2021, was named Southland Conference Freshman of the Year with Incarnate Word, and won both the Davey O’Brien Award and the Manning Award in 2024 with the Miami Hurricanes. The former Roughneck was a consensus first-team All-American in 2024.
Before Cam Ward was selected first overall in the first round of the 2025 NFL draft, Charlie Davis had been the highest drafted former Roughnecks player in Columbia High School history. Davis, now in his seventies, was the best player on the Roughnecks’ state finalist 1969 football team. That team, which also featured future NFL All Pro Charlie Johnson, remains the only Roughnecks team to play in a state championship game in football. Charlie Davis was taken in the second round of the 1974 draft by the Cincinnati Bengals. Davis topped his outstanding high school career in West Columbia by being one of the best college running backs in the nation at the University of Colorado. Charlie Johnson, who followed his fellow 1970 Columbia High School graduate Charlie Davis to the University of Colorado, was drafted in the seventh round by the Philadelphia Eagles in 1977. Johnson, who passed away in 2021, appeared in the 1980 Super Bowl and was an All Pro nose tackle for several years for the Eagles. Johnson ended his NFL career with the Minnesota Vikings while Davis is in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ record books as having scored the first offensive touchdown in the Bucs’ inaugural season in 1976.
Other former Roughnecks who have played in the National Football League include James Ray Smith, a Baylor All American who was an All Pro guard for the Cleveland Browns for several seasons in the late 1950s and also played for the Dallas Cowboys in the early 1960s, Dennis Gaubatz who played college football at Louisiana State University and appeared in the third Super Bowl as the Baltimore Colts’ middle linebacker, and Jack Patterson who played for the Green Bay Packers in the 1950s. Gaubatz still lives in the West Columbia area while James Ray Smith lives in the Dallas area. Gaubatz was drafted by the Detroit Lions in the 8th round of the 1963 NFL draft. He is now 86 while James Ray Smith is 94.
Smith, who is the brother-in-law of Columbia Historical Museum board member Naomi Antill Smith, was drafted in the sixth round of the 1954 NFL draft by the Browns. He played in five Pro Bowls as a Cleveland Brown, was a three time first-team All Pro (1959-61) and two time second-team All Pro (1958, 1962) as an offensive lineman.
While Cam Ward is the first West Columbian to be taken first overall in the NFL draft, he is not the first Brazoria Countian to have those bragging rights. Naomi Smith went to high school in Freeport with Stuart King Hill who was an outstanding multi-sport athlete for the Brazosport Exporters in the 1950s. King Hill was the first player selected in the 1958 NFL draft by the Chicago Cardinals. Hill was an Associated Press All-American in 1957 for the Rice Owls. He played quarterback, punted and also played defense for Rice University of Houston.
King Hill was a quarterback and punter for the Chicago/St. Louis Cardinals, Philadelphia Eagles and Minnesota Vikings, and had a long coaching and scouting career after his playing days were over. Hill, who was offensive coordinator of both the Houston Oilers and New Orleans Saints under head coach Bum Phillips from 1975-1985, died in 2012.
For those who did not get the chance to rub shoulders with NFL star Cam Ward this past Sunday in West Columbia, you can catch him on Netflix as Season Three of the TV network’s sports series “Quarterback” has been airing since July 14th. Cam and his parents, Calvin and Patrice, are interviewed in West Columbia, Angleton and Nashville in the “Quarterback” series on Netflix. West Columbia is mentioned frequently in the TV show. The four NFL quarterbacks being profiled in Season Three of “Quarterback” are Cam Ward, Baker Mayfield, Jayden Daniels and Joe Flacco.
Look closely and you will see brief action clips of Cameron Ward as a teenager playing quarterback for the West Brazos Roustabouts and the Columbia Roughnecks. My grandson Hatley, who has outgrown the Miami Hurricanes Number One jersey I bought him two years ago, will be going out for quarterback of the Roustabouts seventh grade team in a few weeks. That is where it all started for Cam Ward, at West Brazos Junior High School. Maybe, just maybe, West Columbia will have its next future NFL standout wearing number eleven (Hatley’s Daddy’s number from back in the day) when football practice gets going in August. I know I need to buy Hatley a new Cam Ward Tennessee Titans jersey for his birthday in September, in a much larger size. That boy is going to be a big one!
