Original Patriots Slide Show

Hi Gang, this is a slide show of all photos saved to this blog. It will automatically run through'em all. If you wish to see larger pictures go to our on line album - look in the column on the right. Click the link and go.

"Betsy", My MGA

I call her Betsy. Not as clever as my friend who calls his TD "Fergie" 'cause she likes to go topless. I like that one, but Betsy is simple and strong - like my 1959 MGA

She is not a show car, though we have won trophies in the past. She is a driver. And I enjoy the ride. Oh, the stories we could tell. The ratchet I sent into the radiator on the way to Pensacola and locals telling me to use black pepper to stop the leak. That fall trip to Cheaha, a tightly packed trunk, that whoosh sound as the extinguisher went off. Yellow dust went everywhere. Well, Kay should have packed her sweaters in something air tight! A car show in Helena with a small caravan of buds. Our luggage was slid off the rack and under the car. And there it stayed. Our caravan looked disturbed when we had to back track 20 miles for our luggage.

They leak in the rain, are hot in summer, cold in winter and have room for a pair of shorts and a tooth brush in the trunk. British sports cars - you love'em or hate 'em. I've loved them since I was a teenager. It was Jackie Tudor and Nick Meadows fault. Jackie had the coolest car I had seen - a Triumph Spitfire and I drove it. Jackie signaled I was number one in his heart when I barked the tires and sped away - for an hour! Meadows had a blue MGB and dated Vickye Morris - nuff said about why I wanted one!


At 20, I had a 60 MGA and a 68 MGB, both with optional hardtops. Great fun cars. A new house, furniture, and surgery # 3 brought about their sale. But I missed 'em. One day in 1984, there she was, an MGA for sale and just down the road. 500 bucks and three truck loads later I was trying to explain why I had drug this pile of junk home.


Well, I have enjoyed this pile of junk for 24 years, No one has touched her but me during that time. From the body & paint, wiring, and mechanical work, all me. Some may say that might not be the best thing! We have made runs to the beach - Mobile, Pensacola, and Panama City - to the hills of Mt. Cheaha, Guntersville, Mentone, and every backroad in central and north Alabama. Several trips to Atlanta, the Walter Mitty races and on the track at Road Atlanta. The best of all may have been to the Smokies. 1650 miles without a hiccup.


Betsy has aged and like me could use some body work and TLC. I have always told my car club buds I would repaint her and fix her up if anything "major" happened. In 2006, I decided to do a few go faster things. So out came the engine, transmission, seats, carpet, floor boards (yes - it has real to goodness wood floors), and rear end. A few engine tweeks, new oil seals for the leaks, and a 3.909 rear end for better highway cruising and soon she was back together.

My buds asked, "So, what DO you call major!"



On we go.
As a friend said,"Sometimes its just fun to go fast in a slow car." The A was never fast. With the mods it should do 112 now, but I doubt I can get her quite there. I tried - once. She seemed to go where she wanted instead of where I thought she should go. Scary!


Now give me a backroad off the beaten path, top down, no phone, no radio - just the wind in the hair, curving roads, fields with cows and old barns and I will soon be relaxed and in my zone.

Did You Know? Gary Winton

I think we all agree Gary was the best basketball player to come out of Brewer. Ricky and I still argue who was second! But there were quite a few things I did not know about Gary until recently. This being an Olympic year, I thought I would share with you.

First, Gary went to West Point. There he played for Mike Krzyzewski. In his four years he broke both the scoring and rebounding records for Army. He also played on our pre-Olympic traveling USA Basketball team. For the first time ever, outside teams were allowed into Russia for a round of tune up games. Gary was voted MVP for USA Basketball that year against fellow players who later played in the NBA, some being all stars. Does the name James Worthy or Adrian Dantley ring a bell? That was the level of players he was with. This is a pic of the team that played in Vilnius in 1979 as an Olympic warm-up. We boycotted those Olympics, or we might have seen him in Olympic action.



Gary still holds two Sun Belt Conference Tournament scoring records, is second in scoring at Army, is listed among the college players who had 2000 points and 1000 rebounds. He was drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers of the NBA, but in those days the military expected you to serve your duty - which Gary did.

OK, I knew of none of this until 2005. In 2005 Gary was inducted into the West Point Sports Hall of Fame. He was also named as the best basketball player for the last 100 years for Army basketball.


Excerpt from a West Point newsletter for 2005 Hall of Fame inductees

Gary Winton ’78 -- Men’s Basketball and Head Coach: Softball (1990).
By the time he received his West Point degree, Gary Winton had virtually rewritten the Army men’s basketball record book, establishing a dozen records on game, season and career levels. Winton led Army in both scoring and rebounding during each of his four varsity campaigns, and graduated as the program leader in scoring and rebounding.

I only played with Gary for one year and still think highly of him. We played again in a tournament when we were 39 years old. A two weekend fundraiser featuring each team through the years from Brewer. Gary, myself, Ricky Allen, Ricky Lennox, Verlon Davis, Van Houser made it back. Guess what - we won. It is still one of my fondest memories, whipping the 23 year olds in the final game. But that is a story for my grandkids. The older we get - the better I was!


This link is to the 2006-2007 West Point Basketball recruiting brochure
http://www.nmnathletics.com//pdf4/59494.pdf?SPSID=71786&SPID=4606&DB_OEM_ID=11100 see page 12

Do a Google search for "Gary Winton" & basketball and you can read for a long time.


David

The 1923 T-Bucket - "Tommy & Cynthia's Wild Ride"

How about this baby for some head turning? This is Tommy and Cynthia (Winton) Russell's T-Bucket Hot Rod. What a rush!

Tommy and Cynthia take this head turner to the coast each year for a huge event - "Crusin the Coast" - an annual gathering of hot rods, classic, and vintage cars rumbling back and forth along the beachfront highways.



Per Cynthia

"We have been taking a trip to "Crusin the Coast" in Gulfport & Biloxi for 10 years. There are over 2000 hotrods, street, and vintage cars traveling the coast for a week in October."

I bought the t-bucket for $5000.000 and the car is from Texas. I have the original title prior to modification. We purchased chrome accent rear view mirrors, new chrome rims and larger tires, chrome carburetor covers, chrome exhaust pipes and some really cool lights underneath and on the front.


The little thing will fly but gives me whip-lash everytime we ride..Tom holds the steering wheel knowing he is going to "gun" it, but I don't.. so I'm like a dish rag bobbing about..I brace myself by placing my right foot to the outside of the windshield.

I'm attaching the website as well as some pics.


Note the photos shown driving the "T" were taken by Crusining the Coast photographers. For some reason that team really takes a liking to our T-bucket..not sure if it's the car or what in it..hahaha!!!


Also, 2002 or 2003, our pic was on the cover of the mail-out announcing the upcoming year's event..pretty cool to get a flyer in the mail and your picture be on the front cover.


http://www.cruisinthecoast.com/




Thanks Cynthia for sharing with another car nut - DP

GO CARL

Somerville Man Captures Gold, Bronze in Wheelchair Games

By Ronnie ThomasStaff Writer (Decatur Daily)

Carl Flemons drove toward home Thursday from the 28th National Veterans Wheelchair Games in Omaha, Neb., with one gold and two bronze medals.
Flemons, 52, of Somerville won first place in trapshooting and third place in 9-ball and archery. He competes in the Class III Masters Division.

Best performance

“It’s the best I’ve ever shot in competition,” he said of the gold he mined in trap shooting.

Flemons, an Air Force veteran who injured his spinal cord in a motorcycle accident in 1980, was competing in the event for the sixth time.

“The games just get better and better,” he said. “It was a whole lot of fun and very rewarding to compete and watch the newly injured guys achieve goals they never believed they could.”

In nailing his gold medal, Flemons knocked down 41 of 50 clay pigeons in the first round and 42 in the second round.

“You shoot from 16 yards away and rotate through five posts, which are set up in a semicircle,” he said.

A good omen

“You get 10 shots at each post. Maybe it was a good omen that I drew the first position to start the competition.”

Flemons, a 1973 Brewer High graduate, also competed in table tennis and bowling.

The games are open to U.S. military veterans who use wheelchairs for sports competition due to spinal cord injuries, certain neurological conditions, amputations or other mobility impairments.

Carl - Our Pool Shark

The BHS Tie

The Official BHS Tie

Few classmates at the reunion knew of the BHS Ties. They did exist. I still have mine. It may well be the last. It certainly is a throwback to the 70s.

There were several good reasons to wear this relic to our reunion.

1. I had one

2. Neither of my two wives would let me throw it out.

(OK, I still have my Priceville basketball uniform too)

3. The envy factor. I knew every man there would wish they had one

4. It hid the straining buttons on my shirt.

We had a super fan our first year at Brewer. I think her name was Berta Bowling from Union Hill. She made everyone on the basketball team one of these ties. Yes - we had to wear them. Miss Berta was such a fan, she made it to every basketball game that year. She even came to every game 20 years later when we played in a tournament. It was great to see her again and talk to the lady who made these ties.

Now, let the bidding begin. What are the offers for a genuine 4 inch wide white polyester 1973 tie? Hardly used - but quite adequate for those special occasions.

Reunion 35 August 2, 2008

Welcome to the Brewer High School Class of 1973 Reunion

Click on the pic to see a larger version

Share with our friends and fellow classmates

Thanks

David