Long-time sports announcer Gary Downs will be missed by many

Southwest Alabama lost a beloved, longtime local sports figure last Thursday when Gary Downs passed away in a nursing home in Monroeville.

Going all the way back to before he graduated from high school, Gary worked for a number of radio stations in the area and for several area newspapers. Many of you in Conecuh County will remember Gary from his time as a radio announcer at WPPG in Evergreen and from when he wrote sports stories for The Evergreen Courant.

Gary was only 63 years old when he died, and he was a lifelong resident of the Monroeville area. He’s survived by his wife, Faye, who was his radio sidekick for several years when they worked at the radio station in Evergreen. Gary and Faye were fixtures at area sporting events, including games at Sparta Academy, Hillcrest High School, Alabama Southern Community College and Monroe Academy.

I always enjoyed talking with Gary because he had a ton of great local sports stories. He’d been covering local high school sports since before I was born, and he’d seen the best and the brightest of our local athletes pass through our area schools. Gary had an amazing memory, and I was often impressed by what he remembered.

Many people who knew Gary might not have known that when he was in his prime, he was also an outstanding athlete. His best sport was baseball, and he was at one time a professional pitching prospect. A serious car accident when he was a teenager derailed all of that though, leaving him with injuries that kept him from ever returning to top form.

He passed some of his athletic gifts on to his family though, particularly his son, Joey. Joey went to Monroe County High School in Monroeville in the early 1990s and was one of the best baseball and football players in the entire county, which at that time had six public high schools and a large private school.

I’ll always have fond memories of the three football seasons in which Gary, Faye and I did a high school football radio show on the Power Pig. We’d meet at the radio station every Thursday night during the football season and talk football. Gary was the type person who liked to have a good time and doing those shows with him and Faye was a lot of fun.

Gary hit on hard times after he left the Evergreen radio station. His father, Alvin Downs, a World War II veteran, passed away, and Gary’s health also began to fail. He eventually had to be put into a nursing home, and, like a lot of folks, I figured he’d rest up, recover and get to return home sooner or later. The Good Lord had other plans for him though.

Gary was also preceded in death by his mother, Ida Bell Downs. In addition to his son, Joey, Gary is also survived by a daughter, Jennifer Campbell of Mexia; two stepsons, Zack Maio of Andalusia and Zane Stewart of Opp; two brothers, William Downs of Monroeville and Ronnie Hardy of Frisco City; and five grandchildren.

Visitation was held Saturday at Johnson Funeral Home in Monroeville and burial followed at the Biggs Cemetery in Peterman with the Rev. Wayne McMillan and the Rev. Jim Walker officiating.