A good question for a future story - or for a lively "Reader Comment" discussion (once people discover the Reader Comments) - might be this question: "What is the most memorable local sports story of your lifetime and why?"
I also recently wrote a column "Remembering the 1980 CHHS state championship football team." That news was even bigger (or just as big). In that story, I should have mentioned that, in 1980, the AHSAA only had four athletic classifications. CHHS won the 3A State Title. Today, there are seven (7) athletic classifications.
This means the 1980 CHHS team had to beat about 40 more teams to win that state title. I think there are now about 65 teams in each athletic classification. In 1980, there were probably at least 100 high schools that played 3A football.
Similarly, Alabama State Champions in the Dixie Youth organizations had to beat more towns and teams to win a state title than other states because Alabama had the largest participation rate in Dixie Baseball. At one time, there were 11 states that played "Dixie Youth/Boys/Majors" baseball, which was much more popular in many Southern states than the more-famous "Little League" organization.
In other news, Pickle Jack McCoy, 8, just beat Dad, 59, in "Rat" for the very first time.
Pickle Jack swished two long 3-pointers that I couldn't match and I missed both Farewell shots ... so, I just had to "hang it up." Congratulations, to the Jack Rabbit.
We're now excited about watching TROY's double header this afternoon at Trojan Arena. At halftime of both games, they are having a "Teddy Bear Toss" and Jack has already found several stuffed animals we can take to toss toward the target.
Correction: I almost always find mistakes and typos in my articles and correct them as fast as I find them. In this story, I originally wrote two times that Troy/Alabama was playing South Carolina in the title game. (I got it right once). Troy was actually playing the Florida state champs from Pensacola in this title game. Since three teams had one loss, a draw was held to see which team advanced to the championship game - and Pensacola won the draw.
As an aside, these drawings are common in double-elimination tournaments. In fact, in 1977 I was on a Dixie Youth tournament team that almost won a state championship. Our team won our first two or three games at the State Tournament, but ended up being one of three teams with one loss. Our team lost the draw and had to play Decatur, which beat us and went on to win the sate championship.
Our team was considered co-runner-up. If we had won, we would have gone to a World Series in Louisiana.
Twelve teams from 11 Southeastern states competed in the World Series in Rock Hill, SC - which took place Aug 10-16 1991. (Today, these dates would be after school had started!)
The double-elimination tournament included 23 games which were played on two fields - fields which were usually softball fields.
- In my story, I mention that Troy produced many outstanding tournament teams in the Dixie organization through the years before the 1991 team. However, Troy teams could never quite win the big trophies.
The same applied to high school baseball where Coach Mike Hogan’s teams had long been one of the top programs in the state. However, Troy had suffered several heart-breaking defeats in state championship games and our town had never won a state title in our signature sport in high school baseball (something that later changed).
This context perhaps provides more reasons why the 1991 World Championship title was such exciting news to local residents.
- All of the writers for The Rock Hill Herald treated the World Series like it was a huge deal which, to participants and their supporters it, of course was. I saved this sentence from column by sports editor Paul D. Bawker:
“You can almost pictured the folks over in Troy, Alabama sitting on the front porch and sipping iced tea as the play-by-play announcer’s voice crackles over the radio.
“Yes, this is the real world of baseball, a real slice of Americana.”
While “Troy” won the world series, two of the team’s star players weren’t from Troy. Marcus Bryant was from Brundidge and Willie Wright, now the City Manager of the City of Brundidge, was from either Ramer or Grady in south Montgomery County. However, the three Wright boys always played summer sports in Troy.
Willie later pitched for Troy State and played for a season or two on a minor league baseball team in Montgomery.
Wesley, along with Brian Meadows, is the only local high school product who made it to the Big Leagues. Today, Wesley is a scout and director of Player Personnel for the Minnesota Twins.
- This might be incorrect, but I was told that team standout Andy Blair was once featured in “Faces in the Crowd” in Sports Illustrated magazine. As I remember this anecdote, Andy was was featured for a string of great pitching performances in Dixie Youth. If this is true, Blair is probably the only local resident ever featured in this very-popular staple of the world’s most popular sports magazine.
I can’t remember where Troy’s team stayed but several teams stayed in dorms at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, which had a population of 43,000 in 1991 but has grown to 73,000 residents today.
- Long-time NFL quarterback Roman Gabriel was the keynote speaker at the welcoming banquet for team members and their family members. More than 600 people attended the banquet.
- The games were held at Cherry Park in Rock Hill. The park is best known for a 14-foot tall, 1,400-pound bronze statue of “Mighty Casey.” From my research, I learned the statue was originally leased to the Department of Parks and Recreation. However, a fund-raiser generated
$225,000 to more than pay for the statue. (I wonder if Troy could find or raise the money to construct a similar “signature” statue for The Sportsplex?)
- Cherry Park opened in 1985 and hosted the City’s first Dixie Boys World Series two years later in 1987. The Alabama state champs (AUM) also won that World Series.
From previous research, I remember that Alabama always had more leagues and teams in the Dixie organization than the other 11 states. This means it is harder to win a state championship in Alabama because Alabama’s tournament teams are competing against more teams/towns.
Fun trip down memory lane!
Thanks for the courtesy or sympathy comment, Honey. I've noted the "Comment Forum" isn't exactly taking off.
A good question for a future story - or for a lively "Reader Comment" discussion (once people discover the Reader Comments) - might be this question: "What is the most memorable local sports story of your lifetime and why?"
I also recently wrote a column "Remembering the 1980 CHHS state championship football team." That news was even bigger (or just as big). In that story, I should have mentioned that, in 1980, the AHSAA only had four athletic classifications. CHHS won the 3A State Title. Today, there are seven (7) athletic classifications.
This means the 1980 CHHS team had to beat about 40 more teams to win that state title. I think there are now about 65 teams in each athletic classification. In 1980, there were probably at least 100 high schools that played 3A football.
Similarly, Alabama State Champions in the Dixie Youth organizations had to beat more towns and teams to win a state title than other states because Alabama had the largest participation rate in Dixie Baseball. At one time, there were 11 states that played "Dixie Youth/Boys/Majors" baseball, which was much more popular in many Southern states than the more-famous "Little League" organization.
In other news, Pickle Jack McCoy, 8, just beat Dad, 59, in "Rat" for the very first time.
Pickle Jack swished two long 3-pointers that I couldn't match and I missed both Farewell shots ... so, I just had to "hang it up." Congratulations, to the Jack Rabbit.
We're now excited about watching TROY's double header this afternoon at Trojan Arena. At halftime of both games, they are having a "Teddy Bear Toss" and Jack has already found several stuffed animals we can take to toss toward the target.
Correction: I almost always find mistakes and typos in my articles and correct them as fast as I find them. In this story, I originally wrote two times that Troy/Alabama was playing South Carolina in the title game. (I got it right once). Troy was actually playing the Florida state champs from Pensacola in this title game. Since three teams had one loss, a draw was held to see which team advanced to the championship game - and Pensacola won the draw.
As an aside, these drawings are common in double-elimination tournaments. In fact, in 1977 I was on a Dixie Youth tournament team that almost won a state championship. Our team won our first two or three games at the State Tournament, but ended up being one of three teams with one loss. Our team lost the draw and had to play Decatur, which beat us and went on to win the sate championship.
Our team was considered co-runner-up. If we had won, we would have gone to a World Series in Louisiana.
Twelve teams from 11 Southeastern states competed in the World Series in Rock Hill, SC - which took place Aug 10-16 1991. (Today, these dates would be after school had started!)
The double-elimination tournament included 23 games which were played on two fields - fields which were usually softball fields.
Thanks for sharing this with your friends and neighbors who might also enjoy this Trip Down Memory Lane!
- In my story, I mention that Troy produced many outstanding tournament teams in the Dixie organization through the years before the 1991 team. However, Troy teams could never quite win the big trophies.
The same applied to high school baseball where Coach Mike Hogan’s teams had long been one of the top programs in the state. However, Troy had suffered several heart-breaking defeats in state championship games and our town had never won a state title in our signature sport in high school baseball (something that later changed).
This context perhaps provides more reasons why the 1991 World Championship title was such exciting news to local residents.
- All of the writers for The Rock Hill Herald treated the World Series like it was a huge deal which, to participants and their supporters it, of course was. I saved this sentence from column by sports editor Paul D. Bawker:
“You can almost pictured the folks over in Troy, Alabama sitting on the front porch and sipping iced tea as the play-by-play announcer’s voice crackles over the radio.
“Yes, this is the real world of baseball, a real slice of Americana.”
While “Troy” won the world series, two of the team’s star players weren’t from Troy. Marcus Bryant was from Brundidge and Willie Wright, now the City Manager of the City of Brundidge, was from either Ramer or Grady in south Montgomery County. However, the three Wright boys always played summer sports in Troy.
Willie later pitched for Troy State and played for a season or two on a minor league baseball team in Montgomery.
Wesley, along with Brian Meadows, is the only local high school product who made it to the Big Leagues. Today, Wesley is a scout and director of Player Personnel for the Minnesota Twins.
- This might be incorrect, but I was told that team standout Andy Blair was once featured in “Faces in the Crowd” in Sports Illustrated magazine. As I remember this anecdote, Andy was was featured for a string of great pitching performances in Dixie Youth. If this is true, Blair is probably the only local resident ever featured in this very-popular staple of the world’s most popular sports magazine.
Other Rock Hill tidbits:
I can’t remember where Troy’s team stayed but several teams stayed in dorms at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, which had a population of 43,000 in 1991 but has grown to 73,000 residents today.
- Long-time NFL quarterback Roman Gabriel was the keynote speaker at the welcoming banquet for team members and their family members. More than 600 people attended the banquet.
- The games were held at Cherry Park in Rock Hill. The park is best known for a 14-foot tall, 1,400-pound bronze statue of “Mighty Casey.” From my research, I learned the statue was originally leased to the Department of Parks and Recreation. However, a fund-raiser generated
$225,000 to more than pay for the statue. (I wonder if Troy could find or raise the money to construct a similar “signature” statue for The Sportsplex?)
- Cherry Park opened in 1985 and hosted the City’s first Dixie Boys World Series two years later in 1987. The Alabama state champs (AUM) also won that World Series.
From previous research, I remember that Alabama always had more leagues and teams in the Dixie organization than the other 11 states. This means it is harder to win a state championship in Alabama because Alabama’s tournament teams are competing against more teams/towns.