Ceremony a good reminder of real MVPs
Published 12:02 am Wednesday, December 14, 2016
During my time in sports, I’ve seen a lot of tournament ceremonies.
Whether it’s in basketball, baseball, softball or any other sport, they always center around the teams that won, finished runner up and those who made the all-tournament team.
Recently, the Escambia County Training School had a historic marker dedicated to the school, and present were a few members of the 1950-51 girls state championship basketball team.
In the dedication ceremony’s program, it said that Alma Dailey Staples (the MVP of the tournament), Louise (Lois) Montgomery and the late, Johnnie Mae Armstrong Taylor were selected to the all-tournament team.
Montgomery, along with a family member of Taylor, accepted honors from Dr. Richard Bailey, an Alabama Black Historian.
As I watch those who accepted the honors, I thought back on the many different ceremonies that I had witnessed.
I remember the smiles and tears that spread across the honorees faces as the took in the moment, whether it was a victory or a loss.
When I came back to Earth, I thought, “wow, this is pretty neat to have one of the members of the state championship team back here for the dedication.”
After driving away to continue my day, I realized that it was a pretty big deal to have a city landmark be the place of a historic marker.
And then I thought about how much of an honor it was to watch those being honored that day.