AMORY — James Wilkerson could feel the grease coating his hands.
Perched behind the grill at Bill’s Hamburgers on North Main St. in Amory, he reaches out to shake a hand. Apologizing for his slick palms, Wilkerson explains his father, Reid, owns the famed establishment.
With a red and white candy-stripe awning and aged brick exterior, Bill’s is hard to miss. Inside, the walls are littered with Magnolia State memorabilia ranging from black and white photos of Amory dating back to 1889 to a signed picture of former Ole Miss quarterback Eli Manning.
Just before 10 a.m. Tuesday morning, Wilkerson and another employee press burgers on the sizzling stovetop an arms-length away from the bar. As smoke begins to rise and the crackling of the grill envelops the room, the bell hanging from the front door chimes.
Donning a purple shirt with the words “LSU Football” written in yellow block lettering at the center of his chest, Jimmy Burrow strides into the restaurant. Burrow’s hair is silvery-grey, but his upper body remains built — a reminder of his days as a defensive back at Nebraska in the early 1970s.
An Amory native and the father of Louisiana State quarterback and Heisman Trophy hopeful Joe Burrow, Jimmy has been coming to Bill’s since his youth. As a high schooler, he used to spend his lunch breaks at the local pants factory grabbing bags of burgers for he and his coworkers to munch on during their brief respites.
“I could eat six of these,” he says through a chuckle.
Though it’s been more than 20 years since Jimmy spent extended time in his hometown, it’s football that has brought him back. Saturday, his youngest son will line up under center as No. 2-ranked LSU heads to Starkville for a meeting with Mississippi State.
And while the Tigers’ trip is the reason for the Burrows’ homecoming, the week is also a chance for Jimmy, Joe and the rest of the family to visit the place that still proudly bears their roots.
“My dad grew up a Mississippi State fan,” Joe said during his Monday media availability. “I had a little cowbell in my room growing up because he would go to the games. So I know a little bit about them.”
The roots
Jimmy motions toward the back room. Sitting down at a four-top, he sets down his styrofoam cup filled with Diet Coke and begins to recount his family’s Mississippi history — a task that lasts nearly 30 minutes.
His parents, Dot and James (Joe’s grandparents), both attended nearby Smithville High School. Star athletes in their own right, James played basketball at Mississippi State between 1948 and 1952, while Dot — two grades his junior — was a prep standout on the hardwood.
Pulling up an old newspaper clipping on his cell phone, Jimmy offers evidence of his mother’s dynamism.
A sophomore at MSU during the 1950 season, James had long raved about his future wife’s on-court exploits — though not to much avail.
“I kept going back and telling my teammates she scored 50, 55 points,” he recalled.
While his teammates took his tales lightly, James invited six of his basketball buddies to tag along for one of Dot’s games at Hamilton High School.
As the Bulldogs looked on, she personally torched the Lions for 72 points.
Word quickly spread. Everyone in the MSU locker room wanted to catch a glimpse of Smithville’s scoring machine.
With a game at Caledonia on the docket, Burrow and the entire Bulldog basketball team headed to the contest.
Once more, Dot lit up the score sheet — notching 82 points on the night. The Reflector — MSU’s student newspaper — later ran a story regarding the occasion.
“One night in high school I scored 45 and I came home and I was feeling pretty good about myself,” Jimmy said. “And my mom said ‘You’ve only got 37 more to get my high score.'”
From the school up north to the Great White North
For Jimmy, Mississippi has long been home.
Born at Langley Air Force Base in Hampton, Virginia, he and his family moved back to Smithville when he was two years old and to Amory at 11.
A baseball, basketball and football standout in high school, Jimmy seemed destined to play college athletics in some capacity. But after breaking his arm senior year, he was left with walk-on football offers from Ole Miss and Mississippi State.
Following in his father’s footsteps, Jimmy enrolled in summer classes at MSU. That said, Ole Miss kept in contact with him throughout the session — an effort that concluded with a memorable phone call.
“Ole Miss was going to give me the opportunity to play baseball and football,” Jimmy said. “So I changed my mind in the summer.”
Still a walk-on after one year in Oxford, Jimmy was offered a scholarship at Nebraska, where his high school coach, Jim Walden, had landed a job. With little hesitation, Jimmy was off to Lincoln where he played his final three collegiate seasons under legendary coach Tom Osborne.
Upon graduation, he was drafted in the eighth round of the 1976 NFL Draft by the Green Bay Packers. He spent roughly one season in Wisconsin before heading further north to the Canadian Football League — where he played five years on three teams.
Following his playing career, Jimmy held stints as an assistant coach at Nebraska, Washington State, Iowa State, North Dakota State and, most recently, Ohio University, where he was the defensive coordinator between 2005 and 2018 — a position he retired from last fall to watch Joe play his final season of college football.
“August 1 was the first August 1 that I hadn’t been on a practice field in 50 years,” Jimmy said.
Following the expedited history lesson, he suggests moving to the bar for a burger. It’s 10:45 a.m.
Jimmy orders his usual — two singles “with.” He explains “with” means mustard and onions are added.
I ask for a double. Jimmy doesn’t allow this. He says two singles is the best way to enjoy a Bill’s burger. I cede control of my order to the expert. Two singles “with” it is.
In minutes, the burgers arrive on thin sheets of wax paper. Scarfing down the sliders, Jimmy reveals Joe generally stops in Amory on his way home to Ohio.
It’s not an exact midway point — just five hours down the road from Baton Rouge and another 10 hours to his house — but it’s a chance for Joe to see his grandparents. It’s also an opportunity to put down a few of the burgers.
“I’ve pulled up right there at 6:30 in the morning to get hamburgers to take him in Baton Rouge,” Jimmy quips.
As the meal wraps up, Jimmy hands the cashier a few bucks and heads for the door. With the same bell that signified his arrival chiming behind him, he hops in his black Honda Pilot and sets off for his childhood home.
Meet the Burrows
With a few turns, a bend and a sharp right, Jimmy arrives at his parents’ suburban brick house.
The garage door on the right side is wide-open. An aged gold Ford pickup truck with an Army reserve and “M-Club” sticker plastered to the lower left corner of the capsule resides inside.
“We’re here,” Jimmy exclaims as he walks through the mudroom. Dot wanders across the kitchen and shakes my hand. I’m quickly guided to the living room where James is posted on a couch. Dot joins him there — both wearing matching purple LSU quarter-zips.
At 89 and 88, respectively, James and Dot remain sharp. While traveling down to Baton Rouge has become increasingly difficult, they watch Joe’s games every Saturday on television.
“It’s going to be great,” Dot said of being able to watch their grandson in person Saturday. “He spent the night with us two times this summer and that was the last time we saw him.”
Seeking tickets through the M-Club, James put in a call to secure seats for him and his wife — with one caveat.
“Now wait a minute, you played basketball at State, you’re in the M-Club and you want to be in the LSU section?” the voice on the other line asked quizically.
James responded in the affirmative, explaining who his grandson was.
“They took care of him,” Jimmy said.
The shirt
Back at Bill’s, Wilkerson continues pressing burgers into the grill. Speaking across the bar, he references a photo he saw of Joe at LSU’s Charles McClendon Practice Facility in the summer of 2018.
“See that shirt over there?” he says pointing to a white “Bill’s Hamburger” t-shirt hanging on the wall — the same one Burrow sported in the aforementioned image.
“When Joe was back in town, he swung through here.” Wilkerson added. “I told him, ‘I have a new shirt for you.’ And I gave him a purple and gold one.”
Despite their deep Mississippi roots, Jimmy, Dot, James and the rest of the Burrow family will also wear the Bayou Bengals’ famed colors this weekend as Joe takes the field at Davis Wade Stadium.
“There’s a lot of people that say Joe has brought the LSU fan base together,” Jimmy said. “And I say it’s also brought our family together.”
“I still have my cowbell,” he continues. “But I haven’t rung it and definitely won’t Saturday.”
Ben Portnoy reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @bportnoy15.
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