Thursday, August 22, 2013

The Evergreen Courant's Sports Flashback for Aug. 22, 2013

1967 Evergreen Dodgers
16 YEARS AGO
AUG. 28, 1997

“James Alvin Stallworth (Buddy), 67, died Sat., Aug. 23, 1997.
“He served as a teacher for 34 years. For many years he coached championship basketball teams at Marshall High School and served as a football and basketball official with the Alabama High School Athletic Association for 46 years.”

“These 1997 Sparta Academy Warriors will play their first game this Friday night at Stuart-McGehee Field. Head coach of the Warriors is Bill McNair in his first season with the team. Kickoff for the game is set for 7:30 p.m. There will be a hamburger supper and pep rally Thursday night at 6:30 in the gym. Plates will be $3 and everyone is urged to come out and show their spirit.”

“Hillcrest High School Athletic Dept. will hold a covered dish supper this Thurs, Aug. 28, at 7 p.m. in the school cafeteria. Varsity and JV football players and cheerleaders will be introduced at this time. All parents, relatives and friends are invited to bring a covered dish and enjoy this meal with the athletes.”

31 YEARS AGO
AUG. 26, 1982

“Aggies open season here Friday night: The feeling’s in the air once again, as football is just around the corner. Action will get into full swing tomorrow night with the Evergreen Aggies playing host to the Wilcox County High School Tigers at Brooks Memorial Stadium with the kick-off at 7:30 p.m.
“The Aggies only return 14 lettermen from last year 1-9 season and hope to improve on that record this season. New coaches for Evergreen are head coach Willie Farish and assistant coaches Nick Pisonus and Dero Wise.
“The Aggies ran the wishbone last season and have changed to the I-formation this season and are led in the backfield by senior Tracy Hawsey at quarterback. In the I-formation they have a probable starter at full-back, 6-2, 212 pound, Frank Likely, and at tailback they have junior Mark Bell.”
Other players on Evergreen’s team that year included Billy Adams, Dewayne Booker, Darrin Bradley, Gary Etheridge, Nathanel Grace, Arthur Grooms, Wayne Harrelson, Al Hendricks, Don Jackson, Martin Lee, Dennis Likely, Wayne Locke, Frederick Middleton, Andrea McMillan, Marion Oliver, Freeman Pinkney, Ben Rigsby, Clinton Riley, Henry Savage, Tony Sims, Buddy Stallworth, Ricky Stallworth, Wayne Turner, Michael Watson, Gary Weaver and Deatrich Wise.

“Sparta QB Club meets tonight: The Sparta Quarterback Club will meet tonight at 7:30 in the school library.
“Special guests will be the coaching staff of Greenville Academy. Sparta opens the season at Greenville tomorrow night. The Tornado coaches are expected to do some ‘po mouthing’ about their team, but local fans should not be taken in by this. GA is expected to be one of the powers in Alabama Private School football this season.”

46 YEARS AGO
AUG. 24, 1967

“These Dodgers finished second in the National League of the Evergreen Jr. Baseball League this season. They were in the pennant fight right up to the final game when they had a chance to tie for the lead, but lost. They are Sammy Philyaw, Robert Rish, David and Donald Jackson, Don Owens and Jimmy McNeil, Johnny Andrews, Jerry Daw, David Majors, Billy Booker and Sammy Garrett. Matthew Davis was manager with Ralph Garrett ably assisting him.”

“Hart is happy with spirit in Aggie camp: Coach Wendell Hart is ‘well pleased’ with the progress made thus far in Evergreen Aggie practice sessions. “Hart said the spirit, attitude and enthusiasm of the players continued to impress him as the pads were donned this week and the troops got down to contact work. He found the boys eager to learn and willing to work and hit.
“Hart has turned the backs and wide men over to Assistant Coach Billy Madison for the opening 45-minute part of the session as the players work in groups.
“Football in this day and age begins with the men with the ball. At quarterback, Jimmy Hart, a starter at Elba last year, and Larry Tranum, Aggie letterman, are the leading contenders.
“The men who will be snapping the ball to put the plays in motion will be Eddie Ray Sasser and Ralph Deason, both lettermen.”
Other players on that year’s team at Evergreen included Jimmy Bell, John Brantley, Wayne Caylor, Herbert Ellis, John Fountain, Roger Halford, Jimmy Hamiter, Leon Hinson, Don Montgomery, Larry Peacock, Elliott Quarles, Eddie Ralls, Ernest Shipp, Forrest Simpson, Ed Smith, George Stinson, Tim Stinson, Lavon Tolbert, Hollis Tranum, Roger Waller and Tommy Weaver.

61 YEARS AGO
AUG. 24. 1952

“34 Players Report For Pre-Season Practice Of Evergreen Grid Team: Aggies Open Season Here On Sept. 19 With Atmore Devils: Blessed by unexpectedly cool weather some 34 young grid hopefuls were fast rounding into shape this week as the Evergreen High Aggies commenced their preseason practice for the 1952 football season. Practice opened Monday with one session each afternoon and attendance has been good as the boys went through conditioning drills.
“Coach Wendell Hart and Assistant Ralph Law have been pleased with the spirit of their charges and with attendance at the sessions.
“Fourteen lettermen from the 1951 squad are back for play this year. They are headed by Capt. Pace Bozeman and Alternate Shirley Frazier. Bozeman is a fullback, and Frazier doubles at end and halfback. Tackles Sam Cope and Wayne (Dog) Douglas, guards Bill Robinson and Richard Taylor, center Joe Stowers and backs Billy Lewis, Ward Alexander and Jimmy Frazier all were members of the starting team last fall, so the Aggie coaches have a group of experienced players around which to build their squad.”

“The Evergreen Quarterback Club will hold its second meeting of the year tonight at seven o’clock at the high school it is announced by President Raymond Lee.
“Tonight Tal Stuart will have a good film to show the club. Pictures of the previous seasons best games are shown at the QB meetings.”

76 YEARS AGO
AUG. 26, 1937

“Greenies Will Play Andalusia Here Today: The Greenies will meet Yam Yaryan’s aggregation from Andalusia in their own backyard this afternoon at 3:15. This game marks the last appearance of the first half winners on the local field. The Union Springs Red Birds have apparently won the last half and will go into the playoff series with Andalusia after the regular schedule is finished next Sunday.
“The Trojans come here for the final game of the season next Sunday. There is a probability that the tied game between Evergreen and Troy of last week will be played also as part of a double bill.
“The Greenies fared rather badly the past week in dropping four, winning two and tying one. On Wednesday, Aug. 18, the Greenies went to Dothan for a game under the lights. Lefty Goetz had things pretty well in hand. This was Lefty’s first appearance in about one month. The Brownies came into the ninth trailing 6 to 4 where they managed to touch Lefty for a lone marker.
“On Thursday, the Brownies came over for a tussle with the locals determined to even the series. They pitted Joe Beaugez, former Greenie hurler against Sheddis. The visitors had the lead until the seventh when the old time Greenie luck began to work. At the end of the inning, the Greenies had piled up four runs to take the lead 6 to 3. The visitors failed to register any more runs during the remaining innings.”

Daily Weather Observations for Thurs., Aug. 22, 2013

Temp: 70.7 degrees F

Rainfall (past 24 hours): 0.00 inches

Humidity: 82 percent (High)

Conditions: Clear skies; moon visible; birds and bees audible and visible; standing water in yard from recent rain; dew on the ground

Wind: 0.0 mph (No wind)

Barometric Pressure: 29.63 inHg

Week to Date Rainfall: 1.20 inches

Month to Date Rainfall: 4.05 inches

Summer to Date Rainfall: 8.60 inches

Year to Date Rainfall: 39.15 inches

NOTES: Today is the 234th day of 2013 and the 63rd day of Summer. There are 131 days left in the year.

Readings taken at 0700 hrs Central Standard Time (1300 GMT) daily, just west of the Monroe-Conecuh County line, near Excel, Alabama, USA, in the vicinity of Lat 31.42834°N Lon 87.30131°W. Elevation: 400 feet above sea level. CoCoRaHS Station No. AL-MN-4, Station Name: Excel 2.5 ESE.

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Selma, Alabama historical marker tells of 'The Sleeping Prophet'

Selma's Edgar Cayce Historical Marker
This week’s featured historical marker is “THE SLEEPING PROPHET” marker that’s located in downtown Selma, Alabama. This marker was erected by the Alabama Historical Commission, but unlike most markers of this type, it doesn’t indicate the year in which it was erected.

This marker is located on Broad Street, about one block down from the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge over the Alabama River. There’s text on both sides of this marker, but both sides are identical. What follows is the complete text from the marker.

----- 0 -----

“THE SLEEPING PROPHET: EDGAR CAYCE (1877-1945), was internationally accepted as an extremely gifted psychic. An humble man, he never profited materially from his psychic ability, but used it to help ‘make manifest the love of God and man.’ Operated his photography studio and lived in this building from 1912 until 1923. Many psychic readings were given here during that time.”

----- 0 -----

Cayce, who was born in Kentucky in 1877, came to Selma at the age of 35. This was about a decade after his supposed psychic abilities were first brought to light by a traveling stage hypnotist who hypnotized Cayce to help him when he lost his voice to laryngitis. Cayce was called “The Sleeping Prophet” because he displayed his psychic abilities while in a trance or sleeplike state.

Considered the “Father of the New Age Movement,” Cayce made a number of surprisingly accurate predictions. Among numerous other accurate predictions, he also predicted, the stock market crash of 1929, the Great Depression, Adolph Hitler’s rise to power, the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1945, the death of John F. Kennedy in 1963, the fall of the Soviet Union and his own death in 1945. He also made a number of predictions about the lost continent of Atlantis and events yet to come.

Cayce only had a ninth-grade education, was a devout Christian and was said to have been deeply conflicted about his purported psychic abilities. He took up photography because it was less of a strain on his voice, and this career is what landed him in downtown Selma. His fame grew while he lived in Selma, and even though that’s where he hung his hat, he traveled widely during this period giving psychic readings across the South. In 1945, during one of his trances, “his voice” instructed him to leave Selma.

From there, he moved to Virginia Beach, Va., where he founded a hospital in 1929. In 1931, he founded the Edgar Cayce Association of Research and Enlightenment (A.R.E), an organization that still exists today. For more information about A.R.E., visit www.edgarcayce.org. Fourteen years after the establishment of A.R.E, in 1945, Cayce suffered a stroke and died. His body was returned to his native state of Kentucky, and he was buried in his hometown of Hopkinsville.

In the end, visit this site next Wednesday to learn about another historical marker. I’m also taking suggestions from the reading audience, so if you know of an interesting historical marker that you’d like me to feature, let me know in the comments section below.

This week's movie picks are 'You're Next' and 'Killing Season'

It’s Wednesday, so today I give you my weekly list of movies that will open in theatres this week as well as a list of movies that will be released this week on DVD.

I hope this will serve as a useful guide as to what’s going on this week if you happen to be near a movie theatre or if you’re looking for something to drop into your NetFlix queue or pick up at the local Redbox.

Movies that are scheduled to hit theatres this week include:

- Devil’s Pass (Suspense, Mystery, R): Directed by Renny Harlin and starring Matt Stokoe, Gemma Atkinson, Richard Reid, Luke Albright and Holly Goss.

- Drinking Buddies (Comedy, Drama, R): Directed by Joe Swanberg and starring Olivia Wilde, Jake Johnson, Anna Kendrick, Ron Livingston and Ti West.

- The Frozen Ground (Suspense, R): Directed by Scott Walker and starring Nicolas Cage, Vanessa Hudgens, John Cusack, Radha Mitchell and Jodi Lyn O’Keefe.

- The Grandmaster (Action, PG-13): Directed by Wong Kar Wai and starring Tony Leung and Ziyi Zhang.

- The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (Fantasy, Action, Drama, PG-13): Directed by Harald Zwart and starring Lily Collins, Kevin Zegers, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Kevin Durand and Jamie Campbell Bower.

- Scenic Route (Drama, Suspense, R): Directed by Kevin Goetz and Michael Goetz and starring Josh Duhamel, Dan Fogler, Miracle Laurie, Christie Burson and Peter Michael Goetz.

- Short Term 12 (Drama, Comedy, R): Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton and starring Brie Larson, Keith Stanfield, John Gallagher Jr., Kaitlyn Dever and Rami Malek.

- Therese (Foreign, Not Rated): Directed by Claude Miller and starring Audrey Tautou, Gilles Lellouche, Anais Demoustier and Catherine Arditi.

- The World’s End (Comedy, R): Directed by Edgar Wright and starring Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Martin Freeman, Eddie Marsan and Rosamund Pike.

- You’re Next (Horror, R): Directed by Adam Wingard and starring Sharni Vinson, Nick Tucci, Wendy Glenn, Joe Swanberg and A.J. Bowen.

New DVD releases this week include:

- Amour (Drama, PG-13): Directed by Michael Haneke and starring Jean-Louis Trintignant, Emmanuelle Riva, Isabelle Huppert, Alexandre Tharaud and William Shimell.

- Epic (Family, Adventure, PG): Directed by Chris Wedge and starring the voices of Josh Hutcherson, Amanda Seyfried, Beyonce Knowles, Colin Farrell and Jason Sudeikis.

- Killing Season (Action, Suspense, R): Directed by Mark Steven Johnson and starring Robert De Niro, John Travolta, Milo Ventimiglia and Elizabeth Olin.

- No One Lives (Horror, R): Directed by Ryuhei Kitamura and starring Luke Evans, Adelaide Clemens, Derek Magyar, Beau Knapp and America Olivo.

- Rapture-Palooza (Comedy, Fantasy, R): Directed by Paul Middleditch and starring Anna Kendrick, Craig Robinson, John Francis Daley, Ken Jeong and Thomas Lennon.

- Scary Movie 5 (Comedy, Horror, PG-13): Directed by Malcolm D. Lee and starring Ashley Tisdale, Simon Rex, Katt Williams, Heather Locklear and Lindsay Lohan.

- Shadow Dancer (Drama, Suspense, R): Directed by James Marsh and starring Clive Owen, Andrea Riseborough, Gillian Anderson, Aidan Gillen and Domhnall Gleeson.

If I could only watch one movie at the theatre this week, it would be “You’re Next,” and if I had to pick just one DVD to rent this week, it would be “Killing Season.”

In the end, let me know if you get a chance to watch any of the new movies in theatres this week or if you’ve already seen any of the movies that have just been released on DVD. What did you think about them? Which would you recommend? Let us know in the comments section below.

Daily Weather Observations for Wed., Aug. 21, 2013

Temp: 69.8 degrees F

Rainfall (past 24 hours): 0.00 inches

Humidity: 83 percent (High)

Conditions: Mostly Cloudy skies and foggy, visibility less than half a mile; birds and bees audible and visible; standing water in yard from yesterday's rain; dew on the ground.

Wind: 0.0 mph (No wind)

Barometric Pressure: 29.64 inHg

Week to Date Rainfall: 1.20 inches

Month to Date Rainfall: 4.05 inches

Summer to Date Rainfall: 8.60 inches

Year to Date Rainfall: 39.15 inches

NOTES: Today is the 233rd day of 2013 and the 62nd day of Summer. There are 132 days left in the year.

Readings taken at 0700 hrs Central Standard Time (1300 GMT) daily, just west of the Monroe-Conecuh County line, near Excel, Alabama, USA, in the vicinity of Lat 31.42834°N Lon 87.30131°W. Elevation: 400 feet above sea level. CoCoRaHS Station No. AL-MN-4, Station Name: Excel 2.5 ESE.

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Happy 123rd Birthday, H.P. Lovecraft!

H.P. Lovecraft in 1915
H.P. Lovecraft is my hands down, all-time favorite writer, and today, Aug. 20, was his birthday. He was born in 1890 and died of stomach cancer at the age of 47 in 1937.

I’ve been a Lovecraft fan since age 10, when I happened to read a comic book version of Lovecraft’s 1921 story, “The Outsider,” that my fifth-grade teacher had in her classroom. I’ve been hooked on Lovecraft ever since and now own numerous volumes of his works. (I’m even an official, card-carrying member of the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society, which works to promote Lovecraft’s work and memory.)

Lovecraft is best known for his horror, fantasy and science fiction short stories, most of which were published in pulp magazines like “Weird Tales.” Lovecraft lived most of his life in poverty and was relatively unknown during his lifetime, but he had a huge impact on later writers like Stephen King, Clive Barker, Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman and Mike Mignola.

Lovecraft wrote a lot of stories, but the most famous is arguably “The Call of Cthulhu.” Other well known Lovecraft tales include “The Shadow Over Innsmouth” (my personal favorite) and “At the Mountains of Madness.” What follows is a complete list of his stories (along with any known co-authors and publication years):

• The Alchemist (1908)
• Ashes (with C. M. Eddy Jr., 1923)
• At the Mountains of Madness (1931)
• Azathoth (1922)
• The Battle that Ended the Century (with R. H. Barlow, 1934)
• The Beast in the Cave (1905)
• Beyond the Wall of Sleep (1919)
• The Book (1933?)
• The Call of Cthulhu (1926)
• The Case of Charles Dexter Ward (1927)
• The Cats of Ulthar (1920)
• Celephaïs (1920)
• The Challenge from Beyond (with C. L. Moore; A. Merritt; Robert E. Howard, and Frank Belknap Long, 1935)
• The Colour Out of Space (1927)
• Collapsing Cosmoses (with R. H. Barlow, 1935)
• Cool Air (1926)
• The Crawling Chaos (with Winifred V. Jackson, 1920/21)
• The Curse of Yig (with Zealia Bishop, 1928)
• Dagon (1917)
• Deaf, Dumb, and Blind (with C. M. Eddy Jr., 1924?)
• The Descendant (1926?)
• The Diary of Alonzo Typer (with William Lumley, 1935)
• The Disinterment (with Duane W. Rimel, 1935)
• The Doom That Came to Sarnath (1919)
• The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath (1926/27)
• The Dreams in the Witch House (1932)
• The Dunwich Horror (1928)
• The Electric Executioner (with Adolphe de Castro, 1929?)
• The Evil Clergyman (1933)
• Ex Oblivione (1920/21)
• Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family (1920)
• The Festival (1923)
• From Beyond (1920)
• The Ghost-Eater (with C. M. Eddy Jr., 1923)
• The Green Meadow (with Winifred V. Jackson, 1918/19)
• The Haunter of the Dark (1935)
• He (1925)
• Herbert West – Reanimator (1921/22)
• History of the Necronomicon (1927)
• The Horror at Martin’s Beach (with Sonia H. Greene, 1922)
• The Horror at Red Hook (1925)
• The Horror in the Burying-Ground (with Hazel Heald, 1933/35)
• The Horror in the Museum (with Hazel Heald, 1932)
• The Hound (1922)
• Hypnos (1922)
• Ibid (1928?)
• In the Vault (1925)
• In the Walls of Eryx (with Kenneth Sterling, 1936)
• The Last Test (with Adolphe de Castro, 1927)
• The Little Glass Bottle (1897)
• The Loved Dead (with C. M. Eddy Jr., 1923)
• The Lurking Fear (1922)
• The Man of Stone (with Hazel Heald, 1932)
• Medusa’s Coil (with Zealia Bishop, 1930)
• Memory (1919)
• The Moon-Bog (1921)
• The Mound (with Zealia Bishop, 1929/30)
• The Music of Erich Zann (1921)
• The Mysterious Ship (1902)
• The Mystery of the Grave-Yard (1898)
• The Nameless City (1921)
• The Night Ocean (with R. H. Barlow, 1936)
• Nyarlathotep (1920)
• Old Bugs (1919)
• The Other Gods (1921)
• Out of the Aeons (with Hazel Heald, 1933)
• The Outsider (1921)
• Pickman’s Model (1926)
• The Picture in the House (1920)
• Poetry and the Gods (with Anna Helen Crofts, 1920)
• Polaris (1918)
• The Quest of Iranon (1921)
• The Rats in the Walls (1923)
• A Reminiscence of Dr. Samuel Johnson (1917)
• The Secret Cave or John Lees Adventure (1898)
• The Shadow Out of Time (1934/35)
• The Shadow Over Innsmouth (1931)
• The Shunned House (1924)
• The Silver Key (1926)
• The Statement of Randolph Carter (1919)
• The Strange High House in the Mist (1926)
• The Street (1920?)
• Sweet Ermengarde (1917)
The Temple (1920)
• The Terrible Old Man (1920)
• The Thing in the Moonlight (spurious)
• The Thing on the Doorstep (1933)
• Through the Gates of the Silver Key (with E. Hoffmann Price, 1932/33)
• “Till A’ the Seas” (with R. H. Barlow, 1935)
• The Tomb (1917)
• The Transition of Juan Romero (1919)
• The Trap (with Henry S. Whitehead, 1931)
• The Tree (1920)
• The Tree on the Hill (with Duane W. Rimel, 1934)
• Two Black Bottles (with Wilfred Blanch Talman, 1926)
• Under the Pyramids (with Harry Houdini, 1924)
• The Unnamable (1923)
• The Very Old Folk (1927)
• What the Moon Brings (1922)
• The Whisperer in Darkness (1930)
• The White Ship (1919)
• Winged Death (with Hazel Heald, 1933)

This list, as well as a ton of other information about Lovecraft, can be found online at The H.P. Lovecraft Archive at www.hplovecraft.com.

In the end, which of Lovecraft’s stories have you read? Which did you like or dislike? Which is your all time favorite and why? Let us know in the comments section below.

Daily Weather Observations for Tues., Aug. 20, 2013

Temp: 71.2 degrees F

Rainfall (past 24 hours): 0.60 inches

Humidity: 83 percent (High)

Conditions: Partly Cloudy skies; bees audible and visible; birds audible; standing water in yard from yesterday's rain; dew on the ground.

Wind: 0.0 mph (No wind)

Barometric Pressure: 29.55 inHg

Week to Date Rainfall: 1.20 inches

Month to Date Rainfall: 4.05 inches

Summer to Date Rainfall: 8.60 inches

Year to Date Rainfall: 39.15 inches

NOTES: Today is the 232nd day of 2013 and the 61st day of Summer. There are 133 days left in the year.

Readings taken at 0700 hrs Central Standard Time (1300 GMT) daily, just west of the Monroe-Conecuh County line, near Excel, Alabama, USA, in the vicinity of Lat 31.42834°N Lon 87.30131°W. Elevation: 400 feet above sea level. CoCoRaHS Station No. AL-MN-4, Station Name: Excel 2.5 ESE.