Origins of some nicknames are easy to decipher: "Shorty", "Too Tall", "Slim", or "Tubby". Others may relate to an occupation: "Cookie", "Sparky", or "Marshall Dillon". Others may identify where you are from: "Tex", "Okie", 'Buckeye',or even "Hoosier".
Yet, there are others that no one seems to know where they came from: I had an uncle who was nicknamed "Pos". Another uncle was nicknamed "Wash" (pronounced "Warsh" in KY). I have yet to find a family member that can tell me where those nicknames came from or even how they apply to two of my late uncles.
This Post will at long last disclose why Jay Vaught was called "Sacky"; Dale Vaught was called "Sacky II, (check out the 1959 edition of the Pirazet yearbook) and Gary Vaught was called "Sacky III".
This is a true story. I was there when it happened and I guess I ought to know.
It was an autumn (I think in 1957) Saturday morning and Russell Vaught, Jay, Dale, Gary, and yours truly were picking apples in the Weston Bottoms to make cider. (I had spent Friday night at their home.)
Stay with me on this!
Gary, because he was smallest and could get out on the small limbs, had a burlap feed sack equipped with a short rope that attached to the sack and could be worn around Gary's neck, was in the tree. Russell, Jay, Dale and I were picking up apples from the ground and placing the apples in a large bucket.
The story now takes a not-to-unexpected turn! Dale and I would pick up an apple from the ground and throw the apples at Gary in the tree.
All the while he was dodging the apples coming up from the ground and could make little progress toward picking the apples in the tree!
Russell issued several warnings to Dale and I and we just kept the apple missiles firing! Russell's voice continue to rise with each new warning. I think he even threatened to close the whole cider making adventure down and go home!
Something had to be done and quick. Jay, who probably would never had been a finalist on Jeopardy, saved the entire disaster by yelling, "Give me that G** D*** sack and I'll put it on my head and pick those apples!" Jay, who was really a funny guy and always asked about me when he talked to my folks.
For a split second, I imagined Jay putting the entire burlap sack on his head and trying to pick apples. I could not refrain from immediately blurting out, " Gary, let Sacky put that sack on his head and pick those apples." The nickname was born and we used it the rest of the apple picking morning.
The cider was made, Dale took me home, and he went with my folks to Madison to watch the boat races. (That was long before they moved the races to the 4th of July.) We had a gallon of the very fresh cider---more like apple juice---that we took to the races. We have a phrase in Oklahoma to describe my condition the next day----I had the Green Apple Quickstep!
It was an easy transition from Sacky to Dale (Sacky II,) to Gary (Sacky III). Most of the people in Jennings Co called Jay by his nickname. Only those at PCHS knew of Sacky II and Sacky III.
For better or worse, I am responsible for the Sacky nickname. Gee, I feel better after over 50 years finally getting that off my chest!
(I HAVE MADE A RARE EXCEPTION OF USING ACTUAL NAMES BECAUSE THE POST WOULD BE MEANINGLESS WITHOUT THEM. ALSO, THE PERSONS NAMED ARE MERELY VICTIMS OF AN OVER ZEALOUS NICKNAMER---me)
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