Ec's north island recreation league

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

Monday, March 2, 1953

HACKERS, KINGS, BOBCATS OPENING DAY WINNERS
The North Island Second Division sprung back into action with three games Sunday afternoon... opening day victories went to Union Heights, Kofa and Theodore... the Hackers blitzed the Avalon Oldtimers 7-0... the Kings clipped the Kinston Firebirds 6-5... and the Bobcats decisively thumped the West Chester Comets 11-2.

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

Monday, March 2, 1953

SAINTS, GATORS MAKE WAVES IN SIRL FIRST
Two new arrivals from the SIRL Second League kicked off opening day in the their new league with strong debuts... last year's Second League winner St. Dominic and runner-up Guedon stood out with decisive victories over the defending SIRL First champion Labadieville and Claiborne... the Saints trounced the Pelicans 8-2 and the Gators quickly disposed of the Cardinals 8-2 as well... in the other game played Sunday afternoon the Opelousas Lions toyed with the Des Allemands Eagles 5-1.

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

Monday, March 2, 1953

SI SECOND OPENS SEASON WITH A BANG
Two of the three games in the South Island Second League opened with a bang... the Bar Harbor Acadians and the Bayou Bleu Blues captured the season openers with three-run homers... the Cajuns toppled the Meraux Tigers 5-2 in 11 innings and the Blues beat the Delacroix Cubs 7-4 in regulation... the Chitamaca Moccasins walloped the Mystic Mariners easily 6-0 in the other contest... Bar Harbor and Mystic made their league debuts... they finished at the bottom the SI First League last year and were demoted down to the SI Second League.

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

MY LIFE IN 1952
EC's Still Havin' Fun in '52, Too

Opps!
I never did wrap up the year of 1952... so let's jump back to September and see what's happening in the USA and my life... wow, the Southern Association had an exciting finish if you were a Mobile Bears, New Orleans Pelicans and a Memphis Chicks fan... the Pels blew it... after leading the league in July and hosting the All-Stars at Pelican Stadium, they fizzled and flopped down the stretch... didn't come close to winning the Southern Association pennant... that went to the Chattanooga Lookouts... and sadly, the Pelicans didn't even make the Shaughnessy playoffs... they came in fifth place and totally missed out... to make the playoffs all New Orleans had to do was win one of the last three games in Mobile... the Bears won them all... the Pels came to the end of heartbreak road in Memphis where their season ended... the Chickasaws defeated the Pelicans 3-2 in a playoff game for fourth place and a berth in the playoffs... there were 10,444 fans in attendance at Russwood Park in Memphis for the game... a remarkable year for the Chicks... they were in last place in June and 16 and a half games out of first place.

[Eugene Church]

My Life In 1952
EC's Still Havin' Fun in '52, Too

School Days... School Days... those good old golden rule days are here again... EC is now 12 years old and beginning the school year at C. J. Colton... I'm a seventh grader now... still in Mrs. Healy's homeroom, just like last year... change classes each hour... and just learning up a storm... sort of... school was always easy for me, at least until the 9th grade... EC could just cruise in grammar school and make all A's.

My teachers at Colton were good ones... Mrs. Healy taught science... Mrs. Bodenheimer arithmetic... Mrs. Kariker history... Mr. Savoca was phy ed... don't remember my English teacher... EC got a topnotch education... I was lucky to be a child of the 50s... everybody got a good, rock-solid education in my generation... we could flat out, read, 'rite, spell and do 'rithmetic.. shore nuff, y 'all, we could.

Only went a few weeks to Colton... my father got a ship in September, a four-month trip... so my mother took me and my little sister to Florence, Alabama... I think to save money... she lived with my grandmother and grandfather and didn't have to pay rent... but she would certainly help them with other living expenses... but I went to stay with my Aunt Ruth and Uncle Russell in Sheffield, which is just across the Tennessee River... lived with my cousin George and his two younger sister... I really liked living in Sheffield... I would have lived there my whole Iife if I could have...I went to Annapolis Avenue Junior High School... Mr. Threadgill was the principal... Mrs. Pollard was my seventh grade teacher... we also changed classes each hour there, too... I only remember one other teacher... that was Mrs. Pickens, who taught science... not boasting or bragging, but I was the best student... it was always between me and a pretty blond named Frances for the best scores... she didn't like it when I usually beat her for the best grade in the class... until I came along, she was best student... I think she was the valedictorian or salutatorian in the Sheffield High School class of 1958.... naw, I didn't lose out to her in the Class of 1958 in Sheffield... 'cause I went to Murphy High School in Mobile... naw, I wasn't the valedictorian at Murphy... my glory days of being the best student in the class ended abruptly in the 9th grade... I bid fond adieu and adios to making all A's... just became a B-C student the rest of the way... C+ student... you had to study in high school to make all A's... EC didn't do that and his grades suffered accordingly and rightly so.

One of the most important people in my life was the wonderful English teacher at Annapolis Avenue Junior High School... for the life of me, I can't recall her name... I learned all of the English grammar that I ever needed from her... she made us diagram sentences till we were blue in the face... but we learned English grammar quite well... from her I learn all the parts of speech and how to use them properly... boy, was she a gift from Heaven.

I had another gift from Heaven in my life... Johnny Church, my stepfather... he was a special man... he loved me like his very own son... he loved my mother and she loved him...even at my age you could see the love between them... they just radiated love for one another... even though that was almost 70 years ago, I can still feel their love for one another... my mother was expecting her third child when my father sailed away into the sunset and departed on a merchant marine ship.

Jimmy Buffett has a song with the lyrics "some of it's magic, some of it's tragic"... he's talking about life... and it is oh so true.

I'll never forget the date November 22, 1952.

That night I am in bed and my Uncle Glenn arrives at my Aunt Ruth's house... he wakes me up about 10 o'clock and tells me, "Johnny Church is dead"... I guess it numbed me... I didn't cry or anything... just got dressed and went with Uncle Glenn to my grandparents' house where my mother was.. my father had died from complications caused by appendicitis... he got sick out at sea and by the time they got him to a port three days later, it was too late to save him.

Johnny Church died at just 29 and left a wife, a daughter and a son... sadly my mother lost the child she was carrying... the stress of losing her husband was just too much for her... the baby was a little boy.

I finished out the school year at the junior high school in Sheffield... it was a long, sad year.

"some of it's magic, some of it's tragic, but I had a good life all the way"... I had to add in the last part of the line... that's the story of my life.

[Eugene Church]

Monday, March 8, 1953

NY YANKS ON TOP OF NI FIRST DIVISION
The New Yerby Yankees put a big W on the board this past Sunday, winning a 5-4 thriller from the powerhouse Joliet Green Giants... the Yanks have opened up with two straight victories to top the North Island First Division in the first two weekends of the season... in other action Jackson stopped Dutton 3-1 and Wafford knocked off the Stockdale Mustangs 8-4.

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]