Here’s Holley in his 1927 Glomerata<\/a>: <\/p>\n Obligatory sports references: George Bohler was coaching both the Auburn football and basketball teams that year. The football team was 1-8, beating only Howard College. Snitz Snider \u2014 Olympic track star and future legendary high school football coach \u2014 was hurt much of the season. Another key player Babe Taylor — who, as a tackle, dressed at 6-feet-2 and \u201caround two hundred pounds\u201d as a tackle (Auburn\u2019s current punter is bigger) — also had nagging injuries during the down year. Bohler\u2019s basketball team went 3-13. At least the baseball team was posting winning records! Cliff Hare Stadium? Hardly.<\/p>\n The Bank of Auburn, in the back of Holley\u2019s senior Glomerata, advertised four percent on your savings. Burton\u2019s Book Store was the place to get your dusty tomes. J&M was decades away. Samford Hall, Comer, Mary Martin, Smith and Langdon Halls were all a part of campus. Ramsay Hall was brand new. Perhaps you\u2019ll have heard of Holley\u2019s dean: Bennett Battle Ross of Ross Hall fame. That building was still being erected when Holley graduated.<\/p>\n If those things don\u2019t sound conceivable, don\u2019t worry. Auburn\u2019s oldest living alum has a few years on you. Holley celebrated his 105th birthday Wednesday<\/a> at the Henry County Nursing Home in Dothan (Auburn stuff was everywhere). <\/p>\n His walk into the real world coincided with the beginning of the Great Depression. The 1929 graduate would work as a pharmacist in Abbeville and soon after helped soldiers get their prescriptions in France during World War II. When the Army let him go he settled with his wife and family in Headland, Ala. He became a pillar of that community where he handed out medication until he retired in 1973. His son Bill, a 1971 Auburn graduate, took over the druggist desk. His son has since retired.<\/p>\n Holley’s Auburn kids: Elizabeth (’59) and Bill Jr (’71):<\/p>\n But the elder Holley refused to slow down long after retirement. He has maintained two farms, one in his hometown of Samson, Ala. and another in Headland. He was famously building fence lines by hand well into his 90s. He has four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren in his life. He maintained his driver\u2019s license well beyond his centennial, \u201cjust in case.\u201d<\/p>\n His API diploma, made of sheepskin, still proudly adorns a wall in his bedroom. <\/p>\n![\"Holley27\"](\"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/photo\/jan12\/holley.jpg\")
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