Features – Page 34 – Discover St. Clair

Politicians of Note

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Story by Jane Newton Henry
Photos by Wallace Bromberg Jr.

When day is done for these
officials, the beat goes on
By day, he’s mayor of Pell City. But nights and weekends you’ll find him crooning to the crowds in his very own band. Same holds true for Alan Furr, a judge by day and quite the singer and guitarist for the Wingnuts away from court. And the superintendent of schools, put a mandolin in his hand and he’s just as at home as he is at the head of the class.

Pell City Mayor Joe Funderburg, Pell City School Superintendent Michael Barber and St. Clair County District Judge Alan Furr became interested in music when they were young. Although they now have “day jobs,” music remains their hobby, their pastime and their passion. Funderburg plays rock and roll while Barber plays bluegrass, and Furr plays both.

Rock-and-roll mayor
“I look at it like this,” said Funderburg. “Some people play golf; some people hunt and fish. Everybody has hobbies of some sort, and I am fortunate that I am able to play music.”

The mayor has played six- and 12-string guitars and sung in bands for more than 40 years. “I’ve always enjoyed music,” he said. “I liked to sing when I was small, and I wanted to play an instrument.

“I begged for a guitar and got a $20 Sears and Roebuck Silvertone,” he said. “It had a very thick neck and I’ve got kind of small hands, so that thing was a job to learn to play.”

In the 1960s, he formed the band Leaves of Autumn with high-school friends. After high school, Funderburg continued to play music and found that music paid his college expenses. When his father passed away, he dropped out of school and became a professional musician.

“That was about all I knew how to do, so I went to work playing, and I was fortunate to work with some top-notch musicians,” he said. “I don’t claim to be an accomplished musician. I learned music by picking it up and playing it with other people.”

Funderburg says his favorite part of his musical career was during the 1970s. “At that time, St. Clair County — as well as Calhoun, Etowah and Shelby counties — didn’t have many places where people could hear rock-and-roll music, and the Boondocks Lounge was the place to go,” he said. “That was probably the most exciting time for me because we were playing at a happening place, and the band was recording in Birmingham, too.”

A member of the band Straight Shift, he now performs about once a month. The band has recently played at the Pell City Block Party, entertained at a sock hop at Celebrations in Pell City and performed at a private Christmas party in Birmingham.

Barber’s bluegrass
“When I came up, we didn’t have a lot of things that are offered today,” said Michael Barber. “I remember when we got our first color television. We had rabbit ears, so the reception wasn’t that good. Music was a pastime for us.”

On Sundays at 5 p.m., you will find him playing bluegrass at Pell City’s Mt. Zion Primitive Baptist Church, where he is the pastor. Barber and other musicians play before the evening worship service.

“The women in the church provide refreshments and work on prayer shawls to take to the nursing home,” he said. “The music is a good transition to the service.”

The number of musicians playing on a given Sunday varies from a few to a dozen. Barber plays mandolin, guitar, bass and some banjo, and he sings. “There are three other mandolin players at the church, so we rotate around,” he said.

Members of the group play on a local radio station every third Sunday and at Golden Living, an assisted-living facility, every third Sunday from 2 to 4 p.m. Barber says they have been playing at Golden Living for 15 or 20 years. They also play at the Veteran’s Home and in the schools, when invited, and do caroling for shut-ins at Christmas. “It’s a ministry,” he said.

Barber was first exposed to music in church, where he was a member of the youth choir. “I was raised in the church and sang hymns as a child,” he said. He also listened to country and gospel music, including Hank Williams and the Happy Goodman Family.

“I took piano lessons for several years; it was a struggle for me,” he said. After learning the guitar and mandolin, he found he enjoyed playing bluegrass and learned that music could help pay a good part of college expenses.

Barber is self-taught on mandolin and guitar. “You get better by learning from others,” he said. When he teaches other to play, he asks them to teach someone else and share their knowledge.

“It thrills me when I teach a child who wants to learn and that child turns into a better musician than I am and then I see that child share it with another generation,” he said. “It feels like you’ve done something.”

A good judge of music
Ten-year-old Alan Furr became interested in music after hearing his grandfather Owen Furr play old-time country music and bluegrass with neighbors on his front porch in Crenshaw County.

“When I was 12, my parents made me a deal: If I could figure out how to buy an electric guitar, then they would buy me an amplifier,” he said. He got a job paying 50 cents an hour at the Handy Andy grocery store in Montgomery. His mother went to Art’s Music in Montgomery and financed a purple Fender Mustang guitar that he paid for with the money he made at the grocery store. Within a year or two, Furr was playing rhythm guitar with the Vibrations.

In addition to guitar, Furr plays mandolin, keyboards, ukulele, dulcimer and drums, and sings. A vocal performance major in college, he added church music to his repertoire. He continues to perform church music and serves as minister of music at the First Baptist Church of Ashville.

After graduating from law school, he spent about a year playing in the band the Reflectors with some friends from Birmingham. He currently plays in two bands – Whitney Junction and the Wingnuts.

The bluegrass band Whitney Junction was formed at First Baptist Church of Ashville. The group plays for free.

The Wingnuts, originally composed of aviators, plays 1960s rock and roll. The group came together after the 2011 tornado, as Furr explained, “when Donnie Todd, a member of the Pell City City Council, and I worked up seven or eight songs to play at a benefit for the Civil Air Patrol.” The Wingnuts now play once or twice a month for corporate and charitable events, such the Fur Ball, a fundraiser for the Animal Shelter of Pell City.

Furr said he sold his purple Fender Mustang guitar to a “kid” for $75, the same amount he had paid for it almost 10 years earlier. “Then the kid called me when he was getting a new guitar,” Furr said, and offered to sell the Mustang back to Furr for $75. But Furr explained that the kid could get more for it if he traded it in, and the kid took his advice.

Years later, Furr saw the purple Mustang for sale in a music store in Enterprise. He says he told his mother about it, and, unknown to him, she called every music store in southeast Alabama until she found it. He was surprised when she returned the guitar to him the following Christmas.

Features

Walters Farms

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A beautiful place for the Big Day

Walters-Farms-Wedding — Katie and Bryce Hunt/J. Messer Photography

Story by Tina Tidmore and Carol Pappas
Photos by Mike Callahan and Jessica Messer, J. Messer Photography

Weddings and farms may seem like an unlikely union, but Joe and Deloma Walters hope brides and grooms-to-be will find them their perfect match.

On their 400-acre, second-generation family farm just outside Ragland, couples are now saying, “I do” against the backdrop of a picturesque green hayfield and arbor overlooking the gently flowing waters of the Coosa River. And a huge, rustic barn — all built just for them — has become the ideal place for weddings large and small.

The drive from the main road meanders around the farm’s pastures. Black cows wander about in the openness, unfazed, as if they don’t mind sharing the scenery. Pass by the old barn, through the woods, and there it is — the wedding barn. “Guests say the drive in is like an adventure,” Deloma shared.

It has been quite a journey for Joe and Deloma, too. Walters Farms opened as a wedding venue in April, breathing new life into their family farm where cotton once reigned.

They needed a way to supplement the farm’s income to be able to maintain the sprawling acreage. Transforming it into a wedding-event venue was an idea inspired by a caterer friend of Deloma’s.

It was Deloma’s idea to build a wedding barn, and in time, her husband came to see how wedding bells, beautiful country scenery and mooing cows might make a successful combination.

“We hope that will be the drawing card — the novelty of it,” said Deloma.

So, with their savings, a loan and an entrepreneurial spirit, the Walters built a wedding and events barn that is drawing couples from near and far. “Our goal was to build a true barn,” said Deloma, explaining why she is allowing it to weather naturally. They started with 19th-century styles and emerged with exactly what she had imagined. With 2,880 square feet of floor space and 29-foot ceilings, festive celebrations past and future are easy to imagine.

“We can accommodate 1,000 people here, easy,” she said, pointing to a 10-acre field below situated along the Walters’ impressive one mile of Coosa River waterfront.

It seems fitting that the first wedding to be held at the family farm bought in 1945 by Joe’s parents, J.B. and Catherine Walters, and his uncle, Clyde Green, was family. The wedding of son Scotty and fiancé Nicole was the inaugural ceremony and celebration.

They chose April 27 as their wedding date, which stemmed from how the couple met. Scotty had bought a home in Pell City that was damaged by one of the deadly tornadoes that ripped through the historic district on April 27, 2011. And the restoration of it played a key role in bringing the couple together.

It was the prospect of that wedding that hastened the Walters’ timeline for their new venture. “It was coincidental that our son had recently gotten engaged and shared that he wanted to get married on the farm,” Deloma recalled. “Originally, they were considering a tent, but after we decided to go forward with building the barn, we did it with a vengeance when we realized that we would be able to have it finished or very close to finished in time for their wedding. Once we told them, then we really had to push.”

Since the first Walters Farms wedding, they have been marketing the business through a website, a Facebook page and a booth at the Southern Bridal Show. But Deloma said most of their bookings come from references from satisfied customers.

In October, UAB School of Medicine students Katie Marchiony and Bryce Hunt had their wedding at Walters Farms. Katie had two prerequisites for her wedding venue, according to her mother, Mazie Marchiony. She wanted a pretty, outdoor setting, and, she wanted to get married within four months.

Her criteria considerably narrowed the options in central Alabama. But someone at the hospital had attended a previous wedding at Walters Farms and told Hunt about it.

“She’s bent over backwards to assist and offer suggestions,” the busy mother-of-the bride said about Deloma, just days before the wedding. “It is so well done — spared no detail — and everything is landscaped.”

Marchiony said the contract was very thorough, so she knew exactly what she was getting.

Another advantage to Walters Farms, compared to another outdoor venue the Marchionys considered, is that the barn provides protection in case it rains on that all-important day.

For Katie and Bryce, the weather on Oct. 19 was as perfect as the venue they chose. Framed by an enormous arbor made of bent twigs and vines, they exchanged vows in the field atop the river bank overlooking the water. Guests filled white chairs lining each side of the natural, green-grass aisle and the hint of a seasonal change in color came from the towering trees all around them.

At dusk, the barn illuminated the nighttime sky with miniature lights strung inside and out. Round tables draped with white tablecloths and an eye-pleasing buffet welcomed guests to an experience they won’t soon forget.

Deloma said weddings at Walters Farms already have run the gamut of styles. From short pants to black tie, from cowboy boots to flip flops, the barn’s comfortable and relaxed atmosphere lends itself to any type of fashion and affair.

“We love the farm anyway, but we feel a special sense of joy each time the barn doors open to reveal a new bride as she walks down the rock steps toward the arbor overlooking the river,” Deloma said. “It is a special place for us, and to be able to share it with others on such an important day is extremely rewarding.”

It has become a new day for this farming relic. The older generation gradually passed away. Catherine Walters died in 1996, followed by Joe’s father in 2011. In the early 2000s, the farm had gone into disrepair with weeds and broken fences, but in 2003, Joe set his sights on bringing it back to a functioning farm.

It may not be what he envisioned back then, nor what Catherine and J.B. might have had in mind when they bought it just after World War II. But the new memories he and Deloma are helping couples create are as special as the place itself. “I think we have created the most unique wedding venue in all of central Alabama,” Deloma said, “and it is just going to get better as we add amenities.”

She calls Walters Farms a labor of love — “just as it was for Catherine and J.B.”

Special thanks to Jessica Messer and
J. Messer Photography, jessicamesser.com

Features

CEFA: Learning to Earn

Program aims at training people, filling job needs

Story by Carol Pappas
Photos by Wallace Bromberg

In a classroom turned board room on the eastern edge of Birmingham, a dozen or so construction-industry executives from around the state gathered on a Tuesday morning to discuss their future.

It is a future that looks a bit bleak for them right now, but bright for prospective employees — if they only knew, understood and embraced what could lie ahead for them.

That’s the mission of Construction Education Foundation of Alabama — to not only raise awareness about rewarding careers in fields like electrical, HVAC, carpentry, plumbing, pipefitting and welding, but to provide the training to get students into those careers.

It was with that idea in mind that Associated Builders and Contractors of Alabama, Alabama Associated General Contractors and the Alabama Concrete Industries Association, the state’s three largest construction trade organizations, came together to found CEFA to offer nationally certified education opportunities to reverse the trend of a dwindling trained workforce.

It is a chronic problem faced by companies across Alabama, including that of CEFA board Chairman John Garrison, president and CEO of Pell City-based Garrison Steel. He knows the problem firsthand. He sees it every day in a pool of applicants — or lack of them — at his own company.

The CEFA board of directors gathered around him on this particular day to share his concern. They see it as a growing threat to the future of their industries, and they are finding ways to turn this harmful trend around.

They see CEFA as a viable bridge between a potential workforce and a good-paying career through intensive training, using nationally accredited curriculum. “When a student gets out of it, he knows what he’s doing,” Garrison said. The plus is that the certification is mobile. He can take that certification earned in Alabama and put it to work for him in the marketplace anywhere in the country.

Byron McCain, president of CEFA, explained that for too long, education in Alabama had a mantra: “College, college, college. Now, they’re saying college and careers.”

He uses charts and graphs to illustrate, but the net result over decades has been a workforce gap where too many students headed down a path toward a four-year college when the majority of jobs simply require advanced training.

In 1950, 20 percent of the jobs required a four-year degree. In 2000, a four-year degree requirement was still at 20 percent. In that same time frame, though, the need for skilled labor more than tripled from 20 percent to 65 percent.

With odds like those, it should be easy to envision that the quickest way to a $50,000 salary just might run through CEFA.

Recognizing the needs and the rewards, public education is beginning to move in the same direction. In its Plan 2020, the focus is “Every Child a Graduate — Every Graduate Prepared for College/Work/Adulthood in the 21st Century.”

And McCain sees that as a good sign for the industries he represents. “There are unbelievable careers that don’t come with college debt,” McCain said. “It is critical we get to the counselors. We’re losing a lot of people at 18 starting down a college path. The industry isn’t as generational as it used to be.”

The aim is to help give people “meaningful employment,” said Garrison. Through its training program, CEFA can put them on the path to that goal with good-paying careers awaiting them when they finish. Scholarships are available, as is assistance with job placement. They can even go to work early if they have the potential. “If they have the right desire, if they’re the real deal and are serious about getting through the program,” Garrison said companies can go ahead and hire them while going through the program. They can earn their way toward a career.

For example, McCain said, “There are opportunities for a 50-year-old to get a job and train at the same time.” And companies are looking for young people out of high school in whom they can invest for the long term.

Twenty weeks of training are required before CEFA can refer them to a company. The full training is 58 weeks.

“We’re at 70 percent capacity,” said Evans Dunn of Dunn Construction, who does asphalt paving. “We’ve got to get demand there. We struggle to get good people.”

“It’s a struggle every day,” said John Payne of Brasfield & Gorrie. “We’re suffering a labor shortage.”

But a good wage rate and benefits equals opportunity, he said.

“Consistent growth allows us to invest in a kid,” added Allen McCain of Bright Future Electric.

And that’s why these industry leaders are coming together and getting involved in getting the message out about initiatives like Go Build Alabama and using CEFA as a site for craft and apprenticeship training.

They know the benefits. Journeyman electricians can earn between $42,000 and $72,000 annually. Heating, ventilation and air conditioning, HVAC, professionals in an entry-level apprentice or technician position start out at $10 to $12 per hour and advance with their skill sets. An experienced professional can earn more than $65,000 per year. A welder can make $40,000 to $60,000 a year with the right knowledge and experience.

Average annual wage for an experienced carpenter is more than $45,000. An experienced plumber can earn $47,750 plus.

The higher the training and experience, the higher the salary can go, which is a win-win for all involved, these leaders say. And they’re not the only ones. “When you get serious about supporting yourself and your family,” said student Chris Rodgers, “CEFA offers the fastest way I know to learn how to earn.”

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St. Clair teen finds life in rodeo

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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.”

Features

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.

Features

Around the Next Bend

[Show as slideshow]

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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