Normally rather reserved in interview sessions, Nick Chubb was apparently ready to talk all night about a subject that hits very close to home for the sophomore running back. His ancestry.
"They came and settled and they were never slaves," said the second youngest of the Chubb lineage told DawgNation. "That's the biggest part everybody in the family always talks about- never slaves."
At a time when this country was divided by race, family patriarch John Henry Chubb established a settlement with his family in the post-Civil War South that has lasted to this day. It is believed he settled in the area between 1850 and 1864 because by 1864 he had purchased 120 acres in Floyd County for $900.
"I've never really understood how they were capable of doing all those things during that time period," Chubb, a sophomore Heisman Trophy candidate, said. "I don't know how they became educated and knew what they were doing. There are still questions about how they were able to do some of the things they were able to do. It's crazy to think about."
At its peak the area called 'Chubbtown,' functioned as its own small community, and in it was everything needed to allow the town to grow and prosper, including a religious institution, Chubb Chapel, which still remains an active church today with as many as 45 members.
"It is said that [his family ancestors] were well-respected by the whites," Chubb said. "They came and actually bought stuff from them and they traded goods. There wasn't any kind of hating going on or anything like that."
In fact, it's the same church a young Nick Chubb served as alter boy many years later.
For a town in the Deep South to completely expel racial tensions that consumed the country is truly remarkable.
"I've known this story my whole life," said Chubb. "I grew up in Cave Spring, which is maybe one minute outside of Chubbtown. So I grew up there and my mom and dad used to tell us about it all the time."
The fact that Chubb's roots remain in such a vibrant and honest part of the country may indeed have humbled the outspoken running back and perhaps allowed him to emerge as the star that the Bulldogs offense desperately needs to contend for its first SEC title since 2005.
While you may think Chubb's place is now in Athens, he has always envisioned an eventual return to his, and his family's, roots.
"That's actually one of my retirement plans," says the 19-year old running back, "to go down there (to Chubbtown) and build some of those things back up. When I'm older, of course. But I'd get my family members to help me. We could go in there get things rebuilt and restructured and get things back to the way they used to be."
Read the full story on DawgNation here.
