My Alabama

Someone asked me recently since we moved to Santa Rosa Beach if I still claimed Alabama as my home. Not yeah, but Hale Yeah. I was born there and will always have red clay-stained ankles.

Someone also said I should be the tourism director for the state of Alabama. It sounds tempting but I would rather just share some of my Southern to the Bone stories and figure out a strategy to keep granola freaks from settling here. To them: Thank you for visiting but let the door hit you where the Good Lord split you, on your way back to New Jersey, New Hampshire, New England or New Woke North.

As the old song by Johhny Cash goes: “I’ve Been Everywhere Man.” For me, I have been to all 67 Alabama counties and have more than 70 years of experience to fall back on.

Need proof? Here goes:

I’ve been to the Peanut Festival in Dothan, the Mullet Toss at the Flora-Bama, the Talladega 500, and the Indian Festival in Moundville. I saw 10,000 tractor nuts at the Tanner Tractor Pull in 1981. First Monday Trade Day in Scottsboro and Coon Dog Cemetery Celebration located between Cherokee and Tuscumbia. The Crawfish Festival and Rodeo in Faunsdale. The German Sausage Festival in Elberta and the W.C. Handy Festival in Florence. Very few, however, can compare to the music and auction at the St. Jude Trail Ride on Underwood Mountain in July. It’s a classic.

I have seen the sun come up at Horse Pen’s 40 while picking bluegrass around a campfire and having strangers offering us coffee, strong enough for the spoon to stand up in the cup. Later that year, 1977 to be exact, we did the same at the Brushy Creek Festival in Arley. For my bluegrass friends, I saw the “Father of Bluegrass” Bill Monroe, Jim and Jesse, Norman Blake, Doc Watson and his son Merle, Ricky Skaggs, the Osbourne Brothers, the Campbell Trio, Glenn Tolbert and my favorite group: Three on a String.

I have played or coached at some memorable football stadiums: CT Manley Stadium in Leighton. Braly Stadium in Florence for the first ever state championship football game against Russellville in 1967. Milton Frank and Goldsmith-Schiffman Field in Huntsville. Harris Field in Cherokee. Moore Stadium in Muscle Shoals. Howard Chapelle Stadium in Tuscumbia. Ogle Stadium in Decatur. Ane one of my favorites: Rip Swanner Field in Tanner.

I have eaten the best ribs in the nation at both Dreamland and Archibald’s in Tuscaloosa. I lean more to Dreamland and have been accused of sopping up the sauce with an entire loaf of white bread. I have had barbeque at Whitt’s in Athens, Bob Gibson’s in Decatur, Kendall’s in Georgianna, Bunyons in Florence, Green Top in Dora, Full Moon in Birmingham and some of the best in North Alabama catered by L.O. Bishop and his son, Luther.

I have had snapper throats at the Bright Star in Bessemer, West Indies salad at Wintzell’s in Mobile, oysters on the half shell at Papa Rocco’s in Gulf Shores, sushi at Chuck’s Fish in Tuscaloosa and orange rolls at the All Steak in Cullman. Breakfast at the Waysider in Tuscaloosa and at Eunice’s Country Kitchen in Huntsville. I ate catfish at every Ezelle Catfish in the state starting in Lavaca during my college days in Tuscaloosa. Fried chicken at the now closed Cotton Patch and the best steaks in the state at Nick’s in the Sticks, south of Tuscaloosa. Try the Nicodemus (only one) and thank me later. Big Mike’s in Orange Beach gives them a run for their money however.

I visited the Vulcan as an elementary student at Leighton Elementary School and saw him “mooning” Homewood. Caught the train from Leighton to Helen Keller’s birthplace in Tuscumbia. The Crater in Wetumpka. The Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma. The famous “Face in the Window” in Carrolton at the courthouse. The Alabama Music Hall of Fame in Tuscumbia and the Bryant Museum in Tuscaloosa. The Eagle Flight before Auburn’s home football games sends chills up your spine, even if your blood runs a deep Crimson. I have sung Rammer Jammer more times than I could count in Bryant Denny Stadium after a Bama win.

I watched thoroughbreds run at the short-lived track in Birmingham. I attended the dog track races at Greentrack in Eutaw, Victoryland near Tuskegee, the Mobile Track and Birmingham Race Course track. Presently, there are only 2 tracks in the ENTIRE nation that have live dog racing, and both are in West Virginia. Unless you are from Alabama, you might not be aware of visits to these towns: Cuba, Scratch Ankle, Bug Tussle, Mynot, Arab, Normal, and Slick Lizard.  Near Wetumpka is Eclectic, Murder Creek and Slapout. I have also been to Burnt Corn, Punkin Center, Pineapple, Lickskillet and Zip City. Supposedly, Zip City, north of Florence, got its name from the fact that Lauderdale County was a dry county and people would “zip” across the Tennessee state line for alcohol and zip back.

As a college student, I attended Athens State in Athens, the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, North Alabama in Florence and Alabama A&M in Huntsville. As a teacher and coach, I spent time in Cherokee, Huntsville, Tanner, Muscle Shoals and at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. I lived briefly in Mobile while starting the club football program at the University of South Alabama in 1999 and served as the Jag’s head coach. Proudly, South is playing at the top level.

Other than coaching, I have worked throughout the state. I started out building mobile homes in Leighton and Florence. I pulled purlins and worked construction in Ft. Payne, Phil Cambell and Hazel Green. I lifeguarded in Florence, Muscle Shoals and Vestavia Hills. I umpired college baseball from Livingston and Marion to Fayette and Jasper. I refereed basketball in the Tuscaloosa area as well as the Limestone County area. I have led over 700 retirement planning seminars in the state of Alabama: from Florence to Mobile to Dothan and Scottsboro. From Huntsville to Enterprise and Phenix City to Tuscaloosa and every city in between. At one time, I was leading 3 seminars a week in the state. Of the 67 counties, we worked in 55 of them. That’s why I know so many of the “Farm to Market” roads in the state. 

As the football recruiting coordinator at Alabama, it was imperative for me to know all about THE state.

Correction:

MY STATE.