Step back Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant, that Hounds Tooth hat you wore when you were coaching the Alabama Crimson Tide football team is now taking a “back seat” to Coach Nick Saban’s hat.

That’s what one female radio hostess said last week. “According to my personal survey Nickie’s adorable hat is the choice of thousands these days,” the congenial hostess said. “Coach Bryant’s lovable hat is now running in second place behind Coach Saban’s hat in terms of sales,” she related.

Probably most folks are agreeing with this survey. The only problem is what type of hat is it?  Some say it is a “Safari” hat, while others refer to it as a “straw Stetson.” I Googled his hat in on my computer and came up with several hat styles, including the Stetson Limestone, the Country Gent Vented Outback, the Stetson Open Road Straw Hat, the Straw Gambler, the Pebble Beach Gambler and the Country Gent Safari.

Now, I know for sure the “Gambler” hat does not identify with Saban’s coaching philosophy. He is not the gambling type when it comes to calling plays during football games. I do recall his quarterback throwing an incomplete pass on a fourth down and two in a game last season.

Well, no matter the proper name  I must somewhat agree with her survey. There are, indeed, many, many of those Nick Saban hats out there.

A couple years ago I wrote a column about leg cramps. I related how old times used various remedies to ward off those troublesome cramps. In one of those remedies a merchant seaman said he mixed pickle juice with Schweppes Tonic. “Quinine is the reason I used the tonic,” he said. “You cannot buy quinine on the market these days, but Schweppes tonic comes with a lot of quinine  in it,” he said. He could be right because quinine is known to fight off cramps.

One reader offered his solution. He said, “when you take off your shoes at night, place them toes up against the wall near the foot of your bed.” I’m not really sure about this remedy but if it works for him, so much the better.

The reason I mention these remedies is due to an email I recently received. The lady who e-mailed me wanted more information on my cramp remedy of placing a bar of soap under your bed covers each night. I received some favorable feedback when I wrote about this, but the lady said you failed to include one important bit of information. She said you didn’t tell us WHAT BRAND OF SOAP TO USE. Well, now I do apologize for this. Actually, I suppose most any brand of soap would be sufficient. But, I would not use a strong lye-filled bar. That could cause itching. But, whatever works for you, I say use it.

Now let’s take a look at some news from Atmore’s yesteryears.

In one of my 2010 columns I mentioned our 1964  Senior Little League team participating in a District Baseball Tournament  in North Carolina. I failed to mention some of those dedicated men who were diligently with our City Baseball Youth programs that year.

They were Tony Albert, Frank Patrick, Joe Everette, John Coley, Sterling Fancher, John Garrard, Johnny Woods, Gene Cardwell, Jack Dennis, Claude Steele, John and Shorty Holland, Tom Dunn, Heron Hall, Wheeler Crook, Bill Hendrix, Jim Ash, J R Nicholson, M L Davis, W D Bolton, L C Powell, Howard Shell, Ann Powe and Lorraine Byrd. There were others, I am sure, and I will list them in future columns as their names become more visible in my memory.

Herbert Barnes football stadium was dedicated that year. Mr. Lawley led a team of workers from the State Farm prisons to help build the stadium. This was a huge effort because it cut down on the cost of the project. Alabama Governor George Wallace and County Education Board members helped make the dedication a success.

Work was also announced on the new City Hall and on Greenlawn Hospital in 1964.

In some current news, a colleague and friend who owns and operates a storm catastrophe adjusting company had a real close call last week in Moore, Okla. while adjusting wind claims and getting clients paid for their tornado ravaged properties. His two RV-combination office vehicles were almost swept away by rising floodwaters resulting from excessive rain during the tornado outbreak. He and his three-man staff were carrying over three hundred claims, many total losses. Now, he tells me his total number of claims has doubled as a result of the second wave of storms.

This parallels the information I am getting from my flood sources. Those in the know want flood adjusters and related personnel to be “ready” this summer and fall because of the increased possibility of hurricanes. Excessive warming of the Gulf and the Atlantic Ocean, abnormal storm activity near the West African coasts and the absence of El Nino offer a greater percentage of storm possibilities. For your information, EL Nino is a condition moving from west to east that blows off the tops of hurricanes and tropical disturbances preventing them from fully developing. Even though you cannot write it in stone there is a projection of an increased possibility of storms developing in a path that could favor a route near us. Again, this only a possibility because of these developing conditions.

Sorry, but limited space prevented my having the Pink Ladies report, but I will definitely have it my next column.

I’ll have more news of Atmore’s people, places and events next week.

Lowell McGill exam@frontiernet.net.