Mississippi Today
South Delta Bulldogs give new meaning to ‘rebuilding year’ – with help from Archie Manning
ROLLING FORK – High school football coaches often bemoan “rebuilding years,” but few, if any, have ever faced anything like what South Delta head coach KePatrick Barnes is up against.
His Bulldogs have no place to play, and no uniforms to wear and no dressing room in which to dress – and that doesn't even begin to describe the obstacles they face. The EF-4 tornado that blew through Rolling Fork on March 24, killing 14 people and injuring many more, left South Delta High School in shambles and unusable. Two of Barnes' players lost their mothers in the storm. Another lost the grandmother who was raising him. Far more lost their homes. Some of those who have made it to summer workouts have been living with friends or relatives in Greenville, Leland, Yazoo City and Vicksburg.
The decrepit football stadium, which wasn't much to look at before, is unusable now. Light poles are down, the ticket booth blown over, concession stands ruined, scoreboard inoperable, bleachers warped, press box windows smashed – that's for starters. Most of the team's uniforms were either lost in the storm or badly mildewed.
Where spectators would normally park for games, a tented, portable laundry operates to serve the community. The old gymnasium, which once housed the Bulldogs' weight room, is now a distribution center to provide tornado victims with household necessities. The football team moved its weight equipment into the old band hall, where on a recent blistering hot, humid morning they lifted weights, dripping sweat, while shouting encouragement to one another over the loud clanging of barbells. There was no power, no air conditioning. On occasion, the Bulldogs have paused their summer lifting regimen to go move heavy boxes from an 18-wheeler into what used to be the distribution center that was once their weight room.
“It's a different kind of lifting,” says Barnes, 45, a stocky former Alcorn State football player. “We try to help out when they need it”
School is back in session this week, but high school students are crammed into the middle school building five miles away in Anguilla where they finished the 2022-23 school year last spring. “It's crowded but we make do,” says Coach Barnes, who guided the Bulldogs to a 9-3 record and into the second round of the state playoffs last year. “We are rolling up our sleeves and making the best of a really horrible situation.”
Some help is on the way, thanks to Ole Miss and NFL football great Archie Manning, who nearly six decades ago played for the Drew High Eagles in this same football facility in such sad shape now. Drew and Rolling Fork were in the same Delta Valley Conference in those days. “Rolling Fork was the Green Bay Packers of the Delta Valley Conference,” Manning says. “They beat everybody, they tore us up. They were a bunch of big, old farm boys who lifted weights back before it was fashionable.”
Manning says when he first heard about the deadly tornado of March 24, his first thoughts were of those Delta Valley Conference days “and the most fun I ever had in football, except when we had to play Rolling Fork. We at least scored on them my senior year. Most teams didn't.”
Manning made some calls, including one to the Northwest Mississippi Community Foundation, and learned more about the South Delta situation. He knew of an NFL program where the league will match contributions (up to $5,000) of NFL players and former players to high school football teams. He wrote a check and the NFL has matched it. Hernando businessman Cal Wilkins heard of Manning's donation and also matched it. Manning also talked to Riddell, the football equipment company that serves as a major sponsor of the Manning family's Manning Passing Academy. Riddell has made a sizable donation of equipment, including custom fit, state of the art helmets. The company already has sent a representative to measure the players. The equipment is on the way.
“I hope it helps,” Manning says. “Lord knows, they need it.”
The school and the football team need much, much more. Erra Kelly, superintendent of South Delta School District, says she is still working with insurance company, FEMA and state authorities. What she says will be a first payment of insurance money – $750,000 – has been received. She awaits a final settlement before spending what has been received. A new school building, including new athletic facilities, would be the preference.
Kelly, the superintendent, and Barnes, the coach, are much appreciative of Manning's assistance. Says Barnes, “To have a man of Archie Manning's fame and stature reaching out and helping us means the world. We're still a long way from getting back to where we were, but it's a start.”
The roof on Barnes' own house was just recently replaced because of extensive tornado damage. Three families – 12 people – currently live in the three-bedroom home. “Making do, the best we can,” is the way he put it, adding, “We're better off than lots of others.”
Barnes has tried to be there for all his players. “So many of the guys are living somewhere else right now,” he says. “They haven't been able to be here for the summer workouts, but we're happy to see them when they do get here, and I text ‘em or try to talk to ‘em every day.”
South Delta and Rolling Fork have a strong football tradition. As with many small Mississippi communities, the high school football team is a rallying point for the town and surrounding area.
Labrodrick Williams, a 17-year-old senior, returns as a starter at quarterback and free safety. “I really think this whole thing has made us stronger,” Williams says. “We have to be strong for our community.”
Roderick Catledge, a 10th grade center nd linebacker, was among the many players displaced by the storm. He has spent the summer commuting from 40 miles away in Leland, riding with his mother who works two jobs in Rolling Fork. He arrived in time for 9 a.m. workouts and sometimes didn't get back to Leland until after 11 p.m.
The Bulldogs will open the regular season on Aug. 25 at Yazoo County. They will play in Port Gibson as part of a pre-season jamboree at Mississippi Delta Community College Aug. 18. Their first home game is set for Sept. 8 against Leflore County. A decision is not expected until next week on where that game will be played.
Barnes believes the Bulldogs will be formidable again, no matter where they play and what equipment they wear.
“We're going to make some noise,” Barnes says. “We're going to try to put Rolling Fork on our backs, give people something to smile about.”
Anyone wishing to donate to South Delta High School's or the athletic program's recovery efforts can do so with a tax deductible donation through the Northwest Mississippi Community Foundation. Contact NMCF president Keith Fulcher at 662 719-1732 to learn how.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Did you miss our previous article…
https://www.biloxinewsevents.com/?p=273380
Mississippi Today
On this day in 1896
MAY 18, 1896
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 7-1 in Plessy v. Ferguson that racial segregation on railroads or similar public places was constitutional, forging the “separate but equal” doctrine that remained in place until 1954.
In his dissent that would foreshadow the ruling six decades later in Brown v. Board of Education, Justice John Marshall Harlan wrote that “separate but equal” rail cars were aimed at discriminating against Black Americans.
“In the view of the Constitution, in the eye of the law, there is in this country no superior, dominant, ruling class of citizens,” he wrote. “Our Constitution in color-blind and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens. In respect of civil rights, all citizens are equal before the law. The humblest is the peer of the most powerful. The law … takes no account of his surroundings or of his color when his civil rights as guaranteed by the supreme law of the land are involved.”
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Did you miss our previous article…
https://www.biloxinewsevents.com/?p=359301
Mississippi Today
Renada Stovall, chemist and entrepreneur
Renada Stovall sat on the back deck of her rural Arkansas home one evening, contemplating life when she had a life-altering epiphany…
“I gotta get out of these woods.”
She heard it as clear as lips to her ear and as deep as the trees surrounding her property. Stovall's job as a chemist had taken her all over the country. In addition to Arkansas, there were stints in Atlanta, Dallas and Reno. But she was missing home, her parents and friends. She also knew, she needed something else to do.
“I thought, what kind of business can I start for myself,” said Stovall, as she watered herbs growing in a garden behind her south Jackson home. Some of those herbs are used in her all-natural products. “I know when I lived in Reno, Nevada, where it's very hot and very dry, there really weren't products available that worked for me, my hair, and my skin suffered. I've got a chemistry degree from Spelman College. I took the plunge and decided to create products for myself.”
In 2018, Stovall's venture led to the creation of shea butter moisturizers and natural soaps. But she didn't stop there, and in December 2022, she moved home to Mississippi and got to work, expanding her product line to include body balms and butters, and shampoos infused with avocado and palm, mango butter, coconut and olive oils.
Nadabutter, which incorporates Renada's name, came to fruition.
Stovall sells her balms and moisturizers at what she calls, “pop-up markets,” across the state during the summer. She's available via social media and also creates products depending on what of her ingredients a customer chooses. “My turmeric and honey is really popular,” Stovall added.
“The all-natural ingredients I use are great for conditioning the skin and hair. All of my products make you feel soft and luscious. The shea butter I use comes from West Africa. It's my way of networking and supporting other women. And it's my wish that other women can be inspired to be self-sufficient in starting their own businesses.”
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
On this day in 1954
MAY 17, 1954
In Brown v. Board of Education and Bolling v. Sharpe, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the “separate but equal” doctrine in Plessy v. Ferguson was unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment, which guaranteed equal treatment under the law.
The historic decision brought an end to federal tolerance of racial segregation, ruling in the case of student Linda Brown, who was denied admission to her local elementary school in Topeka, Kansas, because of the color of her skin.
In Mississippi, segregationist leaders called the day “Black Monday” and took up the charge of the just-created white Citizens' Council to preserve racial segregation at all costs.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
-
SuperTalk FM6 days ago
Martin Lawrence making 3 stops in Mississippi on comedy tour
-
Our Mississippi Home5 days ago
Beat the Heat with Mississippi’s Best Waterparks
-
SuperTalk FM2 days ago
State auditor cracking down on Mississippians receiving unemployment benefits
-
Our Mississippi Home6 days ago
Charlie’s U-Pik: Opening Soon for the Summer Season
-
Mississippi News Video4 days ago
Jackson has a gang problem
-
Kaiser Health News5 days ago
Medicaid ‘Unwinding’ Decried as Biased Against Disabled People
-
228Sports4 days ago
George County Pours Runs In 6A South State Title Victory At PRC
-
Mississippi Today3 days ago
On this day in 1950