Gary 'Deebo' Bowens was known far and wide to many local sports fans

Like a lot of Conecuh County residents this week I was saddened to learn of the death of 52-year-old Gary “Deebo” Bowens, who was killed in a tragic one-vehicle accident on Friday.

Gary was known far and wide to many local sports fans. He seldom missed a Hillcrest High School football game, and he loved to cheer on the Jags with his distinctive, booming voice. Gary was also actively involved in coaching youth football for many years, and he always loved to talk football.

Many local sports fans will remember that Gary played a big, important role in arguably the greatest sports upset in the history of Conecuh County – Evergreen High School’s epic, 16-14, win over undefeated and No. 1-ranked T.R. Miller on Oct. 19, 1979 at Brooks Memorial Stadium in Evergreen. That season, Miller was led by future Alabama quarterback Walter Lewis, but that didn’t stop the Aggies from over-coming a 14-0 halftime deficit to hand the Tigers their first loss to Evergreen since 1960. Gary loved to tell me about this game, and I know it was something that he was very proud of.

In the end, The Courant wishes to extend to Gary’s family our deepest condolences. He will be missed by everyone who knew him.

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The seventh weekend of the college football season has come and gone, and only one SEC team – LSU - remains undefeated. After Saturday’s 35-28 win over Florida, LSU is 6-0 overall, and they’re not likely to suffer their first loss of the season this Saturday when they play Western Kentucky in Baton Rouge.

Taking a look at this week’s upcoming SEC football schedule the LSU-Western Kentucky game is the only game that doesn’t involve a head-to-head match-up between SEC opponents. Other games set for Saturday include Tennessee at Alabama, Auburn at Arkansas, Kentucky at Mississippi State, Missouri at Vanderbilt and Texas A&M at Ole Miss. Florida, Georgia and South Carolina have the weekend off.

With that said, here are my predictions for this week’s slate of games. I like Alabama over Tennessee, Arkansas over Auburn, Missouri over Vanderbilt, Ole Miss over Texas A&M, Mississippi State over Kentucky and LSU over Western Kentucky.

Last week: 6-1. So far this season: 53-12.

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This past weekend also marked the seventh weekend of our local ESPN College Football Pick ‘Em Contest. Sharon Peacock remained in first place for the fourth week in a row, and Ricky Taylor went from third place to second place. Ricky Powell and Deagan Dailey found themselves tied for the third place spot in this week’s standings.

Hunter Norris climbed from sixth place to fifth place. Mike Dailey dropped from fifth place to sixth place. Casey Grant and Sam Rowell were tied for the seventh place spot in the standings.

Jonathan Tuberville remained in ninth place for the second week in a row, and Jeremy Matheny rounded out the Top 10, finishing Saturday in tenth place. In the spirit of transparency, your friendly neighborhood reporter dropped from tenth place into 11th place overall.

If you’re one of the contestants in the contest and didn’t do well over the weekend, don’t sweat it. We’ve got six weeks to go before the end of the season, and the Top 10 will change a lot over the course of the next month and a half.