Flomaton Hurricanes Advance To Round Two Of State Playoffs
April 20, 2009
The Flomaton Hurricanes have advanced to round two of the state Class 2A playoffs after weekend wins over Cottonwood.
Flomaton (17-8) heads to Monroe County to take on Excel next Friday in the second round of their trip toward state. Cottonwood beat Flomaton 11-10, the he ‘Canes beat the Bears 14-4 in the second game of the three game series. Flomaton took game three with a solid 11-5 victory.
The Bears took an early 3-0 lead in the third game, but the Bears’ lead was quickly ended in the bottom of the second with a three-run homer from Tyler Coleman sending Caleb Bethea, Chip Edwards and Samuel Mize across home plate. The ‘Canes were up 4-3 heading into the third.
The Bears tied the game again at 5-5 in the fourth inning. The Hurricanes owned the fifth when Mize picked up a single, and Allen Spears hit a double. Denver Hawsey had a triple for the 11-5 final.
Vickery pitched the first three innings. Chip Edwards pitched the next three innings, and Bethea pitched the final for the Flomaton Hurricanes.
Here Come The Blackcats: The Kayo Stanton Story
April 20, 2009
Perhaps it is fitting that Century’s Relay for Life will be held Saturday night at Kayo Stanton Stadium. The stadium was named in honor of a man that was a legacy in Century High School sports. A man that was the voice of the Blackcats for 20 years until he was silenced by cancer.
As Century prepares for this weekend’s American Cancer Society Relay for Life, we thought it fitting to look back at the man and the history behind Kayo Stanton Stadium, the stadium that is all too often referred to as the “old Century High School Stadium”.
The following was submitted by Jerry Simmons from the Alger-Sullivan Historical Society for NorthEscambia.com.
“Heeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrreeeee come the Blackcats”
Kayo’s full name was Vivian Earl Stanton, Jr. “Kayo” is a term used in boxing to denote a knockout but his daughter Anne Williamson of Thomasville said his nickname was for a character in the 1930s-50s “Moon Mullins” Sunday comic strip named “Kayo.”
Stanton’s deep voice was easily recognizable – his trademark was “Heeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrreeeee come the Blackcats,” as the Century team came onto the field before the game started. His son, David Stanton said his father borrowed the line from the Florida Gators after attending games in Gainesville when David was a student there. “He came back and tried it, and it went over pretty good,” he said. “He kept it for the next 20 years.”
Kayo didn’t try to be a play-by-play announcer. He once said, “The fans can see what’s going on. I just tell them the yard marker, since we can see from this high vantage point. The men who work as spotters in the press box tell me the players’ numbers and I pass that to the crowd.”
The stadium was named in his honor during the football season of 1990. He was beginning to be paralyzed from the cancer by the end of the football season, but he could still walk some at the time of the dedication. By the end of the season he was confined to a wheelchair and would listen to the games from the wheelchair sitting in his front yard.
According to a contemporary report in the Pensacola News-Journal, he was “embarrassed but honored” when Century High School named its football stadium for him. But that honor was an indication of how well everyone thought of him. Kayo’s son David said, “There was never any controversy or complaint about the decision to name the stadium for him.”
Kayo was “The Voice of the Blackcats” as public address announcer for Century football for 40 years, starting in the early 1950s.
The News-Journal report continued, “He was Blackcat football,” said [former] Century football coach Joe Cardwell. “He was our version of Mel Allen, with that gravelly voice.”
“If you were going to have a ball game, you were going to have Kayo there,” said Edsol Smith, former CHS coach and principal. Smith remembered Stanton as a community booster and historian and a fixture at Century Lions Club meetings, where he was the member with the most years of service at the time of his death.
Stanton was also a third generation businessman in Century. At 19, he went to work for his father, Bubba Stanton, at Stanton’s grocery on Mayo Street. The family closed the grocery store in 1963, and when Bubba died in 1964, Kayo took over the operation and eventually turned it into a furniture store.
“People would just drop by his store all the time and sit and talk,” said former Century mayor Benny Barnes. “We’d talk a lot about things going on in the community and about football.”
Stanton prepared for games as if he were going to broadcast them, studying series records against Century’s opposition for the week and scores against common opponents, to be shared with the fans. “He did a lot of research,” David said. “He was really good at it.”
His attendance record was almost spotless, even after he opened another store in Pensacola in 1979. The new store kept him out of town for much of the week in the six years it was open. But Fridays always found him in the press box.
His tenure was interrupted only once, as family ties put him in a different place in the stadium during the 1968 season. That was the senior season for David, an All-State linebacker for Century. Smith said, “He said he’d get too excited to do a good job.”
But he returned to the booth the following year and stayed for the next 20 years, before cancer forced him to give up announcing. He died June 13, 1991.
“You can say that the whole community’s lost a friend,” Barnes said at the time.
The History
Hurricanes Ivan and Dennis took down a sign honoring a prominent figure in Century’s recent history. Kayo Stanton Field is hardly known to people around town any more, although it was the center of the community’s identity for 50 or 60 years. It was named for one of Century’s favorite sons.
Century’s high school ventured into football in the early 1930s. According to “Blackcats: A history of Century Football 1931-1975″ by Jim Curenton, football was first played behind the Baptist and Methodist churches in 1931. In 1934, Marvin Kelly donated a parcel of land northwest of the present-day Carver-Century K-8 (the site of present-day Showalter Park) and it was used for Century’s athletic teams. Football was played at Kelly Field during the daytime hours since there were no lights.
It’s not clear just when the first games were played at the new high school, built in 1936. Curenton’s book says of the 1941 season, “Kelly Field had not been used as a football field in two or three years.” At any rate, at the end of World War II, for the first time, home games were played under lights on the field behind the new high school. Century played its first night game against W.S. Neal. A solid white ball was used to make it more visible at night. Curenton reported that since grandstands were non-existent and there were no fences as yet, crowds pressed closer and closer to the action, actually narrowing the field of play.
The school property bordered the crest of a hill on the edge of a small swamp around Findley Branch. Coach Bill Turberville took advantage of the slope. He had the boys carry each other up the hill repeatedly to build the legs and endurance of the players. Coaches following Turberville also used the slope for practice drills, and Eddie Simmons believes Coach Jay Smith made the most use of it. He had two boys race down the hill – one boy had to block them both and push them back up the hill. He would alternate two on one going up and then going down, tackling and blocking. The players battled one another, some trying to get up the hill and others trying to keep them from succeeding, with Coach Smith yelling not-too-kind words at the all the while!
By 1944 a grandstand was erected on the north side of the field. It was a wooden affair with about five or so rows of seats, seating maybe some 50 people. However, it was a start. It was a sign of progress and of a “slowly growing interest in high school football,” according to Curenton. Crowds increased and that resulted in larger stands being constructed. Later cars pulled up to the fence on the south side and fans sat in their autos, blowing their horns when there was an exceptional play. About 1948, a grandstand and dressing rooms were built with wooden seats atop them. Running water was added to the dressing rooms in 1952, with Kayo Stanton doing most of the plumbing work.
Grover Hicks, Mr. Peavy and Angus Hall of the county’s maintenance crew used wheelbarrows to build a concrete extension onto the east end of the existing grandstand that was used by opponents’ fans.
A deep gulley at the east end was filled in during Jim Manderson’s coaching tenure at CHS some time during 1952-54. A classroom was built adjacent to the southwest corner end zone and encroached on the end zone. In the 1980s, Paul Jones, owner of the land east of the field, donated property so the field could be extended in that direction.
The cement grandstand and press box on the south side was promoted and built with the help of the Quarterback Club in the 1960s and 70s.
Photos courtesy Alger-Sullivan Historical Society.
Layoffs Begin At Packaging Plant
April 20, 2009
The layoffs are underway at Graphic Packaging in Cantonment as the company begins the process of closing the facility, a process that will eventually cost up to 243 people their jobs.
The company announced in February that the layoffs were on the way, and the first group of employees received their pink slips last week.
Graphic Packaging says they are closing four U.S. facilities, including their multi-wall bag packaging facility in Cantonment, by September 30. Company officials have said their more senior staff will remain at the facility until the final day in September.
“We are continuing to push aggressively in 2009 to integrate assets and streamline operations, as well as achieve a minimum of $90 million in synergy savings expected from our combination,” said David W. Scheible, president and chief executive officer of the company.
In March 2008, Graphics Packaging merged with Altivity Packaging. The Cantonment facility was previously operated by Smurfit-Stone as Stone Container. Employees have been told that no concrete decision has been made on offering employee transfers to other facilities. The Cantonment production equipment is to be moved to a facility in Georgia.
Non-union employees will be offered some level of assistance, and the company will work with the United Steelworkers union on any assistance for their union employees, a company official said.. The company previously announced the closure of a Tennessee carton plant, and the closure of plants in Tuscaloosa, Ala.; Morris, Ill.; and Muncie, Ind.The company lost $42 million on $3.03 billion in sales during the first nine months of 2008.
Company officials declined to comment on this story.
Highway 29 Speed Limits Corrected After News Story
April 20, 2009
A 55 mph speed limit between Cantonment and Molino has been corrected to 65 mph following a NorthEscambia.com story last week that reported that signs installed on Highway 29 were incorrect.
The speed limit on Highway 29 had been lowered on the north side of Cantonment, and a NorthEscambia.com story published last week led traffic engineers to realize that a 65 mph speed zone was gone due to a missing sign near Neal Roard in Cantonment and an incorrect sign near Barrineau Park Road.
Transfield Services, a company contracted to install speed limit signs for the Florida Department of Transportation, corrected the signs after being contacted by NorthEscambia.com.
The 45 mph speed zone was expanded north to near the intersection of Harvest Hill Drive near Cantonment Building Materials.The 55 mph speed zone was moved north to near Neal Road.
From near Neal Road north, the speed limit remains at 65 mph to Molino, just as it has since 1996, Speights said.
The speed limit changes includes both the northbound and southbound lanes.
Northview Chiefs Get Two Wins (Updated With Stats)
April 20, 2009
The Northview varsity boys beat Washington Saturday, make it two wins in a row for the Chiefs.
Northview 6, Washington 4
Washington took a 1-0 lead in the first inning Saturday, but Northview answered with two in the two. At the end of 11, Northview prevailed 6-4.
Northview scored two in the second, one in the third, one in the figth, and two in the eleventh.
The winning pitcher for Northview was Brad Lowery. He pitched four innings, gave up two hits, no runs, he walked two batters , and struck out eight. Lowery’s record is now 5-1.
Hitters for Northview were Scooter Hamilton, who went 2 for 5 at the plate. Brad Lowery was 3 for 4 with two runs scored. Dabney Langhorne was 3 for 4 with a run scored, and one RBI. Austin Lowery was 1 for 5 with a run scored. Heath Burkett was 2 for 4, with a double, two RBIs and a run scored. Aaron Chancery was 2 for 5. Taylor Martin was 1 for 5 with an RBI. Northview improved their record to 12-8 and 4-2 in the district.
Northview 9, Walton 2
Northview beat Walton 9-2 on Friday in a seven inning matchup.
Northview scored one in the first, six in the fourth and two in the six for their 9 runs. Walton scored one in the fourth, and one in the seventh.
The winning pitcher for Northview was Heath Burkett. He pitched five innings, gave up one run on two hits, walked three and struck out five.
Leading hitters for Northview included Scooter Hamilton, going 2 for 3 and scoring two runs. Patrick McPherson was 2 for 3 at the plate, scoring two runs and collecting three RBIs. Brad Lowery was 2 for 4, with three RBIs and a double. Austin Lowery was 1 for 3 with a run scored. Heath Burkett was 1 for 3 with a run scored. Austin Arrington was 1 for 3 also.
Donations Being Accepted For Molino Family Following House Fire
April 20, 2009
Donations are being accepted for a Molino family that lost everything in a house fire early Saturday morning.
Dixie Jackson, Patricia Jackson, Timothy Schachle and Skye Brown lost their home on Cedartown road about 4:30 Saturday morning. The home was completely destroyed.
Donations are being accepted at the Highland Baptist Church office on Highway 95A from 8am to noon Monday-Friday.
Items that are especially needed are:
- Men’s clothing: pants size 40×32, 2X large shirts
- Women’s clothing: size 10-12, large shirts
- Young woman (age 19): size 12-13 pants, large shirts
- Teen girl (age 12): size 3 pants, small or medium shirts
- Household items (dishes, linens, etc.)
The family is also looking to obtain a small camper to live in on their property.
Click here for the story and photos from the fire.
Pictured above: Donations are being accepted for a family that lost everything in this house fire early Saturday morning. NorthEscambia.com file photo, click to enlarge.
Students Of The Year Named
April 20, 2009
Several North Escambia students were recently recognized as Students of the Year by the Escambia County Council of PTAs and PTSAs.
The students were presented their award by members of the Escambia County School Board and Superintendent Malcolm Thomas at a recent program in Pensacola.
From North Escambia, the Students of the Year were:
- O’Neshia Spencer, Bratt Elementary
- Trevor Levins, Byrneville Elementary
- Andrea “Shea” Nall, Carver/Century K-8
- Jordan Helmken, Molino Park Elementary
- Angel Mitchell, Ernest Ward Middle
Pictured above: Angel Mitchell was the Escambia County Council of PTAs and PTSAs Student of the Year from Ernest Ward Middle School. Submitted photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
A Century Plus Eight: Century Celebrates Birthday
April 19, 2009
The Alger-Sullivan Historical Society celebrated the 108th birthday of Century Saturday with a day of activities.
The day featured Civil War reenactors, displays from museums, free museum tours, yard sale items, food, entertainment and more.
The events took place in the area of the Alger-Sullivan Historical District on Jefferson Avenue.
For a complete photo gallery from the event, click here.
Pictured: Scenes from Century’s 108th Birthday Bash Saturday. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Founder Of We Care Program Passes Away
April 19, 2009
Martin Weber, the founder of the We Care Program, died Saturday in Atmore.
Weber began a prison ministry nearly 40 years ago at Fountain Correctional Facility and later served almost 20 years as a chaplain for the Alabama Department of Corrections. Nearly 40 years ago, Weber established New Life Foundation. The name was changed to the We Care Program in 1983.
The We Care Program ministers in several Alabama prisons. The group also operates We Care Economy shops in Flomaton, Atmore and Monroeville.
Weber is survived by his wife of 65 years, Anna; daughters Mary Jane Schrock, Velma Schrock, Joyce Suter and Ruth Ann Yoder; and sons James Weber and Phil Weber.
Visitation will be held Monday from 5:00 until 8:30 p.m. and Tuesday from 12:00 until 2:00 p.m. at the Atmore Memorial Chapel. Funeral services will be held 2:00 p.m. Tuesday at Atmore Memorial Chapel. Burial will be in the Freemanville Community Cemetery.
The family is asking that any gifts in honor of Martin Weber, be sent to We Care Program at 3493 Hwy. 21, Atmore, AL 36502 and be marked “Martin Weber Endowment Fund”
Walnut Hill Fire Holds Spaghetti Supper For Relay For Life
April 19, 2009
A spaghetti supper to benefit the Century Relay for Life was held Saturday night in Walnut Hill. All proceeds from the event at the Walnut Hill Station of Escambia Fire Rescue went to the American Cancer Society. Pictured above: Walnut Hill Assistant Chief Kevin Mininger hands off a plate of spaghetti to Tracy Benner. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.