Thursday, August 15, 2013

The Evergreen Courant's Sports Flashback for Aug. 15, 2013

Evergreen boxer Clint Jackson
SEVEN YEARS AGO
AUG. 17, 2006

“Sparta Academy head coach Clint Floyd is preparing the Warriors for their first-ever Saturday night season opener.
“Sparta is scheduled to play East Memorial Christian Academy Aug. 26 at 7 p.m. in Prattville. Floyd said the game will be played at Prattville High School’s stadium on artificial turf.
“Last Thursday’s scrimmage with Dixie Academy in Evergreen left Floyd feeling good about the defense and concerned about the offensive line play.
“Floyd said Myles Wiggins did a good job running the offense in the scrimmage at quarterback, but he may play some running back too. J.R. Williams and Taylor Brown are also still working at quarterback.
“Floyd said senior halfback Chase Brown, who broke the first play for 35 yards, had a good scrimmage last Thursday.”

“Hillcrest opened the second full week of summer practice with 52 players dressed out.
“(Hillcrest head coach Maurice Belser) said eighth-grade quarterback Justin Nared has had a good summer along with halfbacks Derrick Page and Jarvis Holder as well as receivers Conrad Atkins and Blake Bryant.
“Defensive standouts this summer include John Dees, Derrick Smith, Roderick Rudolph and Neal Presley.
“’John is our middle linebacker and our leader and motivator on defense,’ said Belser.”

22 YEARS AGO
AUG. 15, 1991

“BABE RUTH BASEBALL: The Evergreen Babe Ruth Baseball League will meet Monday night, Aug. 19, at 7:30 in the Law Library at the Courthouse. Officers for the ’92 season will be elected and managers, coaches and umpires will be nominated. Anyone interested please try to attend.”

From “WRIGHT ANGLES” by Artie Wright – “When I started to work with The Evergreen Courant, one of the first questions I was asked was if I am either an Alabama or Auburn fan. I was insulted and refused to answer the question.
“Let me answer the question by saying this: Did you hear about the tornado that hit Auburn last week? It did $3 million worth of improvements.
“Roll Tide!
“Football season is heading this way quickly and I couldn’t be happier. If it were up to me, football would be played every weekend throughout the year with baseball being played throughout the week.
“Basketball would be one of those sports ESPN shows at 3 a.m. between Women’s Jello wrestling and soccer. Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy college basketball, especially during the final tournament. But I just can’t get excited about professional basketball until the NBA finals. And then, the only reason I watch it is because I know baseball season will be starting at full force soon afterwards.
“I am a Crimson Tide fan, through and through. I also pull for Troy State University. But I would not pull for Auburn if they were playing Iraq. If Auburn did play Iraq, I would have to wrap a towel around my head and hold up a poster of Saddam!
“Well, perhaps I would not go quite that far. But my allegiance should be clear by now.”

37 YEARS AGO
AUG. 19, 1976

“Catching this big bass made vacation time a happy one for Arthur Grooms Jr. The bass weighed 5-1/2 pounds. When asked where he caught the lunker, Grooms said, 'In the mouth.'”

“Pelicans win American loop championship: The Pelicans, managed by Wade Salter, assisted by Johnny Etheridge, won 17 straight ballgames plus an all-star game with a score of 8-6 in the Evergreen Jr. Baseball League’s American League.
“Connery Salter had the highest batting average for the team. Pitchers were Ed Carrier, Al Etheridge, Joey Johnson and David Blackmon.
"Other players on the team included Thad Ellis, Chad Grace, John Bryant Bolton, Mark Quinley, Scott Smith, Bobby White, Brian Burt and Shannon Stuckey.
“Scorekeeper was Gerald Stuckey.”

“Coburn winner at Flomaton: J.W. Coburn of Evergreen was one of two high point winners at the Flomaton Speedway, Saturday night. Dickie Blackmon was the top point-getter. Coburn won the main feature.”

“Clinton Jackson Ends Retirement: A few minutes before Clinton Jackson was to lose his heartbreaking decision in the quarterfinals of the Olympic Games, Rollie Schwartz, the manager of the U.S. boxing team, called the Nashville welterweight ‘the greatest amateur athlete of all time.’
“’He’s strong, he’s determined and he has a boxer’s heart,’ Schwartz said before Jackson went out to lose to Venezuela’s Pedro Gammaro in what Clinton said was his last fight.
“But Clinton’s ‘boxer’s heart’ has prevailed.
“Yesterday, not quite two weeks after his tough loss in Montreal, Clinton announced he was ending his retirement.
“’I’ll tell you what,” Clinton said, explaining his reason for returning to the ring. ‘I have never gone back to a tournament the second time and failed to win it.
“’It seems like this last tournament (the Olympics), just wasn’t for me,’ he said. ‘So, I’ll be coming out and aiming for 1980 and the Olympics at Moscow.’
“Jackson said 1976 ‘was just a bad year for me.’
“’I had a bad case of mononucleosis that kept me down for a while, and I fought with the flu in the Southeastern AAU tournament in Knoxville,’ he said. ‘Then I got my lip hurt playing softball, and I got cut sparring in training for the Olympics.
“’I don’t know. I was in good shape, trained hard, but it just seems like I was tired in Montreal.’
“Clinton, who is now 22 and will be only 26 when the Moscow Olympics rolls around, plans now to move up a weight class to 156 pounds and fights as a middleweight.
“Jackson, who won the Golden Gloves national title three times, the National AAU three times and the Pan American Games championship once, said his main problem will be finding enough competition between now and 1980.”

67 YEARS AGO
AUG. 15, 1946

“Evergreen Team Wins Four During Past Week: Evergreen won all four games last week to remain in first place in the Amateur League. The locals go to Flomaton Thursday and play a double header Sunday with Flomaton here. In the two games played with Flomaton the locals defeated them 5 to 4 in the first game and lost the next one 1 to 0.
“Nelson, Carpenter, W. Hart and Windham received credit for last week’s win over Uriah. Windham showed up well Sunday when he pitched a one-hitter in the nightcap.
“Noble led the batting attack Sunday with four hits including a home run.”

“Evergreen’s Horse Show Was Successful Event: One of the biggest events of the season was the Horse Show which was held in Evergreen at the Evergreen High School Athletic Field on Thursday night. Some of the finest horses in the south were entered in this show and an estimated crowd of 1,500 attended this show from many towns in the southern part of the state. This show was sponsored by the Evergreen Rotary Club and it is believed that it was one of the best that has been held this season.
“Plans are being made now for a much bigger and better show to be held next year as this is Evergreen’s first and since it was one of the best of the season and enjoyed by so many people. The plans are now to really have a show next year.”
Winners included L.E. Salter, Lewis Stuckey, Tommy White, Bert Tuggle Jr., J.W. Johnson, Mrs. Jack Newman and D.T. Stuart Jr., all of Evergreen.

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