A Free Home man is keeping Cherokee County history alive through a new line of T-shirts.

Jay Wallace said the idea for Old School Apparel Company came up when he and his wife, Sherry, talked about printing T-shirts to commemorate county championships their fathers won when coaching elementary school basketball.

His father coached at Free Home Elementary, winning a county championship in 1956; and her father coached at Hickory Flat Elementary, winning a county championship in 1977.

The thought was to just give the shirts as presents, but the idea "got out of hand after that," he said.

"We thought, 'We could do it for this school and that school and that business and that place,'" he said.

From there, the Old School Apparel Company was born. Wallace already has about 30 designs for T-shirts with old Cherokee icons available for sale.

There are shirts for local elementary and high schools, old businesses such as Burger Chief, Canton International Speedway, Canton Shoe Shop and the Skyline Cafe, and places such as Gober Beach (where East Cherokee Drive meets the Etowah River), Lathemtown and Salacoa Valley.

The shirts are $20 each and sold at the Green Bean Exchange in Free Home, Vine & Branches in Hickory Flat, Fleu de Coop at Town Center in Kennesaw and soon at Chamberhouse Antiques and Gifts in downtown Canton. Wallace has also sold them at festivals as well including Riverfest and the recent Jingle Bell Shop in Canton.

The company now has a Web site as well at www.oldschoolapparelcompany.com.

"I wasn't sure what would happen," he said about the first time the shirts were rolled out for the public at the Riverfest arts and crafts festival, for which Mrs. Wallace served as chairwoman. "We have been very pleased with the response."

Wallace said he could tell which people who stopped by his booth at Riverfest grew up in Cherokee based on how they reacted when they saw the shirts, describing the natives as acting like "a kid on Christmas morning."

"It struck a chord with them," he said. "It is a way to buy a little piece of nostalgia."

Wallace, who is self-employed in the advertising industry, is still adding designs to the collection. He is tracking down the owners of old local businesses to see how they feel about having their logo on a T-shirt.

"They are appreciative that someone still remembers," he said.

He is talking to some businesses that still are open about using their logos as well, adding he ultimately also would like to have shirts for all the older schools in the county.

Wallace is creating tags for each of the shirt designs to give some background on the history of the place featured.

Kellie Milford, owner of the Green Bean Exchange, loves to wear her Free Home Rockets T-shirt made by Wallace.

"I wear it everywhere and get compliments about it," she said, adding the shirts so far have been "pretty popular" at the shop, housed in the former Free Home General Store.

Wallace said the biggest reward is hearing the stories from people about places memorialized by the shirts.

"It is rewarding seeing how much they enjoy buying and owning the shirt," he said. "It is a way for them to grab hold of a piece of their childhood."