Category: Features

Handing Over the Reins

Croyle children inherit
legacy of love

Story by Leigh Pritchett
Photos by Wallace Bromberg Jr.

The house buzzed with the afternoon’s activities of five school-age girls.

Karen was learning to tune her guitar, and Rosa giggled as photos were snapped of her. Emmalee showed off her newly organized closet. Lorenza discussed her plans to build a Hobbit hole in Tennessee and work for Lifeway Christian Resources. With a big, thick book to read, Gail curled up in a comfy chair. Although time was drawing near for the group to leave for church, Tony and Rhona Osborne remained unruffled. They gently urged the girls toward the goal of getting to the Wednesday-night service on time.

The Osbornes have much experience in raising children. They have, after all, parented more than 52 children in the last 25 years.

“My wife and I feel like this is what we’re called to do — be parents,” said Tony. They have been houseparents with Big Oak Ranch for 25 years and have the same passion for it as when they first started.

The reason is “them,” Rhona said, pointing to the five young ladies growing up happy and healthy. Rhona has seen healing taking place in the girls’ lives, and it touches the mother’s heart within her.

“They, way too often, minister to me,” Rhona said.

The Osbornes are just one of the houseparent couples at Big Oak Girls’ Ranch near Springville. Theirs is one of eight homes at the ranch, situated on 325 acres of rolling hills, woodlands and pasturelands along U.S. 11.

Another house will be completed this summer, said Brodie Croyle, associate executive director of Big Oak Ranch that 64 children call home.

“We are never full,” said Reagan Phillips, Brodie’s sister and director of Big Oak Ranch’s childcare team. Big Oak will always make room for more children — always.

The Osbornes’ longevity is not unusual for Big Oak Ranch. Brodie said the Osbornes’ commitment is the kind of calling for which the administration looks when selecting houseparent couples.

Houseparents are the frontline warriors of the ranch, he said. They are with the children each and every day. These “moms” and “dads” exemplify what God intended for a husband and wife to be and the children see this consistently.

The houseparents show what “family” truly means and lovingly incorporate others into it, said Brodie and his dad, John Croyle, who is founder and executive director of Big Oak Ranch.

The family units live, work, play and worship together. They laugh together. They cry together.

The houseparents model the four promises on which Big Oak has functioned since its inception:

“I love you.”
“I’ll never lie to you.”
“I’ll stick with you until you’re grown.”
“There are boundaries; don’t cross them.”

Being in an environment where these promises are kept on a daily basis creates a sense of love, security and permanence for any child, but especially for a young person from a background of abuse, neglect or abandonment.

As further demonstration to the youths that the commitment is real and long term, Big Oak seeks custody whenever possible. This lets the children know that no one is going to send them away or walk out on them, explained John.

“They’re not bad kids,” he said. “They come from bad circumstances.”

When a need emerges, fill it

Years ago, John met a blonde-haired, green-eyed girl at a Department of Human Resources office.

Her name was Shelley, and she was 12 years old.

She was dirty and thin.

Her father had physically and sexually abused her while her mother held her down. Shelley had to undergo surgery to repair damage from the abuse.

John begged a judge to allow him and his wife, “Tee,” to adopt Shelley. The judge denied the request because Shelley would have had to live at Big Oak Boys’ Ranch, which was the only ranch in the Big Oak ministry at that time.

John told the judge that Shelley would surely be dead in six months if she were returned to her parents.

“I was wrong,” John told Discover Magazine. “It was three (months.)”

Shelley’s life story weighed on John’s heart. Then, in 1988, he was able to establish a ranch for girls needing a family and a home. It is dedicated in memory of Shelley.

Like its counterpart for boys, the girls’ ranch has multilevel homes in a secure community setting that includes a lake, pool and gym, as well as a barn for horses. Each ranch also has a “transition” home, where residents who are attending college or have entered the workforce learn to become independent.

In addition, the girls’ ranch is where Big Oak’s administrative offices are located.

The girls’ ranch is the second of three ministries for Big Oak Ranch and has been home to more than 600 girls thus far. The other two facets of Big Oak Ranch are in Etowah County – Big Oak Boys’ Ranch near Southside and Westbrook Christian School in Rainbow City.

All three grew from the calling John felt on his life as a 19-year-old.

That summer as a camp counselor, John met a boy whose job was to be “banker” and “timekeeper” for his mother, a prostitute. The boy listened intently to what John taught him and ultimately asked Jesus to come into his heart to be his Savior.

Through that experience, John sensed God leading him to open “a Christian home for children needing a chance.”

In college at the University of Alabama, John played defensive end under the coaching of Paul “Bear” Bryant. During John’s time at the Capstone, the football team won three Southeastern Conference championships and the 1973 National Championship. John was named to Second Team All-American.

Then, the NFL came calling.

John’s plan was to play in the NFL to earn the money needed to start a ranch.

When John told Bear Bryant his intention, the coach explained that a man does not “play” for the NFL; he “marries” it. Bryant advised John to forget the NFL and go build the home for children.

Just before the NFL draft was to take place, John was in a hallway where he was to be weighed and measured. It was there that he made his decision and told officials of an NFL team to use their draft pick on someone other than him.

People who believed in John’s mission – Bryant being one of them – gave financial assistance and, in late summer of 1974, Big Oak Boys’ Ranch was established.

Its name comes from the Bible verse Isaiah 61:3: “And they shall be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord that He may be glorified.”

John and five boys moved into a farmhouse on 120 acres near Southside.

Tee joined the family seven months later when she and John married.

During the 41 years that have followed, “2,000 children have had a chance at life that might not have had a chance,” said Brodie.

“Our first kid’s 58 now,” John added.

The boys’ ranch has since grown to nine homes. Currently, 55 children live there.

Together, the girls’ ranch and the boys’ ranch can accommodate a total of 144 children, plus 24 transitioning residents. The two ranches are supported exclusively through private donations. According to Big Oak information, about $12,000 is required to provide support for one child for one year.

In 1990, the ranch system added its third ministry – a school. For the price of $1, Big Oak purchased Westminster Christian School, renaming it Westbrook Christian School.

Approximately 700 students from 3-year-old kindergarten through 12th grade go to Westbrook. All Big Oak children attend Westbrook and account for 20 percent of the student body. Other pupils come from Marshall, Jefferson, St. Clair, Cherokee and Etowah counties. More than 500 students pay tuition to attend this private school, John said.

Tee, an educator for more than 30 years, teaches calculus there.

Westbrook has a 98-percent graduation rate, John said. Last year, the senior class garnered $2.2 million in scholarship offers.

As for Big Oak Ranch, “we’ve got 20 in college right now,” John said.

All in the family

When Brodie and Reagan came home from the hospital as newborns, they had 60 big brothers, Brodie said.

And the family progressively got bigger through the years.

“We had the perfect childhood, we think,” Reagan said.

Year after year, she and Brodie watched their parents live out their faith in Jesus and selflessly show love to hundreds of young people.

Reagan and Brodie also witnessed time and again the brokenness that had occurred in the lives of many children.

Brodie tells of a particular scene that happened when he was 5 years old.

A vehicle with a man and three boys inside pulled up at the ranch. The man explained that his girlfriend had given him an ultimatum – it was either her or his children.

The man said he was choosing his girlfriend.

The oldest of the three boys quickly decided that living at Big Oak sounded pretty good to him. The middle child bolted from the vehicle and ran away. It took ranch staff members three hours to find him.

The youngest child – a 6-year-old – clung desperately to the man. The child begged his father not to leave him like the boy’s mother had done.

Years later, Brodie would come to understand that what he saw that day as a kindergartner significantly influenced the mission he would have as an adult.

After high school, both Brodie and Reagan went to the University of Alabama on athletic scholarships. Reagan played basketball until a back injury ended her career. From 2002-2005, Brodie was starting quarterback for the Crimson Tide.

From there, Reagan became a model in Europe and Brodie an NFL player with the Kansas City Chiefs from 2006-2012.

Afterward, Brodie and wife Kelli returned to Tuscaloosa, where Brodie worked in real estate for a time.

Concluding that the “catwalk” was not the life she was called to lead, Reagan went back to Tuscaloosa to earn a master’s degree in counseling.

Brodie and Reagan grew to realize that all their earlier experiences — how they grew up, what they saw happen in the lives of broken children, how their parents cared so deeply – were molding, shaping and preparing them for a purpose.

Their parents’ ardent devotion to protecting and helping children had become Brodie and Reagan’s devotion as well.

As a result, Reagan – wife of John David Phillips and mother of three boys – came back to the ranch. She is now leading the childcare team, which is the ministry arm of the ranch.

Understanding that his heart was at Big Oak, Brodie returned there as well and assumed the leadership role of day-to-day operations of the ranch.

Brodie and Reagan say they are completely committed to carrying on the work their parents began.

“This is not a job to us,” said Brodie, father of two boys. “… We’re going to continue to do what God called our family to do 40 years ago. We will continue to be faithful.”

For more information about Big Oak Ranch, as well as the books John Croyle has authored, visit www.bigoak.org.

Features

C.A.S.P.I.R.

Working to explain the unexplainable

“From ghoulies and ghosties and
long-leggedy beasties
And things that go bump in the night
Good Lord, deliver us!”
— Traditional Scottish prayer

Story by Elaine Hobson Miller
Photography by Michael Callahan

A 4-year-old Moody boy sees a stranger in his house during the wee hours of the morning. A grown man hears footsteps from above when he’s in the basement of his Pell City business and noises from below when he’s upstairs alone.

Who do you call when you think you’ve encountered visitors from the spirit world? Priest? Psychiatrist? Ghost Hunters? How about the St. Clair County-based Central Alabama Society for Paranormal Investigation and Research (C.A.S.P.I.R.)?

“The Moody boy’s mother called me at 3 a.m. in a panic,” says Frank Lee, former Army National Guard military logistics technician and the founder and lead investigator for C.A.S.P.I.R. “The boy’s sighting wasn’t the only paranormal activity going on at their house. Cabinet doors were opening, they were hearing voices from empty rooms, and they saw a little girl.”

Lee didn’t rush over in the middle of the night. “They were Christians, so I worked with them through some prayers and scriptures, and things settled down.” When he did investigate, he found quite a lot of residual and intelligent activity. “A lot of paranormal activity that people encounter is residual energy,” Lee continues. “The popular explanation of this is the Stone Tape Theory, which says that certain materials like stone can hold energies, like an emotional or psychic imprint, whether happy, sad or whatever. A perfect example is churches, which tend to be one of the most reported haunted places we’ve encountered. Those are not evil hauntings, but emotional imprints.”

Intelligent activity, Lee says, is where the spirit answers the questions that people proffer. “In the case of the Moody home, they were sitting on the perfect storm, because they lived next door to a church, where emotions often run high.”

As for the Pell City businessman who hears footsteps, the investigation continues. On a warm Friday night in August, the C.A.S.P.I.R. team set up its instruments on the main floor of his business. The shop is in an old, one-story house, with a main level used as offices and a basement used for storage. With its piles of boxes, stud framing for rooms that no longer exist, and dark corners, the basement has the atmosphere of a Hammer Studios horror flick. The man has seen shadows and odd lights on the main level, and one day, a mist abruptly formed in an office, then just as abruptly disappeared. Most of these incidents have occurred during broad daylight.

A motley crew consisting of two blue-jeaned, 30-something men, two teenagers, a pink-haired and a punk-haired woman and a third with long blonde hair, the C.A.S.P.I.R. team looks like it would be more at home in a hard-rock band than at a paranormal investigation. Lee opened a cache of scientific and quasi-scientific instruments that included a motion-activated infrared camera, a camcorder, night-vision and infrared lights, a laser-grid projector, and something called an SB-7, or Spirit Box, that scans radio frequencies every quarter of a second. The SB-7 generates white noise, which investigators believe spirits can use to communicate with this world.

They also set out a thermobarometer to measure atmospheric conditions, because they believe that when ghosts are trying to manifest themselves, they draw energy that can create temperature fluctuations. Their EMF meter, normally used to find leaks in electrical wiring, measures any electro-magnetic field generated by spirits that might be present.

The Law of Conservation of Energy states: “Energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only be changed from one form to another.” That would explain the presence of spirits in our world, says Lee. It also explains the theory behind the use of most of these instruments. The cameras sometimes pick up images that can’t be seen by the naked eye and simple voice recorders pick up electronic voice phenomena (EVP) from frequencies outside the range of the human ear.

Lee and his team came prepared with more than instruments, though. They had researched the building’s history and the geological properties of the land on which it sits. When they left, they would spend many hours poring over the data they had gathered, examining the photos closely and listening with practiced ears for any hint of other-worldly sounds.

“There are many aspects to properly handling a paranormal case, and the investigation is just the diagnostic part,” says Lee, an admitted science geek who sees himself as a serious researcher helping people rather than as a ghost hunter. “We follow up after the investigation, too, because the person involved may need counseling or to get back into church.”

This was Lee’s first trip to the Pell City business, but Donald Davis had been there several times. He says the house is inhabited by the spirit of an elderly woman named Anna, the former owner. He says her husband died in the basement, and that same man may have shot Anna’s brother to death in the back yard.

On previous trips, Donald had captured small moans, a voice saying, “Hey, I’m here,” and one complete sentence, “Do you want to go?” The latter, he says, was in response to his statement that if Anna didn’t want the team present, she should say so. He keeps going back, hoping to hear more.

Three other team members, Pink Floyd (real name), Dee Harper and Christine Grace, were present because they are mediums. Sometimes, Pink sees images or hears voices of entities inside her head, which caused her parents to send her to a psychiatrist when she was 5 years old. “I get memories of entities, like snapshots or watching a short film,” Pink says. “Some things trigger it, like certain smells that no one else can smell.”

Harper says she has always been able to see, hear and talk to spirits. “I saw a ‘real’ person in my mom’s closet as a child, but I was told it was my imagination. So I would block them (the spirit images) out. Last year, someone came into my life who helped me not to fear them, so now I tune in.”

Grace says names and numbers sometimes come to her, and she can see things others in the group can’t, like shadows, footprints or a face. “I can feel their touches, too,” she says.

While the team was setting up, their flashlight and camera batteries kept going dead, despite replenishing them with new ones. Lee had to run the instruments straight from the AC adapters, which can be common in haunted locations, he says.

Once the instruments were in place, the lights went off, and the chatter slowly faded as the team watched and listened. Donald turned on a digital recorder. The group eyed the green net light pattern on the wall, made by the laser grid projector. Street noises filtered in from outside and appliances hummed in the kitchen.

“Anna, are you still here?” Donald asked. He paused briefly, waiting for a response. “Is your husband here?” (pause) “Your brother?” (pause) “Can you tell us his name?” (pause) “Do you want us here?”

Suddenly, the laser lights flickered and dimmed. “Is that you tampering with our laser?” Lee asked. The grid stopped moving and came back to full brightness. “That was quite phenomenal, because we rarely see tampering with equipment to that level,” Lee says.

“Anna, do you know that you’ve passed away?” Donald continued. “Can you tell us how?” (pause) “Pink is here with us, do you have something to say to her?” (pause) “You said her name one time.”

Something touched Christine on the leg, causing her to jump. “I don’t know why they (spirits) like to touch me,” she says.

Later in the evening, after a curious reporter and skeptical photographer left, Brittany, Lee’s 13-year-old daughter, complained of a burning sensation on her back during an EVP session in the front office. When Lee checked her, he saw a large scratch mark that couldn’t be explained.

“She was sitting right in front of us when it happened, and there was nothing she could have leaned against in the chair to scratch her,” he says. Moments later, Brittany heard her name coming from the Echo Box, an instrument that takes random audio samples, then echoes and amplifies them, thus enabling the spirits to form words.

Other manifestations went on while the team was there, according to Lee. With everyone gathered in the same room, footsteps echoed from other parts of the house that were unoccupied. They felt knocking on the floor beneath them, as if someone were in the basement trying to make contact. Lee heard his name and Pink’s name from the Echo Box.

“When we asked, ‘How did you die?’ we heard a female voice come through the speaker that said, ‘Cancer,’” Lee claims. “We asked, ‘Who is in the basement?’ and the same female voice said, ‘My brother.’ We asked, ‘Is your brother angry?’ and received a ‘yes’ response over the system. When we asked, ‘How did your brother die?’ we received a response that said, ‘He was shot,’ which is historically accurate. We asked for names of the brother and others related to the case and the correct names came through as well. It was very compelling!”

This isn’t the scariest place Lee has encountered, however. That dubious distinction goes to a 17th-century Virginia home with a very dark past. “Me and three other investigators from a previous team were scratched and shoved there by something we couldn’t see,” he says. “We also had a case a few months ago here in Alabama where we saw a 25-pound end table thrown across the room. The people who live there had been clawed, pushed down the steps and held down and nearly suffocated. That type of activity is rare, but if you do encounter that degree of negativity and violence, you could be dealing with something demonic.”

Like the Pell City business, the end-table case remains open. “We’re working with a demonologist and the Catholic church to arrange a house blessing there,” Lee says. “If necessary, we’ll escalate the case to a full exorcism, which is also rare.”

Some investigations reveal normal causes to what people perceive as paranormal. While with a former team, Lee investigated a woman in Michigan who was having headaches, hallucinations and sleepless nights. The team found black mold and faulty electrical wiring in her rental house. When the landlord fixed those problems, the woman’s life returned to normal.

“There was no paranormal activity involved,” Lee says.

Contrary to popular opinion, paranormal activity doesn’t heighten around Halloween, according to Davis. “We see more activity in winter than summer, though, because the air is so dry and there is more static electricity,” he says. “Spirits use our energy and the energy that’s in the air to communicate with us.”

He believes that when people die tragically, they don’t always “depart” this world. “Some don’t know they’re dead and will deny it when asked,” he says.

So, where are these spirits, and why haven’t they passed on to heaven, hell or whatever Great Beyond awaits them?

“That’s what we’re trying to find out,” he says.

Old Farts Farm

[Show as slideshow]

St. Clair County’s grand menagerie

Story by Graham Hadley
Photos by Michael Callahan

Behind an unassuming front yard and garden, Sue and Al Maddox maintain one of the greatest menageries of interesting and exotic animals in St. Clair County.

It started 15 to 20 years ago with a weekly ladies day out to the farmers market to maybe buy a couple of chickens.

That was all Al, who was busy with a life doing specialty construction in fire damage repair and building restoration, was really willing to put up with.

“He said, ‘Fine, but no goats, horses, pigs or other animals.’”

The first trip yielded a few chickens for a coop out back; no big deal. The second trip a week later, a few more.

On the third trip? “Five goats, pygmy goats. No wait, six goats. We got old Butthead that day, too. He was going to be eaten in two days,” Sue said, laughing — something that comes as easy to her as breathing.

Her husband would not have approved, but he was not exactly made fully aware of what was going on.

“He left for work before sunup and came home after sundown, so he had no idea what we were up to in the back,” she said.

That was the seed that grew into what is now The Old Farts Farm, which is home to an amazing array of animals: peacocks, Mandrin and wood ducks, chickens of all kinds — from fancy Silkies to Rhode Island reds, giant rabbits and miniature horses, sheep, geese, quail, pigeons and turkeys. They also have several breeds of dogs running around, huge great Pyrenees that are almost as big as the horses, German shepherds, a Rottweiler and more, plus the property is patrolled by a variety of cats in all shapes and sizes. And, of course, there are the goats — mostly pygmy and dwarf goats, but several of the standard sizes, too, and in a variety of breeds.

And, with the exception of the rabbits and the birds, which have their own hutches runs and pens, they all live together in harmony. When Sue walks out into the farmyard, a Noah’s-Ark-like herd of animals comes running around the corner to visit — and beg attention.

Of course, at this point, Al, who is something of a ringer for Duck Dynasty’s Si, down to his camouflage jacket and cap, is fully aware of “what is going on in the back.”

When he first realized that just a few chickens had grown into an exotic animal farm, his response? “Fine, but I am not going to learn their names!”

Sue responded, “Well, of course I am not going to name them, they are farm animals” (which is also not entirely true — many of the animals have names now).

Al clarified, “No, I am not going to learn what kind of animals they are, what they are called!”

Watching as Al retrieved a Silkie chicken from its pen for a photo opportunity, she recounted this exchange and said, “Now he knows what all of them are.”

Despite his misgivings, The Old Farts Farm could hardly exist without Al. He not only helps care for all the animals, he put his construction expertise to work and built all the various pens and structures sprawling across the property to house the multitude of animals.

Still, Al grumbles good-naturedly about the entire affair.

“I used to drive big trucks all over, ran heavy equipment. Now I am down to lifting little birds,” he said holding up the captured Silkie for a picture.

“There are good days and bad days,” he pauses for a second, thinking. “Today — good day. I mean, it’s a full-time job, you never want for work.”

Sue gives him a look and a smile as Al returns the chicken to its cage and fetches a giant Flemish rabbit that is pushing 50 pounds for her to hold for the camera.

“Me, I am living the dream. Him — not so much,” she said.

“He grumps about the farm, but he really loves the animals. This is a man who, when it was freezing out a few weeks ago, he came out to the barn and laid on the concrete floor and let the baby goats climb all over him so they could warm up,” she said.

He does draw the line, though — “No pigs.”

And he was right, but Sue had to test the waters.

A man came by and wanted to trade a Vietnamese pot-bellied pig for a couple of chickens. “It could fit in the palm of your hand. It was so cute. I took it inside and showed Al. He just grunted. So I put the tiny pig on his beard nuzzled up to him.” Begrudgingly, Al consented.

They made a little pen for the piglet in the house that evening. Sometime in the early hours, Sue and Al woke up to the most eye-wateringly horrible smell.

“We thought sewage had backed up into the house,” she said.

It took them awhile to isolate the cause — the little pig had gone to the bathroom in the pen and then made a mess of everything.

“I carried the pig and pen out to the barn. I put an ad up online the next day. I think it sold in 20 minutes,” she said.

So, no pigs.

Though she loves all the animals — “even my little fish out there” — some animals are more equal than others. Two in particular top the list: The beautiful miniature palomino horse that follows her around like a puppy, ready to bump noses and give a “kiss” and Butthead, the goat she rescued from the dinner table that first time she brought goats home.

Butthead follows Sue and Al, too, but not for kisses. Butthead likes to try to bum cigarettes.

“I am glad I saved him. That is the coolest goat,” Sue said, laughing again as he tries to filch an unlit cigarette from her hand.

Lots of hard work too
Like Al alluded to earlier, as much as they love raising animals, it is a full-time job.

“Vacation is out of the question,” Sue said. “It’s a life. When it gets this big, it takes over everything.”

Caring for the adult animals; maintaining the cages; looking after the young animals, newly hatched and yet to be hatched birds in all shapes and sizes; running the business, cleaning — on and on, the work never ends and never lets up.

“Many days, we come in at 9 or 10 at night and we’re up before the sun, and we still have all the regular stuff to do. At 9 at night, most normal people have the dishes done and have had a shower. I also have to get online and do our Internet stuff,” Sue said.

The Old Farts farm has an active Facebook page, where they showcase their animals. But the social media site is also where Sue promotes the importance of local, independent farms.

The main barn now houses regular meetings, gatherings where other local farmers show off their animals or share their knowledge with each other.

Working together is the key for small farms. Their operation barely breaks even, if that, and many others operate on the same thin line of profitability.

“We are not going to make it unless we work together,” Sue said.

“Jerry Couch from Argo does the meetings. He knows a lot, especially about chickens. He has started taking his chickens to shows.”

They draw people from all over the region, many who want to start up a farm but don’t really know where to begin.

“We get people from Anniston. Drew Rhodes did a class on beekeeping. Eddy Bonner from Trussville showed us how to make rain barrels. You would be amazed at how fast you can fill a barrel with the rain water from your roof. And we had Jim Cole talk about garlic one time,” she said.

These classes not only help others, but they give Sue new ideas she can use at her property.

And there is always the possibility she will bring some new animal home — something else to love.

She got into the whole affair because she grew up with a father who loved animals, too, and he picked it up from his parents, who immigrated to the United States from Austria and farmed after working for Standard Oil.

The Old Farts Farm owes its name to Sue’s Dad.

“My Dad would say that word whenever a car pulled out in front of us. As he got older, he never dropped it,” she said.

Some day, Sue said, she may be willing to give up the farm, let her and Al get some vacation time and relax. But they have been married now for 20 years, and the farm is their life.

“He did not have a clue what he was getting in for when he married me. Surprise!,” she laughed, “No regrets!”

For more from the Old Farts Farm visit them on Facebook

Features

St. Clair teen finds life in rodeo

[Show as slideshow]

Story by Graham Hadley
Photos by Graham Hadley
and Dr. Shawn Stubbs

For one St. Clair teen, the rodeo is worth giving up football and baseball for.

It’s worth giving up weekends, afternoons and most free time in between.

In fact, John-Cody Dale Stubbs’ Xbox has been broken for several years now … and he doesn’t miss it a bit.

Instead, the 15-year-old freshman at Briarwood Christian has a whole host of things he would rather be doing — bull riding, chute dogging (steer wrestling), goat tying and, his absolute favorite, team calf roping, among other rodeo events.

Cody looks like a natural on the back of his horse as he practices in the ring his father built on their property by their house in St. Clair County, and that innate talent and hard work are already paying off. He has been bringing in awards at competitions at both the state and national levels in calf roping and other events and sees no end in sight.

Row after row of winning buckles lined the dining-room table in front of Cody as he pointed to his favorite — a sportsmanship award — one of the few buckles he does not wear to keep it pristine.

His father, Dale, who is a retired firefighter and contractor, is quick to clarify that the sportsmanship award is not a “participation” award, but one of the top recognitions that is carefully considered by the judges.

“When he first won it, I thought it was a consolation prize, but they told me it was a big deal — that the vote for Cody had been unanimous,” he said.

Dale said he was not surprised that Cody had won it, but the behavior necessary to acquire the much-prized award is a common thread in the rodeo community.

“That’s the way rodeo kids are. They are really good kids who have spent a lot of time with their family and are well raised,” he said.

Cody has also won several saddles and some money from his competitions. Though he is very competitive and doing well now, he hopes to one day get a bigger piece of the winnings, which he says can run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Dedication to the sport

Dale was not exaggerating when he said rodeo kids spend a lot of time with their families. In addition to normal family time, they spend most weekends and parts of the week traveling to various competitions, some just down the road, some in places like New Mexico and Oklahoma.

In fact, Cody and his Dad were gearing up to leave for another trip the day after his interview for Discover — they had been in Oklahoma the weekend before.

And where many traveling competitive athletes can fly to their destinations, Cody usually rides his own horses at each event, so those trips, both near and far, are on the road with the horses and all their support gear along for the ride.

In addition to competition road trips, Cody’s school is almost an hour from where he practices. A normal weekday afternoon sees Dale picking up Cody from Briarwood, driving to get something to eat, then he practices roping until around 9 p.m. every day. When he gets home, he has to take care of his horses and gear and many days, help get the RV packed and ready to hit the road to another show.

If he has any free time from all of that, Cody also has to train a new colt for riding.

“He ropes almost all weekends, so it is a six-day-a-week job,” said his mother, Dr. Shawn Stubbs.

And though he has missed some school for competitions, Cody also has his sights set on being a veterinarian one day, so his education is very important, too. He gets his homework done sitting in the truck on the way to practice. They plan on returning from an upcoming trip early in the morning and heading straight from the airport to get the aspiring animal doctor to school on time.

“You have to love it to do it,” Cody said.

From bull-riding to team roping

For all his dedication and the growing stack of awards — 18 buckles and several saddles — Cody has only been competing for a relatively short time.

“I have been doing this two and a half to three years,” he said. “I grew up around horses and animals. One day we went to Tractor Supply in Moody. There was a flier for a youth rodeo. I wanted to try bull riding. I also signed up for chute dogging.”

The first event was a win for Cody, just not the way he expected.

“I did pretty good at steer wrestling, but got bucked off bull riding.

“That was at Dusty Bottoms Rodeo in Sterrett. I noticed they gave away saddles for the most points. I realized I would have to do roping and horse events to win and started training in roping,” he said.

His mother was in the process of purchasing a horse from Wil and Rodney Sanders in Ardmore, and Dale said he was impressed by their operation.

“They were so nice. We asked about roping lessons for Cody.”

Then Cody “stole” his mother’s new horse to use for roping and riding, Dale joked.

Cody was working hard and competing and doing well, but he was not winning the events like he wanted to, so the Stubbs turned to Kenny Ellison from Calera.

“He has been helping me lately with my roping and riding,” Cody said.

Dale said he cold-called Ellison. “He is a very good guy. He took Cody in. Cody was roping really well but not winning. I called Kenny out of the blue. He did not know us.”

He has made a big difference for Cody in the arena.

“That’s just the way people in this sport are. The will help a kid out,” Dale said.

Gaining ground

Cody has been doing so well at a variety of events that he is starting to find sponsors — one of which is flying him out to Las Vegas and paying all his expenses there so he can do some product promotion and exhibition riding and roping.

RopeSmart has not only given Cody some much-needed equipment like practice steers and special wraps for the saddle horn, Cody got to rope with the owner at the national finals.

Standard Process does not do direct sponsorships for Cody, but they do help by providing some of the feed and other supplies for the horses.

Locally, he gets a lot of support from Jodie’s Harness & Tack. Dale said he could not say enough about the help and advice they get from the local business, located in the famous stacked-rock building on the outskirts of Odenville.

But the winning and everything that goes with it did not happen all at once. Many of the events Cody attends just focus on team calf roping, where he is usually the header, or steer wrestling. There are many levels and many different events to master for rodeo competition.

It was a lot to learn.

In team calf roping, as header “I catch the head of the steer (with a rope from horseback) and turn it for my heeler, who catches the back two feet,” Cody said.

“I also heel, where I catch the back two feet and get a dally and stretch the steer out.”

Aside from just liking roping, Cody said it is also his favorite sport because you can do it all your life — he sees ropers in their 80s at some events.

Other rodeo events — particularly bull riding — are more physical and more dangerous.

For bull riding “you draw your bull. They load him into a bucking chute. You have a bull rope. I wear a helmet, vest, chaps, a special leather glove to hold the rope and big spurs to get a better grip with,” he said.

The goal is to stay on for eight seconds

“I have gotten a lot better. I cover the ride — eight seconds — most of the time now,” he said.

Chute dogging — also called steer wrestling — is another sport Cody excels at but also takes its physical toll. Cody once had a gate not open right and ended up with a knee injury that day.

“Rodeo officials load the steer into a bucking chute. I get in there with it, get my arm around the steer’s neck and give a nod — the gate opens. You can’t touch the steer’s horns until you cross a line 8 feet from the chute. Then you grab the horns and use a certain technique to get the steer on the ground as fast as you can,” Cody said.

That event is the one that drew Cody to the state championship and is part of a national organization.

“That is what I went to New Mexico for,” Cody said.

His broad talent has opened many doors for him competitively. And once he started winning, Cody turned all his attention to roping and other rodeo events.

“He used to play baseball and football. He gave them up for this. He said, ‘Dad, I want to rope,’” Dale said.

For Cody, he sees two things in his future — “I would really like to get better. Go professional after (his parents emphatically agreed with this), after I graduate from vet school.”

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Fifteen and Fast

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Pell City’s ‘Coyote’ Cole Daffron
a force to contend with on the race track

Story by Graham Hadley
Photos by Michael Callahan
Track photos courtesy of
Kelly’s Racing Photography

Though Pell City’s William Cole Daffron can’t legally drive on the road without an adult in the car with him, he already has one national championship under his belt on the track and has his sights set on ARCA and eventually NASCAR.

With help from his family, friends, supporters and sponsors, “Coyote” Cole has been working his way up the racing ladder, starting out on the go-kart circuit and moving up to Pro Challenge 3/4-size trucks in the past year. They have a dirt track car ready and are putting together a pro late-model racecar — possibly the last step before moving on to ARCA and similar competitions.

“Cole has his eyes locked in to the ARCA series as the next step to NASCAR. He is currently running a dirt crate late-model on a limited basis to get that much-needed experience,” his father, Scott Daffron, said.

The Pell City High School student is only 15 years old — he has his learner’s permit thanks to his mother Tracy Partain mailing him the paperwork when he was at the beach. While he is learning to drive responsibly on public streets, Cole has hit speeds of well over 100 mph on the track.

Cole started racing go-karts in 2007 when he was 9 years old. His father had been racing cars off and on for years and helping other racers, with Cole often following Scott to the track to watch.

Cole said he tried out baseball, but did not like it much — he knew he wanted to get behind the wheel. The decision to start racing was mutual. Cole wanted to race and Scott wanted him to do it too, but did not want to push him.

“It was his decision. He had to want to do it. I wanted to be sure he was living his dream and not mine,” Scott said.

For Cole, the choice was simple — he wanted to race. In fact, that is his core goal, to make a career on the track.

So Scott bought a racing go-kart. These are not your run-through-the-yard domestic karts many children have. They are miniature racecars and are almost as complicated as the larger vehicles, costing in the thousands of dollars. Scott started out with a used one in case Cole decided he did not want to keep racing.

But he took to the sport like a natural — and has a room full of trophies and winner’s checks, not to mention a national-championship ring, to prove it.

Cole started racing at the Talladega Short Track in 2007, pulling a respectable third place track championship that year. The following year, he earned a track championship, and by 2009, he won both the Alabama-Mississippi Series championship, champ kart, and the Maxxis Tire national championship, flat kart.

“That first race, it was exciting, different from anything I had ever done. It was the best time I ever had,” Cole said, though he did note the national championship race was the most exciting time he has ever had.

Scott said it was during those early racing days Cole earned the nickname “Coyote” — based on the coyote character from the Roadrunner cartoons. He was racing more experienced drivers who had already made names for themselves, “and I told him if he beats those guys, he would be the Coyote. … and then he started beating them.”

As the wins kept coming, with success across the Southeast in Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia and other states, Cole stepped up to the next level with the 3/4-scale Pro Challenge trucks, graduating at the same time from dirt to asphalt, once again proving himself a natural behind the wheel.

To date, Scott said Cole has not had a Pro Challenge finish lower than fifth. Just this September, he set a new track record during qualifying at Sunny South Raceway in Grand Bay, Alabama, and went on to win the race there for the sixth time in a row.

Even before that race, the PCHS teen had already been tapped as the 2013 rookie of the year for that series and is in a “three-way battle” for second place in the national championship, he said.

Scott and Cole say they fully expect him to be in an ARCA race by 2015.

Dedication, hard work
and more than a little help

Though Cole is the one driving the car, there is a whole network of support behind him making his racing career possible.

“A lot of people don’t understand this is a full-fledged racing program,” Scott said. The go-karts cost thousands of dollars, the Pro Challenge car costs thousands more, and the dirt-track car and the pro late model cars cost in the tens of thousands — and that is just to purchase the vehicle and get it race ready. That does not include maintenance and parts — especially tires, and the transportation to and from the tracks and other expenses.

Luckily for Cole, help is in no short supply.

His grandparents, Bill and Patricia Daffron, “are probably Cole’s biggest sponsors and his biggest fans. They make sure we have what we need to race. They are very supportive,” Scott said.

In fact, it is partially because of Bill that the family got into the racing business. He left the car dealership he had been working at to start a salvage yard and body shop. It was that car-filled environment that Scott grew up in that he credits with getting him hooked on racing (and restoring vintage vehicles, but that’s another story). Though his father still runs the salvage yard, Scott handles the body shop.

It is this family-run business and its resources that form the backbone of Cole’s racing operation.

Because of his quick success at the track, Cole has already landed one sponsor — Amsoil D&S Lubrication through Dennis Crowe, which has brought in some much-needed financial support.

Then there is Carl Dieas, who helps out around the shop and can always be counted on to track down parts — sometimes from very far away and on very short notice.

“I just help out a little here and there,” Carl said, but Scott was quick to clarify exactly how important a role Carl really plays.

“He has done a round trip in 13 hours for parts that had been ordered but did not come in time. If he had not done that, we would not have been racing that weekend. It’s hard to do this without Carl,” Scott said.

Cole and his Dad also throw credit to Scott Honeycutt — Cole’s spotter during races and his “right-hand man.”

“He is the best spotter I have seen. He can talk Cole through any thing, a wreck, whatever, on the track. … But he does not try to tell Cole how to drive,” Scott said.

For all the help he receives, Cole does his part, too — aside from just driving.

Between training and maintaining his vehicles, Cole says he does not have much free time. “I come in from school and start working in the garage. We take a break around 5 and eat dinner, then come back out and work some more,” he said, adding that the races take up “just about all my weekends.”

And though he is only 15 and can’t legally drive on public streets without an adult, he is preparing for the day he gets his driver’s license, too, by building his own truck in one of the family’s garages. He has already made solid progress on putting his 2009 Chevrolet together.

The thrill of racing

For Cole, all the hard work is more than worth it when he gets out on the track and it’s all about the racing.

“The first time I won a truck race, we had been working so hard. It was the last few laps and I was in front. The spotter was telling me where the other guy was behind me on the last lap. You pray you don’t mess up, and then you win,” Cole said, emphasizing that the excitement of those moments is almost beyond description.

Scott shares the thrill from afar, but gets equally excited. He remembers the national championship race in fine detail. “It was my most exciting moment. Watching him come around the corners in front. Cole was breathing so hard, his mask would fog up and he would fall back. The kids kept trading the lead, then we came out ahead.”

Along with the excitement of the race, Scott admits that, as a parent, there is also concern that something could go wrong.

“My heart feels like it is going to beat out of my chest every time somebody gets close to Cole on the track or something happens,” he said.

Luckily, Cole has not had any serious accidents to date, though he did flip a go-kart off a berm one time.

“We were coming out of a turn three wide,” Cole said. The karts got tangled up, and “I hit a berm and flipped in the air, landed on all four tires. It was pretty intense.”

“Thank God he landed on all four — there is no roll cage on those,” Scott said.

“And no seat belts,” Cole added.

Given his track record and continued winning streak, Cole said he thinks he has a solid chance of one day racing NASCAR.

His Dad agrees, but says they still have a ways to go, both as a team and Cole as a driver.

“I want to make sure he is mature enough. So far, everything has worked because we have been taking it in steps,” Scott said, pointing out that time behind the wheel is really the key to being a good driver. Right now, he wants Cole to race cars on the dirt track because, even though they can top 100 mph, the slick dirt will help prepare him for the day he races stock cars on asphalt and the tires heat up and become slick.

And, as Cole builds up his driving skills, Scott hopes to attract more attention to what they are doing, possibly even finding more sponsors and supporters.

“We are still in development. We are learning as we go along,” he said.

You can Follow “Coyote” Cole on Facebook here.

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Around the Next Bend

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Sugarbush Farm: Antiques
and so much more

Story by Carol Pappas
Photos by Michael Callahan
Submitted Photos: Sugarbush Farm

If you weren’t looking for it, you just might miss the small sign out front that says, Sugarbush Farm. But if you passed by what lies just beyond it, rest assured, you missed out on something mighty special.

Tucked snugly behind the home that is barely distinguishable from others along Pell City’s Wolf Creek Road South is an 1850 cabin restored on the property and connected to the existing house. A few feet away stands another relic, a motel room from the old Rose Hill Motel in Irondale, which thrived in the 1930s and 40s.

But just around a dirt bend above the home of Jo and Paul Harris are the stables that once boarded more than 20 horses at a time. The covered arena across the way was once alive with the sound of children, horse hooves, riding lessons, shows and the nationally sanctioned Wolf Creek Pony Club.

As she turns the pages of photo albums and books, the familiar look of remembrance is unmistakable. So is the smile that accompanies it.

Jo and Paul moved to Pell City in 1973. He was a familiar face around St. Clair County, having graded cattle herds for the Extension Service. He judged 4-H and Future Farmers of America steer shows as well.

Paul had been a partner in a cattle corporation, sold his partnership and bought his own herd of Polled Herefords for breeding, leasing land around the county to raise his cattle. But during the Nixon administration, interest rates stood at 21 percent, and the president put a freeze on cattle prices. “It put us out of business,” Jo said.

But the couple was not to be deterred by the setback. Jo remembers telling Paul at the time, “You had your turn, let’s try horses.” Horses had been a passion of hers from an early age growing up in Oklahoma.

They secured their first boarder and “built from there,” she said. They developed a riding school with summer camps. She became certified as an instructor in the American Riding Instruction Certification Program. “I was working with an accounting firm and spent summer vacations with riding camps.”

Paul built the covered arena, and they would hold adult riders dressage clinics with a United States Dressage Federation instructor.

In the late 1980s, the Pony Club was chartered by the U.S. Pony Clubs – no small feat for a tiny town 40 miles outside the big city. It drew members from Moody, Talladega, Anniston, Birmingham and of course, its home in Pell City. “On Sunday afternoon, I gave lessons, and we held weekend competitions. We had a lot of fun,” she said as she thumbed through dozens of old photographs.

Sugarbush Farm was on the map as a pony club. “I’d like to think I made a difference with the kids,” she said. “I can’t say how many kids over the years, but my first student, Carrie Henderson, is now giving riding lessons in California.”

When health took its toll and she was unable to ride any longer, she acquired a Meadowbrook cart. In 2004, she traveled to Beaver Dam Farm in Nova Scotia to take a driving course. “That was the only time I got to ride on the beach.” She drives it now on a trail behind her home.

The cabin that Paul built

Jo and Paul’s homeplace is far from typical. They bought the 1850 cabin near the Shiloh battlefield in Tennessee. It was dismantled and moved to Pell City, where it took Paul two years to reassemble it. “You can still see the numbers on the logs,” she said.

There seems something familiar about the interior, perhaps because it was the setting for a handful of Southern Living Magazine photo shoots for various publications and occasions over the years. The coziness and the warmth envelops you as you enter, and the antiques Jo has collected over the years are the picture-perfect complement. Century-old quilts, shaker boxes and a cavernous fireplace as the focal point cannot help but send any visitor back in time.

Not your typical antique store

Step out back just across the gardens, and you’ll discover another remnant of days gone by – Jo’s antique shop. Sugarbush Farm Country Antiques and Folk Art is more than a sight to behold. It’s a treasure to savor.

Jo had passed by the vacant Rose Hill Motel many a time, seeing the motel cabins and wishing she had one. Her son discovered later they were for sale, and they bought two — one for her antique shop and the other serves as a guest house on her son’s land just across the way.

Its 192-square-foot frame encases rare collectibles Jo has just displayed for sale. She has reopened the antique shop and is hoping to pique the interest of antique and collectibles enthusiasts. She figures, she said, “If I get rid of it, the kids won’t have to.”

The collection is far from anything to be ‘gotten rid of.’ Hand-woven coverlets from York, Pennsylvania, and a 19th century coverlet hang from a quilt rack. Rows of shelves display her prized Blue Willow china with the buffalo mark on the back, signifying its century of age.

A butter churn reminds her of the days growing up on a dairy farm. “We made our own butter” and cooked from the garden. “I don’t think we went to the store except to buy flour and sugar,” she says.

French flatware, a William Britain Soldiers collection from England and Blue and White enamelware are but a few of the “finds” in her shop. There are delftware made in Holland, Blue Onion kitchen utensils and vintage Spring Bok puzzles, similar to jigsaw. There is even a collection of harness brasses used to decorate tradesman horses in England, the harness brass branded with the trade just as a logo would be used today.

“I have been a collector all of my adult life,” she says. She bought “things my mama used to have. I like to think back to the days when she did her canning.” And she quickly adds, “I don’t want to do it, I just want to remember it.”

Throughout the shop, the cabin and the 30 acres Jo and Paul call home these days, those memories of the past abound.

Jo sums it up in a simple, yet poignant thought that could be applied to antiques and memories alike: “I guess I’m just a collector at heart.”

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