By By Tim Cottrell
(Editor's note: The following is the second in a 10-week series of candid interviews with managers of Atmore Cal Ripken and Babe Ruth Baseball. The series will appear each Sunday.)
While coaching youth sports is often a family affair, it can often become a community affair, as well.
That is certainly the case for Scotty Flowers, manager of the Greenlawn Pharmacy squad of Atmore Babe Ruth Baseball.
Flowers coaches his son, Nickolas, but also credits his many years in Atmore for keeping him on the job.
"I really enjoy it," Flowers said. "I was an athlete myself. I came through this program just like all the other coaches out there almost. Just about all the coaches out there came through this same program, on these same fields, and with the same president (Murray Johnson). I'm not a professional, a lot of coaches know a lot more than I do. We're all friends. This is my first year in this age group. The Pepsi coach, Richard Drew, helps me out a lot. When we play we're competitive and want to beat one another, but we always help one another."
Flowers has two other children, Bradley, 16, and Lacie, 9. He has been involved in coaching or managing youth baseball teams for 16 years.
While not coaching youth baseball, Flowers is the owner of H&H Electric in Atmore. He bought out the original owner, Harron Hall, in 1990. However, Flowers finds little time for himself, as when he's not working or coaching baseball he's involved in other youth sports.
"I actually coach pee-wee football up at the academy," Flowers said. "I've been doing that for six years. I was the Bull-Riding Director for the AJRA (Alabama Junior Rodeo Association) for two years. My oldest son, Bradley, was involved in that for a few years. I've been around youth and coaching. I just couldn't stand being on the sidelines."
While Flowers is quite active in coaching, he says he would never be mistaken for a taskmaster.
"My philosophy is – it's like our fearless leader (Johnson) said – we need to put the fun back in baseball," Flowers said. "That's always been my philosophy, to make it fun for them. We want to be competitive and we want to win, but we also want to have fun. The more you win the more fun you have. If I've got one being a knucklehead I won't take that, but I always try to give them confidence. I don't try to intimidate them or anything. It's always worked pretty well for me."
In closing, Flowers wished to thank Johnson for all his hard work with youth sports in Atmore.
"Mr. Johnson runs a top-notch program and I'm just proud to be associated with it a little bit" Flowers said. "It gets real trying a lot of years. You really don't appreciate him until you become a manager. When you become a manager you don't realize who he cares about until you realize that that's the kids. You really find out where his heart is and that's the kids. I'm 41 and I came through the program. He's the only (president) I remember."