ACES

This ain’t your granddaddy’s Extension System

Story by Elaine Hobson Miller
Photos by Michael Callahan

Perplexed about when to plant kale or collard greens? The Alabama Cooperative Extension System has a workshop for that.
Want your teenagers to learn money-management skills or more about healthy eating? Alabama Extension has programs for that, too.
Need to touch up your job skills? Alabama Extension can help you do that as well.

Many folks remember St. Clair County extension agents coming to their farms to advise gramps about those pesky weeds in the cow pasture. They may recall home agents telling grandma that to safely can her green beans she must use a pressure canner not her hot water bath canner. But money management and job resumes? Clearly, this isn’t your grandparents’ extension service any more.

“Most people know us simply as the Extension Service, but our name officially changed from service to system in 1995 after a landmark federal court ruling, making ours the nation’s first unified Extension program,” says Lee Ann Clark, coordinator for Alabama Extension’s St. Clair County office since 2005.

“Originally, program services centered primarily around agriculture and home economics-related topics. The 4-H Clubs, which began in 1909 as Corn Clubs (for boys) and Tomato Canning Clubs (for girls), laid the foundation for today’s 4-H program. It is still one of our flagship programs, but we’re so much more today.”

For 90 years, the bulk of extension programs were carried out by county agents—generalists who kept abreast of many different subjects and delivered a wide-variety of programs.

By the onset of the 21st century, there were fewer farms, changes in public expectations and the World Wide Web, which changed how information was being delivered. In 2004, these changes prompted a reorganization and switch from using the generalist agents to regional agents who specialize in one of 14 extension program priority areas.

Regional agents now cover several counties, advising third-generation farmers and the newcomers who just moved out of the city. However, despite the growing emphasis on regional agents, Alabama Extension continues to operate offices in all 67 counties.

Funded by federal, state and county governments, Alabama Extension is an extension of land-grant colleges, according to Henry Dorough, extension coordinator for Talladega County and a former regional agent for animal science and forage in St. Clair County.

Land-grant colleges were established by the federal government under the Morrill Act of 1862, which granted 30,000 acres of federal land for each member of Congress each state had. Southern states were prevented from participation until after the Civil War. The Hatch Act of 1887 established agricultural experiment stations in conjunction with the land-grant colleges. In 1890, the second Morrill Act extended land-grant status to black colleges in the South, which included Alabama A&M and Tuskegee University.

Today, there are 16 research centers in Alabama, along with Auburn University and Alabama A&M, that feed research-based information to Alabama Extension.

“The basic premise for Cooperative Extension actually began at Tuskegee Institute, now Tuskegee University,” Dorough explains. “Dr. Booker T. Washington, the university’s first president, mandated that all professors spend time out in the community educating the public, especially the poor and in rural areas, teaching citizens where they lived. He coined the phrase, ‘taking the university to the people,’ which is what Alabama Extension does.”

 
Early days

The roots of the county extension agent go back even further, to the ‘movable school’ George Washington Carver established through Tuskegee University in 1906. Named after Morris K. Jesup, the Jesup Wagon was a horse-drawn demonstration wagon used by Thomas Monroe Campbell, who later that year received a federal appointment as a farm demonstration agent.

The same day Campbell got his assignment (November 12, 1906), William Crider Stallings of Texas became the first extension agent to serve a single county. “The way I see it, the sun rises in Tuskegee before it does in Texas, making Campbell the first County Agent,” says Dorough. “I think it’s significant that a black man at a black college in Alabama was the first extension agent in the country.”

Tuskegee is a private land-grant college with its own extension program. “Tuskegee opted out of Alabama Extension to preserve its history and unique identity, but they are a partner in the system,” Dorough says. We call on each other and work with them, even though their name isn’t on our letterhead.”

 
Casting a wide net

The regional agents covering St. Clair County go far beyond what Booker T. Washington or George Washington Carver could have imagined. Angela Treadaway, regional agent for food safety, preservation and preparation, heads up the ServSafe program, a certification class for restaurant workers and owners required by the county health department. Her class on cottage industries keeps people who want to sell foods from their own kitchens from running afoul of the health department.

Vikki Blalock of Lincoln learned some jelly-making techniques at a recent Jams and Jellies Workshop hosted by Treadaway. “These new techniques will save me time and will produce a better jelly,” she says.

Sallie Lee, urban regional extension agent for home grounds, gardens and home pests, has lots of programs for older folks, like Grow It to Eat It, a catchy name for container gardening. Emily Hines, regional agent for family resource management and workforce development, conducts workshops and advises individuals on budgeting and finance, along with job preparation skills like resume writing.

Nancy Graves is the 4-H Foundation regional agent, while Becky Staples serves as a 4-H agent assistant for St. Clair County. Staples goes into local schools with various programs like Skins & Skulls, a science program that gives fourth-graders an up-close-and-personal look at the structure of wild animals in the woods of St. Clair County. She also conducts a Classroom in the Forest program and takes a group of kids to 4-H camp every summer. Graves is in charge of all volunteer-led clubs, including the 4-H after-school club and specialty clubs that focus on horses, archery and shotguns.

Through the 4-H Innovators Program — the only one of its kind in Alabama — Staples uses STEM-based (science, technology, engineering and math) projects that expose kids to critical thinking and teamwork. Spaghetti Towers, for example, gives students 18 minutes to take 20 pieces of uncooked spaghetti noodles, three feet each of masking tape and string, and a marshmallow to build a freestanding tower that will hold the marshmallow.

 Donna Shanklin, regional agent for human nutrition, diet and health, holds workshops on diabetes education and various other health and nutrition-related topics for the general public. She also works with soon-to-be released prison inmates, providing them information on nutrition and public health.

Bethany O’Rear, regional agent for home grounds, gardens and home pests, conducts classes on gardening, landscape and rain barrels. Every other fall, she teaches the 12-week Master Gardener course, which will be available again in September 2018.

Joan Belzer attended O’Rear’s Fall Gardening Tips lunch-and-learn workshop in December 2017. “That was the first one I’d gone to,” says the Steele resident. “I made notes about what I needed to do, and one was about the care of equipment before winter. I also made notes about how much rain and mulch new plants need and how to get my soil tested through Auburn. I’ll probably go back to other events because I learned enough to make it worthwhile.”

As forestry, wildlife and natural resource agent, Norm Haley hosts workshops on invasive plant control and pond management and creates and posts videos on the Alabama Extension YouTube channel, focusing on wildlife management, trapping and drainage control.

If military veterans need assistance in accessing their benefits, they can call Wayne Johnson, who heads up Veterans Outreach, a pilot program developed in St. Clair County. “Many veterans don’t know what their benefits are,” Johnson says. “I go to different events, visit the veterans home and churches, spreading the word and touching base with our vets to see what they need. One of their biggest needs is where to go to access their health and other benefits, but they are also looking for support groups and assistance with job training.”

 The Extension office has two vehicles to help vets get to and from medical appointments and sponsors a support group for PTSD victims. “I’m finding a lot of the older veterans don’t have any family or close friends around,” Johnson says. “We also help our homeless vets. Right now, I have two families I’m helping to find housing.”

 
New to the job

Cori Harris and Alex Tigue are the two newest agents who serve St. Clair County. Cori is a SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps) Educator. She goes into qualifying St. Clair County schools using an iPad program called Body Quest to teach kids about making healthier choices. To promote fruits and vegetables, youth participate in weekly Warrior Tastings, where they taste a variety of crunchy fresh produce. Physical activity, sleep hygiene and family engagement also are promoted with recipes provided for parents to try at home.

Tigue works with farmers as an animal science and forage agent covering St. Clair, Jefferson, Marshall, Blount and Calhoun counties. One day he may be in Ashville or Guntersville, another day he’s working with a cattle producer in north Blount County or helping other agents conduct a workshop at Auburn University for backyard poultry producers. “All of our agents are like this,” he says. “We’re wide open all the time.”

Seventy percent of the calls Tigue gets are about weeds taking over pastures or bugs eating up someone’s field. “People go on the internet and aren’t confident about the answers they’ve found,” he says. “They want someone who can tailor an answer to their specific problem and not a one-size-fits-all. Our specialty as Alabama Extension agents is finding individual answers for individual people.”

 
All about learning

A couple of years ago, Emily and Mark Taylor of Ashville attended a hay and forage workshop, a four-class series held in different places. Emily is a member of the St. Clair County Farmers’ Federation board of directors and chairperson of its women’s committee. She and Mark raise cattle on acreage once owned by Emily’s parents. “I’ve been to several of the lunch-and-learn workshops for gardening and fruit trees and fermentation,” she says. “Those things are very helpful to your farm and household.”

Lee Ann Clark, whose enthusiasm for her job shows in her animated conversation and the 4-H memorabilia in her Pell City courthouse basement office, uses several means of getting the word about Alabama Extension programs and services out to the public it serves.

The St. Clair office has two Facebook pages (St. Clair County, AL, Extension Office and St. Clair County, AL, 4-H); a web page (www.aces.edu/StClair); writes a weekly column for local newspapers; and offers a free, bi-monthly newsletter. Anyone who wants to get on the newsletter mailing list may call the Extension Office at 205-338-9416.

“Currently, we have more than 1,800 families on our mailing list,” says Clark, a St. Clair County native and former 4-H’er who has worked for Alabama Extension here since 1998. “The newsletter is available on our web page and via an eNewsletter, but we realize that not everyone has internet access or prefers to read it online.”

In addition, Clark spearheaded a project that put kiosks about Alabama Extension outside her office door and at the Moody and Springville libraries. Her goal is to place one in all other libraries and the courthouse in Ashville. Born of her idea to create an information center based on the Red Box movie rental-type box concept, the Extension kiosks — the first of their kind in the state — provide all a person needs to know about the county Extension office in one easy-to-access place. “I believe that our tagline on the bottom of the kiosk, ‘Cooperative Extension. Extending Knowledge. Changing Lives,’ quite simply sums up what we do,” she says.

Clark’s current project is setting up an aquaponics class in St. Clair County. Why aquaponics? “Because people have requested it,” she says. That’s reason enough for her. 

Backwoods Whitetails

Deer farm in Odenville building a brand, bringing visitors’ smiles

Story  by Carol Pappas
Photos by Susan Wall
Photos courtesy of Backwoods Whitetails

Drive through the gates of Backwoods Whitetails in Odenville, and you can’t help but sense you are about to witness something very special.

Wind through the property of rolling pastures, a canopy of towering trees lining both sides of the rocky road and pull to a stop at a nondescript barn. Fencing surrounds this farm, and it looks like most others around these parts, but instead of rows of crops growing all around, a hundred pairs of eyes are focused on you.

Fawns, bucks and yearlings wander through fenced pastures, their almond eyes trained on the strangers who have just arrived. Treats thrown in their direction bring them closer, and closer still.

At Backwoods, it’s all in a day’s work – raising prime stock deer from bottle-fed newborns to majestic bucks with racks wider than the length of your outstretched arms.

Owners Dane and Katelyn Dorsett and family are not your typical farmers, they breed deer, which now number 140 head, including fawns. And they sell to other breeders and owners of huge hunting enclosures around Alabama, fetching $4,000 and up each.

It’s not as easy as it sounds, said Dorsett. “It’s a big gamble. I tell people, don’t invest more than you’re willing to lose. One straw of semen to artificially inseminate in hopes of breeding prime stock can cost $15,000. And only 75 percent – “sometimes less than that” – take.

You might call this a family farm business. And you would be right. Dorsett’s wife, Katelyn, assistant principal at Odenville Intermediate School, bottle raises many of the fawns each year for the business they started in 2011.

Her father and three others help Dane with the daily chores of running an expansive deer farm like this that contains 10 pens stretching over multiple pastures.

Macy, the Dorsetts’ dog, hops aboard the all-terrain vehicle, keeping an eye on things and getting out at every stop. “She goes in every pen with me,” Dorsett said. She’s even been known to ‘kiss’ a deer or two.

The Dorsetts’ two boys — Hayes, 3, and Bryce, 1 — play nearby. It’s just another day to them as they round out the picture of this family affair.

“I am looking forward to next year, when I don’t have actual babies and deer babies we’re raising at the same time,” Katelyn said. “I am glad the kids get to grow up around this. They like being outside.”

When her “deer babies” are born, she starts bottle raising them in individual stalls located in the barn. Meanwhile, a ton – yes, that’s 2,000 pounds – of custom deer feed a week keeps the rest of the deer satisfied.

This all takes place on 40 acres in rural Odenville. Dane said the farm’s name came from its location – “the middle of nowhere.”

But around Alabama, it’s quickly making a name for itself, producing superior class genetics in its stock. According to its website, the Dorsetts have been on a “strategic breeding plan using Northern and Texas sires to create a range of genetic crossings.”

And farm visits are welcome daily. August is the busiest time of year when breeders are coming in and out, they are moving bucks and getting ready for breeding, said Dane.

This time of year is a little slower, and the deer actually seem to enjoy the company of admirers passing by on a Saturday morning. Realtor Lyman Lovejoy was among that group. He had brought his stepson and grandkids to experience it.

“This is unbelievable that we have something like this right here in our own backyard,” said Lovejoy. “These majestic animals are a sight to behold, and it’s heartening to know that a young couple can not only make a living but put St. Clair County on the map with this farm. What they’re doing is really impressive – the whole operation.

“And my grandkids see these beautiful deer, and their smiles tell me they think it’s Christmastime and Santa’s on his way!” l

 

New life for Little House

History saved and preserved
in Springville

Story and photos by Jerry C. Smith

The Springville Preservation Society refers to it simply as The Little House, but its transformation from forlorn vintage home to a quaint welcome center and community venue is no small story.

Built in St. Clair Springs sometime around 1880 (or 1835, depending on whom you ask), this homey two-room cottage was destined for demolition. In 2002, Roderick Brown made the society an offer: Move it, and it’s yours, but do it now. His only request was for a marker that acknowledges his gift. He’s since passed away, but a large oval plaque has been placed on the front porch in his honor.

The house was first relocated to the old Springville Lake property, where it underwent major restoration to prepare it for community use. Its windows were replaced with handcrafted copies of the originals. A fine front porch and tin roof were also added.

Springville’s John Trotter, who did most of the carpentry work, remembered those days well, “When we started this project, I was 6 feet, 4 inches tall and weighed over 200 pounds.” Now slimmer and a bit shorter, he quipped, “If we had to do this again, I would probably wind up 4 feet tall.”

A needlework plaque on the kitchen wall says it all: Hard work is the yeast that raises the dough. John, his wife Sara, and Gayle Hammonds were prime movers for the entire project and continue their leadership roles today, but other folks and factions have generously lent their support.

For instance, the magnificent wood flooring in the parlor was donated from a pile of demolition salvage. It was stored in a building belonging to Pearson Sawmill, owned by the family of Carol Pearson Waid, who, with her husband Frank, have worked tirelessly in other local restoration projects.

Originally painted a hideous green color, the 1-by-4-inch tongue-and-groove flooring had to be sanded and sealed, but is now a lustrous vintage pine color, complete with random worm tracks and deeply colored knots.

The Hammonds, the Trotters and other community members have donated furniture, kitchen equipment, labor and other goods and services to Little House, which now sits on land owned by the City of Springville.

Sara says, “A local councilman said (Gayle and Sara) were two of the most determined ladies he’d ever met.” They’ve worked tirelessly for years, seeking donations through local fashion shows and other fundraising activities.

Gayle adds, “For Sara, John and me, it’s been absolutely a labor of love.”

They point out that it’s by no means finished. It’s a perfect opportunity for local civic groups, garden clubs, Boy Scouts, landscapers, grass cutters, anyone with time and willingness to contribute something positive to the Springville community infrastructure.

John, who lives in a vintage home on Gin Street that he also restored, said, “When we got the house, it had no floors or ceilings, no bath and no wiring. We had to install all of it.” He pointed out a ceiling lamp and table lamp, both of which were converted from kerosene to electricity by the same electricians who wired the house using materials typical of rural electrification.

Other than a few comfort additions, such as air conditioning, there is little in the main parlor to betray Little House as being less than a century old. But the similarity ends there as you step into a modern kitchen, complete with microwave and refrigerator, then into a new bathroom, which is a story unto itself. The Society had intended using Little House as a welcome center on the old Spring Lake site, but found that it was not legal to install a septic system so close to the city’s water supply, thus the move to another location.

In 2012, the new front porch was removed, and the house was moved to its present location at 66 Walker Drive, just west of downtown Springville. Restoration work continued until recently, adding the restroom, floors, ceilings, a handicap ramp and reinstallation of the front porch. 

Gayle says it will serve several community functions. For one, it will be opened as a welcome center anytime there are large events, such as block parties, 5k races and Homestead Hollow events.

In addition, its main purpose is to serve as a rentable venue for small community group functions, including club meetings, showers, parties and other gatherings. Although actual occupancy is limited by fire law to 16, Gayle says there is ample level lawn space for tents, booths, outdoor festivities and overflow crowds.

Their brochure suggests wedding ceremonies on the front porch with bridal preparation inside, birthday parties, intimate dinners, anniversaries, child tea parties and any other functions not involving huge crowds.

Catering is available from The Choppin’ Block’s amazingly varied menu, or you can bring your own and use the in-house refrigerator and microwave. A limited number of chairs and tables are provided. For information or reservations, contact Sara Trotter at 205 467-3000.

Both Sara and Gayle emphasized that a quick private tour can easily be arranged at very short notice by phone, either to Sara or to Gayle, at 205-937-3071. Gayle adds, “We all live less than 10 minutes away and would be glad to meet you there.”

To reach Little House, go west from the four-way stop in Springville for about a quarter mile, then left on Walker Drive. The house will be on your immediate right. GPS coordinates are 33.76511N 86.4802W.

Editor’s Note: We are sad to report that Mr. Trotter passed away in late August, a few weeks after our story interview.

 

A Century of Panther Football

Story by Paul South
Photos by Mike Callahan
Submitted Photos

In the 1970s, like generations of little boys before and after him, David Gulledge lived for fall Friday nights and Pell City High School Panther football.

Growing up in Avondale’s Mill Village, the gleam of the stadium lights was for Gulledge and his pals, the stuff of hopes and heroes. And joy could come from something as simple as a shred of fabric from Panther running back Wayne McCoy or quarterback Jay Grogan, or future Florida State All-American Ken Roe.

“When I was a kid growing up, that was back when they had tear-away jerseys,” Gulledge said. “I remember looking up and admiring all those folks. I was one of those little kids standing by the fence waiting to get a piece of one of those tear-away jerseys.

“If we were fortunate, we’d get the whole jersey, tie it into a ball and go play football up on the hill,” Gulledge added with a laugh. “Friday nights, as in most towns, mean the town shuts down and comes together.”

Gulledge would grow up to be one of those Pell City Friday night warriors, a three-year starter at quarterback who would later play at Jacksonville State and in the NFL. His is just one of the many stories that course through the 100 years of Pell City High School football.

Friday Night Lights

The impact of Panther football reaches from some not-so-auspicious beginnings – like a 95-7 loss to Anniston Presbyterian in 1921 – to undefeated seasons and to pro football’s biggest stage. Pell City lore includes Bobby Skelton, who quarterbacked Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant’s first bowl team at Alabama. Skelton would later become an SEC and NFL official, part of the crew for one the most exciting Super Bowls, San Francisco’s win over Cincinnati. Grogan would also play for the Tide, part of a host of Panthers who would go on to play college football.

Pell City teams would endure the trials of losing seasons and the triumphs of winning ones. But every game night, the town would come together to cheer the sons of millworkers and merchants, lawyers and doctors.

“Friday night, it’s like the town closes down and everyone is there to support the program and it just kind of brought the community together,” Gulledge said.

Retired attorney Bill Scott knows Pell City football as well as just about anyone. For 25 years, Scott, a former Panther player, helped haul the sideline chains at Pete Rich-Alumni Stadium. Chat with him long enough and he’ll talk about Coach Will Glover, Pell City’s winningest all-time coach, (81-39-6), a mythical state title in 1951 and a tradition of great teams, players and coaches.

The 1951 team, led by All-State end Bobby Golden went 10-0 and allowed only 63 points for the season. The Birmingham News tabbed the Panthers the Class A state champions in the days before the statewide playoff system.

The Panthers made their first playoff appearance in 1974 and captured their first playoff win and region championship the same year. In 1986, Gulledge helped lead the team to its first 11-win season. And in 1993, Pell City earned its first 12-win campaign. Across its history, Pell City has won eight area or region titles, according to ahsfhs.org

Glory Days

Glover led the Panthers in what many consider the golden age of Pell City football. Scott, along with former Panther star Charlie Gray, even helped Glover by scouting the next week’s opponents. Gray “thought the world” of Glover, a beloved Panther head coach, who helped build the stadium with his own hands.

Glover was a fiery competitor, a fever that sometimes spilled into the crowd.

 “We are a country town, but especially back then,” Scott remembered. “People in the neighborhood liked to take a nip or two. And some of them would come to the ball games. Four or five would hang on the fence around the field. Will would get excited, and there’d be some skirmishes on the field. And some of those people on the fence would get a little too inebriated and crawl the fence.

 “I just happened to be the City Recorder (now city judge). A couple of (the fans) got excited and got arrested. They’d come before me and I’d tell ‘em. ‘You tell all your buddies – you know who they are – the next one of them that crawls the fence and gets on that football field, tell ‘em to bring their clothes for six months, because that’s how long I can put ‘em in jail. The next one of you guys that crawls the fence at a football game, you’re going to spend six months in the city jail.’ I didn’t have another one crawl the fence.”

Panther fans had reason to be excited in the Glover era. The 1954 team went without a loss, the only blemish on a spectacular year was a 13-13 tie at Cleburne County. And in 1955, led by senior all-state quarterback Bobby Skelton, the Panthers went 8-1-1.

The World War II generation also played a role in Panther football glory. Some veterans who hadn’t completed high school were able to return to the high school to play football and graduate. The 1946 team under Coach Bill Friedman went 8-1 and defeated rivals Oxford, Leeds and Lincoln along the way.

“I was a scrub on that team,” Scott said. “It was a great team.”

The 1948 team was also memorable, helping establish Pell City’s tradition for great defense. The Panthers shut out Cordova 12-0 in the first game of the season and did not allow a first down until the second half of the second game, Scott recalled.

Defense has been a common thread throughout Panther history, said Scott Adamson, former sports editor at The Daily Home in Talladega. Adamson covered the Panthers for nearly two decades beginning in the late 1980s.

“The one thing I do remember, they always had a good defense, even when they didn’t necessarily have a good season. During the time I was there, they had quite a few losing seasons, but it was very rare when they weren’t competitive,” Adamson said. “And even in their down years, it seems like it was usually the defense that carried the day for them.”

Along with championship seasons and all-star players, Bill Scott tells tales of colorful moments in Panther football, of missed weddings and Scandinavian kickers.

Scott knows the wedding story firsthand. It was his sister Martha’s. And he was the guest who missed the Friday afternoon ceremony. Even brides have to understand the importance of football.

“One of the first games I got to play in, we played Lincoln. My sister Martha got married that afternoon in Tuscaloosa, and I didn’t go to the wedding because I went to the football game and got to play a little bit. She was pretty understanding, I think. She never mentioned that I didn’t go.”

And then, there is the story of Vidar Lunde, the exchange student-turned-kicker. Scott doesn’t remember the opponent, but he remembers Lunde’s kick after a Panther touchdown.

“The ball hit the cross bar. It bounced straight up. The officials under the cross bar apparently ducked their heads. The ball went straight up about 10 yards in the air. It came down on the other side of the crossbar. It was good. But both officials under the crossbar signaled no good. Pell City didn’t get credit for the point.”

From sidelines to gridiron

And Gulledge, who grew from the little mill-village kid clamoring for a scrap from a tear-away jersey into a prep All-America quarterback, college star and NFL draft pick, has a colorful story of his own. Fittingly, it’s about a jersey.

Bill Scott, 1948

“We’re playing at Gardendale, both ranked, in the playoffs, and we go out and warm up in our white away jerseys,” Gulledge recalled. “We come in after we warm up and they’ve got probably the ugliest gold jerseys you’ve ever seen in your life to go with the gold pants we had. The atmosphere in the locker room, just because of the change of the jerseys… it created a lot of excitement and a lot of buzz, and we went on to win the game. But those kinds of memories and the plays that individuals made during high school, those are the things we cherish.”

One-hundred years of precious memories do linger. But more than championships captured and games won, there are generations of lives touched and a community unified. Regardless of the state of the world, color of skin, or station in life, Pell City could always come together to cheer for the Black and Gold. Those were the only colors that mattered.

“I think the main thing is that you’re a part of Pell City football ,whether you are a player or coach, or go to school there or just root for them,” Adamson said. “It is such an integral part of the community. That’s true of a lot of high schools, especially in smaller towns. But it seems for a lot of years, Pell City football was the focus of the community. Even out of football season, people were still talking about it. It was such a legacy situation. You would go to a game, and there were players and fathers and grandfathers who played for them.

“That’s true of a lot of places, but for me as a sportswriter and as someone who lived there, there was no escaping Pell City football. It permeated everything. You learned about the Black and Gold. You learned about the Panthers. It was the pride of the city. Even when the teams didn’t play that well, they still showed up. They still cheered them on. And those kids were looked at like, ‘You’re carrying on a tradition. You may not have the wins that other teams have had, but this is something you’re going to carry with you for the rest of your life.’”

Gulledge, who many regard as the greatest player in Pell City history, gets emotional when remembering his Pell City days. He remembers earning a Pell City letterman’s jacket as a privilege. Lessons learned on the playing field at Rich Alumni stadium serve him to this day as a regional executive for Coca-Cola. He is quick to point out that football, like life, is a team sport.

“(Football) is bigger than one person,” he said. “I’ve been blessed to be surrounded by really talented players, really good teams, really good coaches, through high school, through college and to the NFL at Washington. Now in my professional life, the Lord has really blessed me and shown me favor by putting great people around me.”

When he talks about Panther football’s impact, Gulledge’s voice cracks with emotion.

“As a mill-village kid growing up, there was a time when we were having family challenges and struggles. I was headed down a road of no good. Football was my avenue to get away from those things. Fortunately for me, Coach (Pete) Rich and Coach (Lyle) Darnell and the coaches who invested in me personally and into those other kids in that community and the community as well, for me is what high school football is all about.

“What high school football did for me is give me an opportunity to keep my nose clean and stay out of trouble. It was an avenue that gave me a platform to compete in life. “

Ask Bill Scott about the meaning of Panther football, and he thinks of the nights standing near the concession stand as he readied for another game on the chain gang. The autumn Friday night air was perfumed with the aroma of buttered popcorn, roasted peanuts and steamed hot dogs.

“I’ve told many a person, there’s no place I would rather be in the world at 7 o’clock than right here at the Pell City High School football field on Friday night.”

St. Clair Remembers

Epic tales from the men and women who went to war

Story by Carol Pappas
Photos by Graham Hadley
Contributed Photos

It may be cliché, but if the walls of the Col. Robert L. Howard State Veterans Home could talk, my, oh my, the stories they could tell.

But short of talking walls and such, Discover writers and photographers visited the veterans home just weeks before its fifth anniversary in Pell City to record those stories. The 254-veteran capacity home is full now, and stories abound from different wars, different perspectives and different walks of life. The common thread of this band of brothers and sisters is service to country first.

These are real veterans, and these are their stories.

 

World War II seaman

went to ‘save the country’

Leo “Cotton” Crawford was only 17 when he boarded the USS Storm King as a seaman in World War II. He was 19 when he came home.

While today’s teens might lean more toward cars, careers or college, Crawford enlisted – like his two brothers – to, as he put it, “keep the Japanese from whooping us and take care of our country.”

Before he reached the age of 20, he knew all he needed to know: “We went to save our country, and we did.”

Crawford served in the Philippines. His two brothers – Herbie and Harold – had joined the Navy as well. “All three of us came out alive,” Crawford said, a hint of pride showing in his wide grin.

He doesn’t talk much about the war. Soldiers and sailors of his time rarely do. “We were in war,” he said. “It was expected” that you would serve. “They will take you if you’re a young kid ready to go. They took me. I enjoyed my time.”

Col. Robert Howard’s Medal of Honor on display at the Veterans Home in Pell City.

When he returned home to Alabama, he was hired by the telephone company and stayed there until retirement as a cable repairman. “Ma Bell hired all of us,” he said of him and his brothers.

Now living at the Col. Robert L. Howard State Veterans Home, he dons his USS Storm King cap most of the time, covering up the locks of grey he has rightly earned. It’s not quite clear how he got the nickname, Cotton.

It could have been the blondeness of his hair as a youngster or that he was partial to picking cotton at the farm of his “kinfolks” in Cullman, he said. They would see him coming and say, “ ‘Here comes ole Cotton,’ and it stuck with me.”

 

Teen joins Navy,

stays for career

It would be 25 years before Bill Waldon would leave the US Navy after bidding farewell to his native home near Carbon Hill. The son of a miner, he left the service as an officer. “I’ve been around the world twice,” he said.

He married at 17, and he remembers his brother-in-law coming home on leave from World War II. Inquisitive, he asked him what it was like to serve. The brother-in-law put it this way: “ ‘The Army is doing the fighting. The Navy is getting the pay. And the Marines are getting the credit.’ So, when I joined, I wanted to fight in the Navy. We were old country boys. We got the best deal we could.”

He worked in the communications section aboard the aircraft carrier, USS Valley Forge. “I was very fortunate. I didn’t hear a bullet.”

Later, as he rose through the ranks, he began to give the orders. “If they were shot at, I’d tell them what to do,” he mused. “If they’re shooting at the ship, stay pretty close together.”

He talked of his own good fortunes taking orders through the years. “I had good people telling me what to do.”

 

World War II vet

dodges bullets as messenger

“They called me a messenger,” said Dyer Honeycutt, who served in the US Army in World War II in France and Belgium. “I called myself a runner.”

It was his job to get messages from one camp to another. So, run he did. “Bullets sounded like a whip, a pop” as they raced past him.

“I was shot at a lot of times,” but he was never struck. “I’d get about the length of a football field, and they started shooting at me. I had a lot of good buddies get killed. I still believe the Lord above was taking care of me.”

He was the son of farmers in Attalla and joined the service after high school. His method of carrying messages without getting hurt? “I’d go one time to the left and two times to the right. Then I’m hitting the deck. They’re shooting at me.”

The dominant thought throughout was, “If the Lord wanted me to die, I would. If He didn’t, I wouldn’t.”

 

D-Day an ‘awesome’ experience

For James Majors, D-Day, the invasion of Normandy, could only be described as “awesome.”

From his vantage point on a troop carrier ship, “the sky was like a swarm of blackbirds. It was full of everything that could fly.”

His ship was on the first wave. Rockets were shot onto the beach. “The ocean behind me was full of ships. The sky was black with airplanes.” There was a church on top of the cliffs being used as a lookout by the enemy. “Our job was to knock it out, which we did.”

Ahead, he could see the cliffs up from the beach. Germans stood at the top shooting down at American soldiers as they climbed. “They were shot down, but our boys kept going. It was heartbreaking. They just kept going. I still have bad thoughts.”

After the initial invasion, it was Majors’ job to be a diver and clear the entanglements of  barbed wire and wood the enemy had left to block the beach. “We cleared pathways for the big ships to come in.”

Majors was a motor machinist mate, running the diesel engines – “everything mechanical on the ship except the refrigeration.” It was the farthest away from his Gadsden home he had ever been.

He jokes about his trip from England to Normandy, which could be measured in the space of 48 hours. “I aged a year,” he mused. “I was 19 when I left England, and I was 20 when I got to Normandy. His birthday was June 4, 1945. D-Day was June 6. “I don’t know how many Germans we took out, but we dug a lot of foxholes,” he said. “If there is anything that will break your heart, it is remembering what went on that day.”

At the same time, Majors says he has “a sense of pride I was able to be part of the crew. We carried the mission out with pride. I would go back again if it was under the same circumstances. I would not go back in the mess our boys are in now. In Normandy and Southern France, we knew who the enemy was. They don’t know who our friends are.”

He has talked to his younger counterparts at the veterans home. “The people they’re training are killing the trainers.”

But as for his own experience that fateful day in June 1945, “I was proud to have served in the greatest battle ever fought, and I was right out front. That was something.”

For more stories about our veterans, the Veterans Home and the community that supports them, read this month’s edition of Discover The Essence of St. Clair either in the digital edition or in print.

Riverside, Alabama

A diamond in the rough

Story by Paul South
Photos by Graham Hadley

 “Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it.”
—Norman Maclean (cq), Author

A story about this small, but growing St. Clair County town has an obvious beginning: The Coosa River.

Across the millennia, civilizations have been drawn to water to quench thirsts and quell appetites, to clean bodies and purify souls, for transportation and for commerce and for joy and inspiration.

And many have settled on the river to begin new lives, or to spend their last days near the peace and beauty of the water.

Just like civilization, the river is always changing. Heraclitis, a Greek philosopher, had it right. “No man ever steps into the same river twice; for it’s not the same river, and he’s not the same man.”

As the Coosa has changed across the centuries, Riverside has changed. Like the rest of its incorporated neighbors, Riverside’s population has grown, drawing new residents from larger urban areas like Birmingham.

While the real estate boom has not hit Riverside like Margaret, Odenville and other municipalities, the Coosa and Logan Martin Lake draw visitors like a powerful magnet. As it has throughout history, the water brings the promise of more people – and greater prosperity.

Mayor Rusty Jessup believes the future is bright. Jessup is in his fourth term as mayor and serves as the chairman of the county mayors’ association and as a member of the Alabama League of Municipalities’ Executive Committee.

“What a diamond in the rough (Riverside) is right here at this river,” Jessup said.

 

Riverside’s roots

Modern-day Riverside had its beginnings as Readmon when it was founded in 1882, but was later incorporated as Riverside in 1886. For years, it was the county’s industrial hub, a hotbed for logging, sawmills, milling and egg production. Barge traffic was common on the Coosa, moving commerce up and down the river.

A ferry – known as the Coleman Ferry – also provided a key transportation link, helping people cross the river in the horse-and-buggy era. It remained in operation until the John Bankhead Bridge opened in 1937.

Bankhead, a U.S. senator, was the patriarch of one of Alabama’s great political dynasties. His son, William Bankhead, served as speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and his son, Walter Will Bankhead, also served in Congress. John Bankhead’s granddaughter, Tallulah, made her mark on stage and screen.

“At that time, (Riverside) was a pretty unique crossroads because it had one of the very few ways to cross the Coosa River right here, so there was a lot of activity,” Jessup said.

But Riverside’s history, inextricably tied to the Coosa, runs deeper than the 135 years of incorporation, or so goes archaeological speculation, Jessup said.

From 500 to 1100 A.D., the northern part of what is now Riverside was home to one of the largest native settlements, perhaps among the largest in the Southeast, Jessup said. Now the town and its environs are a popular hunting ground for Indian artifacts,

“There are citizens here in Riverside who have museum-quality Indian artifacts in their homes,” Jessup said. “Spearheads, arrowheads, tomahawk heads and pottery, it’s very interesting.”

Like most towns in St. Clair County, white settlers arrival in the area predates Alabama statehood in 1819. There is much historical speculation about the period before incorporation. And those wives’ tales, passed down through the generations, make for compelling stories.

Jessup recounted one Civil-War-era story about Riverside and a Union contingent of 40,000 cavalry known as Streight’s Raiders under the command of Brigadier Gen. Abel Streight. According to Jessup, the story goes that Streight was ordered to destroy every county courthouse as his troopers slashed through Alabama. He burned the St. Clair County Courthouse in Ashville.

“But a group of citizens – mostly elderly men, women and children – got all the records out of the courthouse and took them by wagon down through Riverside and hid them in the basement of the Blue Eye Baptist Church on Blue Eye Creek near Lincoln, Alabama,” Jessup said.

The records were important for county families, including Riverside residents.

“That’s one reason that a lot of people here in Riverside and here in St. Clair County got to keep their property (after the war) because they could still prove it was theirs.”

One of Riverside’s businesses that has had international impact for years was Riverside Sand Co. on the banks of the Coosa. The company mined a clay that made bricks that were of a special quality that could stand up to the intense heat of furnaces used to melt steel, a valuable commodity for the steel mills of Birmingham and Pittsburgh. The Hamilton and Mercer families ran the mining operation from the late 1890s until the late 1930s.

The town’s history was deeply influenced deep into the 20th century by river commerce, until Logan Martin Dam was completed in 1965 by Alabama Power Co., creating today’s Logan Martin Lake. According to the Almanac of Alabama, part of the original town of Riverside rests at the lake’s bottom.

“The dam changed everything,” Jessup said. “Once hydroelectric power came in, the barge traffic stopped and changed the economic outlook. The river still drives the economy for this area, but not like it did. Now it drives it in a different way.”

 The river, the dam and Logan Martin Lake have transformed the river and the Riverside area from a commercial hub to a vacation destination. Jessup believes great days are on the horizon for Riverside, as a retirement and second-home community and a center for ecotourism.

“The lake is a great draw,” said Don Smith, executive director of the St. Clair County Economic Development Authority. “Folks that want to live on the lake, that possibility is there, and it is affordable.”

Smith added, “It’s a beautiful community that’s great on partnering with other entities in the county, such as Pell City, with police and fire protection and with Pell City schools.”

 The interstate interchange where US 78 crosses Interstate 20 is one of the last undeveloped interchanges in the county.

“It’s very attractive for that reason,” Jessup said.

There is a challenge. Available land for commercial and residential development has been hindered by the floodplains that had to be set aside when the dam was built. The arrival of the dam meant that Riverside’s infrastructure – highways, railroads, post offices, etc., — had to be elevated because of higher water levels that came with the dam. The dirt to build up that infrastructure came from the Riverside area, leaving some parts too low for development.

However, the flood plain is important, because when rivers and lakes rise, it keeps flooding out of homes and businesses. The lake is used for hyrdorelectric generation and is a holding lake for others, so the water rises 5 feet in summer at its full pool and lowers 5 feet in winter. Heavy rains can cause it to top summer pool.

“We have a lot of that here,” Jessup said. “It’s nobody’s fault. It’s just the way it is. When it rises, the water has to go somewhere. It’s better that it goes into the flood plain than into our homes and businesses.”

The flood plain and a rail line also pose challenges to development in Riverside’s piece of the I-20 corridor. But town officials are optimistic about the future. New development will come. After all, with miles along the Coosa riverfront and the lakefront property, people will be drawn to the water as they have been for centuries.

“It’s not going to be long until the right people take interest and develop that,” Jessup said.

Infrastructure expansion is also critical, especially sewerage capacity.

“As that community continues to grow, investment in infrastructure is going to be needed,” Smith said. “And property owners interested in development in Riverside need to be empowered to bring in outside investment. But infrastructure growth is key.”

Even with those hurdles, Riverside is growing. In the 2010 Census, Riverside’s population stood at 2,208, up from 1,564 a decade earlier. It has now topped the 2,300-mark.

Planning will be critical long-term, Smith said.

“Because of their location, Riverside is somewhat compact. So, planning for the future and having a vision of what they want the community to look like is very important. I’m not sure heavy industry is a good fit. Something more ecotourism and building more river-based activities would be a component of their future success going forward,” Smith said.

Even with the challenges, the town is a good investment, in part because of the interstate interchange.

But also as the state population ages, Riverside is a popular destination. Unlike other county communities, young families aren’t making Riverside part of the northeastern migration, but Baby Boomers, nearing retirement and drawn to the small-town atmosphere and the peace of the waterways, are coming.

“We don’t see the suburban push,” Jessup said. “What we’re seeing is people retiring or near retirement moving out this way, because the commute to Birmingham or to the Honda plant (in Lincoln) is a snap,” Jessup said. “I made the commute to Birmingham for 25 years, and it was easy then. It’s even easier now.”

There are also the common denominators that are part of the equation of St. Clair County – good schools, low crime and friendly atmosphere. Riverside’s household median income is above the national average. A story in the Birmingham Business Journal lists Riverside as the 18th most affluent municipality among Birmingham’s suburbs.

But Riverside needs retail to boost its tax base and improve infrastructure. Development at the interchange could change the tax base overnight,

“A nice truck plaza like a Pilot or Love’s could put $15,000 to $20,000 a month in the city in terms of our revenue,” he said.

Riverside, like other St. Clair communities, does get an economic boost from the Talladega Superspeedway and Barber Motorsports Park, Jessup said.

“I don’t know if the people of the county realize how international we have become known because of these tracks. We’re right in the middle of these venues, so they stay here,” he said.

And with the Coosa as part of the Alabama Scenic River Trail system, Riverside could be prime to cash in on a piece of the booming ecotourism market.

“We’re primed for everything, Jessup said. “We just haven’t had the right entity come along,” Jessup said. He borrowed from a country hit from a few years back to describe the Riverside he calls home.

“Our vision is for Riverside to become a resort tourist destination, or have that feel about it,” he said. “The resources of this river are unlimited. It’s attractive, and it’s beautiful, and it’s clean, thank goodness. And it will stay clean, thank goodness. People are attracted to it. … This town is the river. And the river is us.”

And because of the river and its people, Riverside will grow into a special community.

“It’s just an old chunk of coal right now, but it’s going to be a diamond someday,” he said, “because everything is here; everything is in place.”

And while location is important. Remember, Riverside is 30 minutes from anywhere in Birmingham and less than two hours from the Atlanta’s Jackson-Hartsfield International Airport. But at its heart, Riverside is special because of its people – and the river.

“The people here are just beautiful,” Jessup said. “There is something about the river, something about drinking good groundwater, there’s something about the way the sun and the moon hit the river and creeks around here that make people easier to get along with and laid back. There’s not a lot of drama here. It’s really, really a good place to live.”