THE LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE FOR MOBILE AND BALDWIN COUNTIES
January 2022
THE ANNUAL TRAILBLAZERS ISSUE HALL OF FAME TRAINER DEAN KLEINSCHMIDT FLY CREEK WATERMAN CAP’N CARL BLACK
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WRITER & JOURNALIST LYNN OLDSHUE
NEW CLASS OF
40 UNDER 40
THE CORE PROJECT’S JULES STARR
THE BAY AREA’S UNSTOPPABLE YOUNG LEADERS
CATT
SIRTEN’S LIFE IN
RADIO
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CONTENTS | VOLUME XXXVIII / ISSUE 1
JANUARY 2022
38
A Life Made for Radio
TERRELL PATRICK, ONE OF THIS YEAR’S IMPRESSIVE 40 UNDER 40 AWARD RECIPIENTS. PHOTO BY MATTHEW COUGHLIN
Many Mobilians are familiar with Catt Sirten’s velvet voice, but how much do you really know about this local legend of the airwaves?
45
40 Under 40
Meet the 2022 class of young Bay-area professionals and visionaries moving our community into a brighter future
72
Meet Captain Carl Black Sonny Brewer sits down with the Fairhope waterman during a pause in Black’s journey to sail around the world
Yacht racing defines a world circumnavigation to be a passage of at least 21,600 nautical miles in length, which crosses the equator, crosses every meridian and finishes in the same port as it starts. Check in on Captain Carl Black’s sailing progress on page 72.
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CONTENTS | VOLUME XXXVIII / ISSUE 1
JANUARY 2022 24
31 20
ON OUR COVER Radio personality and music fanatic Catt Sirten in his home recording studio in downtown Mobile. PHOTO BY MEGGAN HALLER/ KEYHOLE PHOTO
BILL MCGINNES OF PAPA ROCCO’S / PHOTO BY MEGGAN HALLER / KEYHOLE PHOTO SPICY SAUTEED GREENS WITH BILL-E’S BACON / PHOTO BY ELIZABETH GELINEAU LOADED TEAS AT MOBTOWN NUTRITION / PHOTO BY ELIZABETH GELINEAU
22 BITE-SIZED Dooley Berry celebrates the radish, a veggie not to be overlooked
9 EDITOR’S NOTE 10 REACTION 12 ODDS & ENDS 15 THE DISH 16 SPOTLIGHT Trainer Dean Kleinschmidt’s 50th year with the Senior Bowl 20 TASTINGS Talking loaded teas with downtown Mobile’s MobTown Nutrition
24 BAY TABLES ‘Tis the season for greens — a nutritional powerhouse 31 SPOTLIGHT Sit down with Bill McGinnes, founder of legendary Gulf Shores pizza joint Papa Rocco’s
34 AWARENESS Jules Starr bolsters the special needs community with The CORE Project 78 JANUARY CALENDAR 80
COLLECTIONS Lynn Oldshue’s web series “Our Southern Souls” gets the book treatment
84 LITERATURE Writer Audrey McDonald Atkins begs you, don’t put sugar in your grits
86 COLONIAL MOBILE Historian John Sledge describes the town of Mobile during its 33 years under Spanish rule 88 ASK MCGEHEE What’s the story behind Downtown’s long-forgotten St. Andrew Hotel? 90 BACK STORY Turn back time with this photograph from the 1968 Senior Bowl
“Home of Warm Beer and Lousy Pizza” is the famous slogan of Papa Rocco’s in Gulf Shores. On page 31, learn the story behind the unique tagline and why it caused customers to demand a refund.
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Mobile Bay VOLUME XXXVIII
No1
JAN 2022
PUBLISHER T. J. Potts Stephen Potts Judy Culbreth EXECUTIVE EDITOR Maggie Lacey MANAGING EDITOR/WEB Abby Parrott EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Amanda Hartin ART DIRECTOR Laurie Kilpatrick
ASSISTANT PUBLISHER
EDITORIAL CONSULTANT
ADVERTISING S R. ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE
Joseph A. Hyland Jennifer Ray SALES AND MARKETING Carolina Groom ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE
ADMINISTRATION CIRCULATION Anita Miller ACCOUNTING Keith Crabtree
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Audrey McDonald Atkins, Dooley Berry, Sonny Brewer, Emmett Burnett, Josh Givens, Tom McGehee, Breck Pappas, John Sledge CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS
Matthew Coughlin, Elizabeth Gelineau, Meggan Haller ADVERTISING AND EDITORIAL OFFICES
3729 Cottage Hill Road, Suite H Mobile, AL 36609-6500 251-473-6269 Subscription inquiries and all remittances should be sent to: Mobile Bay P.O. Box 43 Congers, NY 10920-9922 1-833-454-5060 MOVING? Please note: U.S. Postal Service will not forward magazines mailed through their bulk mail unit. Please send old label along with your new address four to six weeks prior to moving. Mobile Bay is published 12 times per year for the Gulf Coast area. All contents © 2022 by PMT Publishing Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction or use of the contents without written permission is prohibited. Comments written in this magazine are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the ownership or the management of Mobile Bay. This magazine accepts no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts, photography or artwork. All submissions will be edited for length, clarity and style. PUBLISHED BY PMT PUBLISHING INC .
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EXTRAS | EDITOR’S NOTE
To Boldly Go
PHOTO BY ELIZABETH GELINEAU
I
don’t have many memories of going to Bienville Square as a kid. We would go Downtown for Mardi Gras, of course, but rarely stepped foot in the actual square. Other than that, my only memories of downtown Mobile at all were occasional visits to my dad’s office. But there was this one time — one visit to Bienville Square— that sticks out in my mind as something really special. In about the 6th grade, my mom “won” Dew Drop hot dogs to-go for 10 from a charity auction. It was right around my birthday, and we happened to have a half-day off school that day, so we invited nine other girls to picnic with us and a basketful of red wieners in Bienville Square for Catt Sirten’s Brown Bag Lunch. I felt so grown up, listening to a live concert on my birthday in downtown Mobile with all my friends. I didn’t realize until much later what a trailblazing idea it was for Catt to hold his concert series in the park. Aside from a few homeless guys and a groundskeeper, I am told no one went to Bienville Square in the ’80s and early ’90s if they could help it. Catt’s Brown Bag concerts gave Mobilians a reason to enjoy the park again and the confidence that it would be safe. That one decision was a spark, a catalyst, to encourage other groups to reinvest in Downtown, which had sadly been ignored and mostly abandoned by restaurants, entertainment and lifestyle events for what amounted to my whole life up until that point. And look at Downtown now! As my high school years came to a close, we were beginning to reap the rewards of other trailblazers’ tireless work, as Dauphin Street was redeveloped, the Port City Brewery opened and BayFest kicked into high gear. But without forwardthinking individuals such as Catt Sirten, among many others, who knows where Downtown would be. Sometimes, all it takes is a spark. This annual trailblazers issue also highlights 40 amazing under-40s who are stepping up to be the next generation of doers and changers. Their bright sparks are igniting momentum in the Bay area, and I couldn’t be more excited about it. As long as we have Dew Drop dogs in hand, the future looks bright!
Maggie Lacey EXECUTIVE EDITOR
maggie@pmtpublishing.com
LOVE THIS ISSUE GO GREEN I NEED ALL THE LUCK I CAN GET! THIS NEW YEAR’S DAY, I KNOW JUST HOW TO PREPARE MY GREENS, THANKS TO OUR DEEP DIVE ON THE TOPIC. PAGE 24
A SHAKE OF SOMETHING SOUTHERN MARY’S SOUTHERN COOKING NOW SELLS HER SEASONING BLEND TO-GO! (SHHH... IT’S THE SECRET TO HER PERFECT BAKED CHICKEN)
CATT SCRATCH FEVER IF YOU DIDN’T LISTEN TO 92ZEW GROWING UP, CAN YOU REALLY SAY YOU’RE FROM THE GULF COAST? CATT SIRTEN, PAGE 38
SWEET OR SAVORY? WRITER AUDREY MCDONALD ATKINS SETS US STRAIGHT ABOUT HOW TO EAT GRITS. IF YOU’RE SHOPPING LOCAL, IT’S FAIRHOPE TIRE OR BAYOU CORA FOR ME. PAGE 84
CIRCUMNAVIGATE CAP’N CARL BLACK MIGHT HAVE GROWN UP ON FAIRHOPE’S FLY CREEK, BUT THESE DAYS HE’S PLOUGHING THE WATERS OF FAR-FLUNG LOCALES IN A HINKLEY SAILBOAT MUCH LIKE THIS ONE. PAGE 72
MB’s newest Inspiration Home opens January 27! The builders are done, the designers are staging rooms and tickets are on sale. No detail has been overlooked. Please make plans to visit this beautiful property on the bluff in downtown Fairhope! Visit mobilebaymag.com/inspiration-home.
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EXTRAS | REACTION
Tell us how you really feel ... BRAVERY IN BATTLE
A ‘WHEEL-IE’ AWESOME STORY
On October’s History piece by John S. Sledge, “The Battle of Mabila”
On October’s Archives, an excerpt from “A History of Mobile in 22 Objects” about the wheel of the SS Gateway City, as seen at right I can’t tell you how excited and pleased I was to see the article about the SS Gateway City. I wanted to tell you my connection. I am 85 years old and a native of Mobile. During the summer of 1953, between my junior and senior years at McGill High School, I worked on the Gateway City on her voyage from Gulfport, Mississippi, to Japan and Korea. I had my 17th birthday on August 1, as we crossed the International Date Line on the way to Japan. When I saw the picture of the wheel, it brought back many fond memories. I manned that same wheel many, many times as we crossed the Pacific Ocean. My handprints are probably still on it. - Bill Brown
The brutality stands out. Twenty-five hundred nonwarring, farming Native Americans perished versus 20 Spaniards. And we think we live in a violent world.
- Rora Fleming Glenn
Very interesting and informative article. - Omagene Covin Cooper
TOUR DE FOODIE On November’s feature “Dig In,” stories of 25 culinary leaders shaping the way we eat along the Bay Food Pak is the best! - Kenneth Price
HUNGER-FIGHTING DUO On November’s Spotlight of Feeding the Gulf Coast’s two longest continuous employees, Peggy Lyles and Lavern Sewell I have the honor of working with these two! To say they keep our workplace lighthearted is an understatement. They cut up, are loud and fuss like sisters — we have a good laugh every single day. I have so much respect and love for these two. I hope they keep with us for many years to come. Thanks for your service, ladies. - Cindy Bloom
Congratulations, Alescia Forland! Farm life is the best. - Ragan Windsor Look at my friend Julianna Spence-Crenshaw gettin’ a little fame and glory, as she should. There are also a few other friendly names on the list; give it a read! - Jess Puckett Congratulations, Reggie Washington. You never cease to amaze me. You are ever smiling and ever kind.
A STROKE OF GENIUS On November’s Good Stuff, highlighting the artists of Fairhope’s Little Art Mart Thank you, MB, for supporting creative businesswomen in our community. - Mollie Hays Robinson Love this! A wonderful and talented group of creatives. - Rebekah Phillips Webb
HERE’S THE SCOOP On November’s Tastings of Kwality Ice Cream, Mobile’s first traditional Indian ice cream parlor This is our little neighborhood ice cream shoppe. We enjoy taking our daughter there. Clean place, good ice cream and nice people. - Kathleen Lanham Delicious ice cream selections there! - Melissa McGregor Gillis Looks like a great place to stop next time we drive through Mobile. - Marilee Pye, Covington, La. We love this shop! It’s so fun to taste the unique flavors. Absolutely delicious and fabulous customer service. - Liz Harbin It’s so good! Glad you’re able to share with the masses. - Chelsea Lipford Wolf Their ice cream is delicious!
- Erania Brackett
TOUCHDOWN! On November’s Spotlight, “Pro Football’s Silver Kings,” on the glory days of Mobile’s minor league football team, the Tarpons
Love Guncles; dangerously close to my house.
We still have minor league football. Go, Fairhope Storm!
Guncles Gluten-Free Bakery, you fellas rock!
- Fred Riley
- Sally Adams Trufant
- Kathryn Kirk Richardson
- Pauline Fontaine ROSE PETAL ICE CREAM AT KWALITY ICE CREAM / PHOTO BY ELIZABETH GELINEAU
Want to share your thoughts and reactions to this issue? Email maggie@pmtpublishing.com. 10 mobilebaymag.com | january 2022
EXTRAS | ON THE WEB
mobilebaymag.com We’re not just in print. Find us online, on social media and in your inbox.
FOLLOW US!
TOP 10 THINGS TO DO There are countless events and activities happening around the Bay area, but we’ve rounded up the 10 events you must not miss.
COCKTAIL OF THE MONTH French 75: The Haberdasher’s Roy Clark shares his take on the classic Champagne cocktail. Happy New Year!
MEET THE NEW CLASS Go online for extended interviews with the leaders featured in this year’s class of 40 Under 40 and follow us on Instagram for exclusive videos with the new class.
JUST ENGAGED? Share your proposal story with us, and we’ll feature your engagement announcement online.
MOBILEBAYMAGAZINE
FRENCH 75 FROM THE HABERDASHER PHOTO BY ELISE POCHE
@MOBILEBAYMAG
GET INSPIRED! Mobile Bay Magazine’s first green Inspiration Home opens to the public for tours on January 27! Scan the QR code above to snag your tickets. Admission is $10 and proceeds from the tour benefit Alabama Coastal Foundation and Family Promise of Baldwin County.
@MOBILEBAYMAGAZINE
MOBILEBAY
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EXTRAS | ODDS & ENDS
One (Healthy) Step Forward text by MB EDITORIAL STAFF
Greens with Envy It’s no coincidence that one dish we traditionally eat on New Year’s Day (greens) is the same color as money. German tradition held that eating cabbage and other greens would bring good fortune to the new year.
Find our guide to greens on page 24.
626 THE NUMBER OF SENIOR BOWL ALUMNI ON CURRENT NFL ROSTERS
$27
MILLION
THE ANNUAL ECONOMIC IMPACT OF THE REESE’S SENIOR BOWL FOR MOBILE, ACCORDING TO A STUDY IN 2015 On page 16, meet Dean Kleinschmidt as he prepares for his 50th year as the all-star game’s head trainer.
“Youth is when you’re allowed to stay up late on New Year’s Eve. Middle age is when you’re forced to.” – columnist Bill Vaughan
18”
The length of some daikon radish, the largest variety grown in the U.S. The largest in the world, the Sakurajima radish, is a globe-shaped root grown in Asia that can reach 66 pounds! Radishes were a popular food in ancient Egypt and should perhaps make an appearance on your dinner table soon.
JANUS This two-faced Roman God, for whom January is named, could see into the past with one face and into the future (or the new year) with the other.
14,610
The amount of days in 40 years. Turn to page 45 to meet this year’s class of 40 Under 40 and see what each winner has accomplished in their 14,000 (or less) days.
[NOTABLE OPENING]
OYSTER CITY BREWING CO. The Apalachicola-based brewery is now pulling taps at the former Serda Brewing Co. location on Government Street.
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FOOD | THE DISH
Bite of the Bay MB’s contributing food fanatics share their go-to local dishes.
DANA FOSTER-ALLEN, Director of Finance, Mobile County Commission
MINI DONUTS AT JAVA HUT “Being a Krispy Kreme fan, I was a bit skeptical of the fried donuts at Java Hut. The skepticism ended with the first bite — they were so fresh and so hot. I chose to have mine dusted in cinnamon and sugar. (I mean, if you’re going to treat yourself, treat yourself.) They were great, so great, in fact, that I ate most of them in one sitting. My mom used to make donuts the same way, and just like back then, I couldn’t get enough.” JAVA HUT • 6343 AIRPORT BLVD. • 415-3000 JAVAHUTMOBILE.COM
THE TUSCAN PIE AT THE SPIFFY FOX
CHRIS HALEY, Owner, Haley Development, LLC
GUMBO AT AHI SEAFOOD “Some of the best local gumbo can be found at a new seafood market south of Fairhope. The proprietor, Don Rhodes, can help you put this dish together in a flash. It requires a little effort once at home, but it’s well worth it. The process involves combining their packaged roux and gumbo base with their fresh shrimp and crab claw meat using the seasonings of your choice. The result is a wonderful seafood gumbo that can serve a crowd.” AHI SEAFOOD • 18874 SECTION ST., FAIRHOPE 517-7533 • AHISEAFOODMARKET.COM
CINDY McCRORY, Photographer and Studio Owner, Blue Room Photography
PESTO ROASTED SALMON AT SOUTHWOOD KITCHEN “My favorite dish from Southwood right now is the pesto roasted salmon served over spinach risotto with blistered tomatoes and creme fraiche. The salmon is cooked exactly as I love it, medium rare, with a bit of crispiness on the outside. The spinach risotto is lighter than I expected, stirred to perfection and obviously made-to-order. The pesto is super fresh, made with freshly cut basil from Chef Jeremiah’s herb garden.”
DOUGLAS B. KEARLEY SR., AIA D.B. Kearley Architects, Inc.
SPECIALTY PIZZAS AT THE SPIFFY FOX “My sister and I split The Fox and Tuscan pies with extra crispy crust. The Fox has a homemade red sauce base with two sausages, mouthwatering caramelized onions, bell peppers and black olives topped with a mix of mozzarella and Irish cheese. The Tuscan has a white sauce base, delicately grilled chicken, capers, tomatoes and spinach, all covered with a generous layer of mozzarella. Everything is outstanding, and the service is excellent.”
SOUTHWOOD KITCHEN • 1203 HWY 98, DAPHNE
THE SPIFFY FOX PIZZA AND PUB • 1455 MONROE
626-6676 • SOUTHWOODKITCHEN.COM
ST. • 509-1311 • THESPIFFYFOX.COM
What dishes made you drool and left you hungry for more? Share them on our Facebook page! january 2022 | mobilebaymag.com 15
PEOPLE | SPOTLIGHT
A True All-Star Dean Kleinschmidt, the Senior Bowl’s longest fixture, reflects on the journey that led to his 50 years as head athletic trainer for Mobile’s all-star game. text by BRECK PAPPAS
I
n a roundabout way, Dean Kleinschmidt can thank Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant for his long tenure as head athletic trainer for the Senior Bowl. “Historically, since the early days of the Senior Bowl, there were two college athletic trainers that took care of the teams,” Kleinschmidt, 74, remembers. For years, one of those trainers was Jim Goostree of The University of Alabama. The Senior Bowl, Mobile’s annual college football all-star game, used to be played in early January, immediately after the season’s biggest bowl games. This began to create a problem — Coach Bryant and his Crimson Tide were just too good. “Alabama was always playing in bowl games, so Goostree wasn’t getting to Mobile until the middle of the week,” Kleinschmidt explains. It was January 1972, 21 years after the tournament’s debut in Mobile (see page 90). Kleinschmidt had just completed his first season as the head athletic trainer for the New Orleans Saints. Hired at 23 years old, he was the youngest head trainer in the history of the NFL. The Saints staff were to coach the Senior Bowl that year, and they were asked to bring along their young trainer to cover for Goostree, who would be at the Orange Bowl with the Crimson Tide. The next year, they invited Kleinschmidt back. “That was the beginning of it,” he says, his Minnesota accent still detectable. “That was how it happened.” When Kleinschmidt arrives in Mobile for this year’s Reese’s Senior Bowl, to be played on February 5 at Hancock Whitney
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Stadium, it will mark his 50th consecutive year in the role of head trainer. This also means that Kleinschmidt is the all-star game’s most continuous thread — the only face that remains from that game in 1972. Kleinschmidt says he’s never really thought of it that way, but it’s true. A snapshot of a career is good for a resume, but it never tells the full story. Kleinschmidt worked under 17 NFL coaches, is in the National Athletic Trainers Association Hall of Fame and the New Orleans Saints Hall of Fame, and is one of the most esteemed of his profession. But he puts his time with the Senior Bowl near the top of his list of proud accomplishments. “I’ve enjoyed 43 years in the NFL,” he says. “But I’ve really loved 50 years in Mobile.”
Following the River Kleinschmidt’s story, like the Mississippi River, begins in Minnesota; he spent his first 18 years in the rural town of Morgan, population 900. It should come as no surprise that some of Kleinschmidt’s earliest memories involve toting a toy medical kit around his neighborhood, wearing a plastic stethoscope and administering Band-Aids to his parents as they read the evening paper. “I kinda feel like I had that helper mentality growing up,” he says. He shares another early memory, this one of a bitter cold Halloween night. After an evening of trick-or-treating, an 8-year-old Kleinschmidt collapsed on the floor of his family home, gasping
for air. It was his first asthma attack. “We had a country doctor in our little town, and he still made house calls in those days. So I had lots of visits from Dr. Johnson, coming to our house to give me asthma treatments.” Though Kleinschmidt loved sports, his condition conspired to keep him sidelined. “So, I started hanging out as the student equipment manager,” he says. When the head football coach received a flyer in the mail advertising a summer correspondence course for athletic training, he passed it on to his eager student manager. “I spent every week that summer waiting for the next lesson to show up in the mail,” Kleinschmidt says. That’s how Kleinschmidt became the “quasi athletic trainer” for his Morgan High School Raiders from 7th to 12th grades, operating out of a makeshift training room that was little more than a “cubbyhole.” Indiana University was one of the only schools at the time offering a degree in athletic training, so Kleinschmidt “followed the river” south. Indiana would open up doors of opportunity for Kleinschmidt beyond his wildest dreams. First, he landed an internship to work summer training camp with the Green Bay Packers in 1967 and 1968. “Not bad years to be with the Packers,” he says with a laugh. “In those years, they won Super Bowls I and II.” Then, when Kleinschmidt’s boss, the head trainer at Indiana, was hired by the New Orleans Saints, he asked Kleinschmidt to come along as his assistant. “I kept following the river,” he says, “and I ended up at the mouth of the Mississippi in New Orleans.” After just one year, the head trainer position became available. “And the team doctors went in to see the owner and the general manager and said, ‘You got to give this kid a chance.’ So in February of 1971, I became the head trainer of the Saints.”
Senior Bowl “They call the Rose Bowl the ‘Grandaddy of All Bowls,’” Kleinschmidt says. “Well,
I think the Senior Bowl is the Godfather of All-Star Games.” The first Senior Bowl game was played in 1950 in Jacksonville, Florida. The next year, the game was moved to Mobile, and it’s been a fixture on the city’s calendar ever since. For one winter week every year, the entire NFL converges on Mobile for the country’s most prominent college football all-star game, turning the city into the focus of the football world. “The Senior Bowl is the annual NFL family reunion,” Kleinschmidt says, noting that Mobile is where the interconnected football world reconnects after a long season. The all-star game is often a job fair, too, for recently fired staffers looking for their next employment opportunity. Last year, 41 percent of the players taken in the NFL Draft walked the streets of Mobile just months earlier. Besides the national exposure the game brings to Mobile, a 2015 study found that the Senior Bowl has an annual economic impact of $27 million on the city. For Kleinschmidt, the game’s significance is much more personal. He remembers the unsung security guards and support staff that make the game possible. He remembers the unheralded players whose week at the Senior Bowl launched legendary NFL careers. He remembers with some amusement how homespun the early games now seem, compared with today. In that 1972 Senior Bowl, two South team quarterbacks, Pat Sullivan of Auburn and John Reaves of Florida, both agreed to participate if they could wear their college jersey number. Unfortunately, both quarter-
Opposite Kleinschmidt photographed at London’s Wembley Stadium when the Detroit Lions, for whom he was director of sports medicine for 2008 - 2015, played in the American Bowl. Top Upon retiring from the NFL in 2015, Kleinschmidt was presented with the game ball by his team, the Detroit Lions. Bottom A teenaged Kleinschmidt became the “quasi athletic trainer” for his Morgan High School Raiders in Morgan, Minnesota, in 7th grade. This early role launched one of the most decorated careers in athletic training.
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backs wore number 7. “If you look closely at the team photo in the Hall of Fame at the Senior Bowl office, Reaves wore number 7R and Sullivan wore 7S,” Kleinschmidt says with a laugh. “Somebody was thinking outside the box in 1972.” He remembers the “confidence and pride” of a relatively unknown running back at the time named Walter Payton. Although now regarded as one of the greatest football players of all time (and the namesake of the prestigious Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award), in 1975, Payton was a quiet kid who insisted on riding to and from Senior Bowl practices in Kleinschmidt’s car. On game day, as both teams prepared in their respective locker rooms, Payton did something that would create a lasting memory for the trainer. “All of a sudden, Walter Payton, whose nickname was ‘Sweetness,’ walked across the hall in his red South team jersey and entered the locker room of the North team. These were the days before whiteboards, so there was always a big chalkboard in the middle of every locker room. Walter Payton walked into the locker room of the North team, the enemy, picked up the chalk, and in this flowing handwriting, wrote in huge letters, ‘Sweetness is … Walter Payton.’ Then he dropped the chalk and walked out. “There was silence. The other team was so shocked, they just sat there. That was Walter Payton.” Whenever he returns to Mobile, Kleinschmidt will occasionally bump into some of the subjects of his favorite Senior Bowl memories, allowing him to relive the tales and share a laugh. He remembers the “driven, hard-nosed, tough” Bob Baumhower on game day and how the Alabama football lineman ran to the sideline between plays with a busted helmet hanging off his head. “He comes running off to the sideline where there were other guys sitting on the bench, and he just grabbed a helmet and put it on. These days, helmets have
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to be microfit. I mean, they’ve got laser beams to check and make sure that they fit. Baumhower grabbed a dang helmet and ran back onto the field. I don’t even know if it fit, he just pulled it down over his head.” When Mobilian Joe Bullard, Tulane University defensive back, showed up to the 1972 Senior Bowl with a fractured thumb, it was Kleinschmidt’s job to figure out a way to allow him to safely play in the game. “He said, ‘This is my hometown, I’ve got to play!’ I talked to the coaching staff, and I said, ‘We can rig it up so that he can play in the game with a cast, but he really shouldn’t practice.’ “So all week long, we worked on it. We treated him, we massaged him. We worked on making the brace, the splint, the cast for his thumb so it was immobile. Then came game day. In those days, they would announce your name on the loudspeaker and you would run under the goalpost, out to the 50-yard line and then run over to the bench — he pulled his hamstring running out of the tunnel. Missed the whole game.” Kleinschmidt and Bullard shared a laugh about that story when the pair reconnected recently at a Senior Bowl Charity Golf Tournament (right). Since leaving the Saints in 2000, after 31 years, Kleinschmidt has worked as head trainer for the Washington Redskins (now the Washington Football Team) and his alma mater, Indiana University. He then worked as director of sports medicine for the Detroit Lions for eight years before retiring from the NFL in 2015. All the while, the Senior Bowl kept calling. “I never assumed it was automatic,” he says. “I always waited for the phone call.” Starting about 10 years ago, the two NFL coaching staffs began bringing their own trainers to Mobile, so Kleinschmidt now serves as “medical coordinator,” ensuring that both staffs have complete access to the equipment and resources they need. “Earlier, I said the game is an NFL
Top While still head trainer for the Saints, Kleinschmidt, right, helps an injured Lions player during a scrimmage between the teams, 1995. Left From left to right: Dean Kleinschmidt, Joe Bullard and Archie Manning. Kleinschmidt and Manning became close friends during the Saints years; in fact, Manning served as best man at Kleinschmidt’s wedding. Below The 2022 Reese’s Senior Bowl will be played on February 5 at the University of South Alabama’s Hancock Whitney Stadium.
family reunion, but it’s a family reunion for me, too, with all of the Senior Bowl people. And it’s been such an honor,” he says, emotion in his voice. “I do it because I’ve always been treated with such respect and dignity when I get to Mobile, probably more so than any other place that I’ve worked.” MB
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FOOD | TASTINGS
MobTown Nutrition text by AMANDA HARTIN • photos by ELIZABETH GELINEAU
T
he new year usually starts the same: Motivation is at its highest; gym fees are at their lowest. People get antsy and start looking for new opportunities, new ways of doing things, new foods and drinks to try. Those who work Downtown won’t have too far to look for that. At the corner of St. Joseph and St. Anthony streets sits MobTown Nutrition. Though they only opened their doors in September 2021, the building has been around since 1956, wearing different bank names through the decades. Those working in the Port City’s concrete jungle will find the well-situated loaded tea, coffee and shake place a welcome respite during a midmorning walk or lunchtime stroll. Even those rolling by for a pre- or post-work refresher will find the store’s ample parking and drive-thru option a real Downtown-score. So, what is a loaded tea? Simply put, it’s a cocktail of supplements — 21 vitamins, aloe, caffeine and flavored mixers — often touted for curbing appetite, increasing metabolism and amplifying mental clarity. “A lot of people say it’s a good alternative to coffee,” associate
Anna Girardeau says while mixing up a customer’s order, a low-calorie “Happy Camper” tea. The patron takes a long swig of her tropical-looking drink and says, “It curbs my appetite and gives me an extra oomph,” then heads back to the RSA Tower. All of the rainbow-colored sugar-free teas start with a green, black and oolong powder base. Also offered are beauty teas, with collagen and biotin boosters, and specialty teas that include protein. Coffees, served hot or iced, are considered a meal replacement, as are the protein-packed shakes. And everything is customizable, with a plethora of add-on supplements or toppings. Most often, these drink spots are owned by Herbalife-affiliated distributors, and MobTown Nutrition is no different. But what sets this family-owned storefront apart is its prime location, cozy, soft-lit lounge, and friendliness of staff, each eager to walk a newbie through the ordering process. Of their loyal customers, manager Lana Barnett says, “When they walk in the door, I already know what they want.” For those not sure about coming in, Barnett says, “The only thing to be leery of is, once you try it, you’re going to crave them.” MB
MobTown Nutrition • 200 Saint Joseph St. • facebook.com/mobtownnutrition • 6:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. M - F; 7 a.m. - 4 p.m. Sa. closed Sundays 20 mobilebaymag.com | january 2022
FOOD | TASTINGS [ON THE MENU]
HAPPY CAMPER This loaded tea is yearround summer in a cup. Green tea powder is zhuzhed up with orange, pineapple and strawberry flavors and accentuated with wildberry aloe vera.
PURPLE SWEETART Grape flavor reigns supreme in this loaded tea. Make-you-pucker lemonade mix and a blend of tropical fruit make this must-try pick-me-up both sweet and tart.
EMERALD ISLE Allow the Caribbeaninspired flavors of this beauty tea to carry you away. Peach, mango and pina colada get a delightful punch from the added blue sweetart mix.
FRUITY PEBBLES This meal-replacement shake, made with vanilla protein and wildberry flavor, is topped with sugar-free whipped cream, sugar-free blueberry syrup and Fruity PEBBLES cereal.
FOOD | BITE-SIZED
Ravishing Radishes The easy-to-grow root vegetable packs a diverse flavor punch. text by DOOLEY BERRY
A
s a little girl, I loved the spicy, peppery bite of that first red radish of the season. My Mama grew them in a small bed just outside our kitchen door, and I took to digging them up every chance I got. Not at all hard to grow, radishes are root vegetables with varying skin colors and crunchy flesh. Their shapes range from short and round to long and narrow, with skins that can run the rainbow — red, black, white, yellow, pink or purple. Radishes, native to Asia, are sorted into different varieties based on shape and color. The familiar red radish we often see in neighborhood supermarkets is the variety Cherry Belle, which is bright red on the outside and white on the inside. Cherry Belles
mature in just 22 days and have a mild taste, but grocery store versions are often unimpressive and one-note on the flavor profile. Winter radishes tend to be larger than their spring cousins and take longer to grow. A prominent winter radish, and one of the largest, is the Japanese daikon. The daikon can grow up to 18 inches long and take up to 60 days to mature. They vary in flavor from mild to hot, and some types of daikons are tasty pickled in rice wine vinegar. The stunning watermelon or Red Meat variety has a refreshing sweetness that unfolds when eaten raw or starring atop an hors d’oeuvre plate. It has a pale green skin and, when sliced, a glowing pink interior, like its namesake the watermelon. French breakfast radish is said to be so mild you can eat it, well, for breakfast of course! The French love sliced radish dipped in cold butter and salt, simple as that! For the health-conscious, radishes provide antioxidants, a good amount of vitamin C and compounds that can help regulate blood sugar levels. Being low in carbs and calories and with a low glycemic level, they are a fine choice for folks monitoring their carbs or sugar intake. These tasty little roots are a healthful vegetable to be considered for anyone’s diet. MB Dooley Berry is a Master Gardener, a cook who is ever learning and a writer of numerous articles in newspapers and lifestyle magazines. She lives, gardens and writes with her husband, Scott, in Spanish Fort, Alabama.
WHY RADISH? Radishes are one of the easiest vegetables to cultivate and harvest due to their rapid maturity, making them ideal for the novice or child gardener. Varieties that do well in Alabama’s climate include White Icicle, Scarlet Globe and Cherry Belle.
WHEN TO PLANT For a spring harvest, the first planting dates are between February 1 and April 1. For a fall harvest, plant between September 1 and October 1. The plants will mature 25 to 30 days after planting and grow best in cool weather (65 degrees). Warm weather will cause them to bolt and become bitter.
WHERE TO PLANT Radishes should be planted in an area with full sun or partial shade in loose, welldrained soil. Add compost, manure or leaf mold to the soil before planting about 1/2 inch deep and 1 inch apart. Keep the baby plants evenly moist but not soaked. They will grow quickly if watered frequently and evenly.
HARVESTING Radishes can be harvested after 3 to 4 weeks, when their roots are an inch in diameter. You can also enjoy radishes grown in containers in a sunny location.
DON’T FORGET, THE GREENS ARE EDIBLE, TOO. USE LIKE YOU WOULD TURNIP LEAVES OR SPINACH, BUT WASH WELL TO REMOVE GRIT. WATERMELON RADISH 22 mobilebaymag.com | january 2022
IN THE GARDEN
HOW TO USE RADISHES While commonly seen on salad bars and crudite platters, radishes are so much more versatile than that. Their peppery bite mellows when cooked, and an earthy sweetness comes out. • Make your own pickled radishes, using white vinegar and spices. • Thinly slice and use as a topping on tacos for crunch and zip. • Top your burgers with comeback sauce and sliced radishes. • Roast radishes with olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic and serve as a side dish. • Make a radish and onion dip with a plain yogurt base. • Add quartered radish, apple and onion or other root vegetables to a roasting pan with pork tenderloin.
CHILI-LIME ROASTED RADISHES 1 1/2 pounds radishes, halved 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 teaspoon chili-lime seasoning 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste 1 cup cilantro leaves, chopped pumpkin seeds, roasted and salted, for topping Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Toss radishes with olive oil, chili-lime seasoning and kosher salt on a rimmed baking sheet. Roast in oven, stirring often, until golden and tender, about 30 to 35 minutes. Adjust seasoning if needed and toss with cilantro. Top with pumpkin seeds and serve.
SAUTEED RADISHES WITH SPINACH 1 tablespoon olive oil 2 bunches radishes, halved 1 red onion, sliced salt and pepper, to taste 5 ounces baby spinach juice of 1/2 lemon Heat olive oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Add radishes and onion. Stir frequently, cooking until tender, about 8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Stir in baby spinach, lemon juice and another pinch of salt and pepper. Cook until spinach is wilted, about 1 minute. Serve warm.
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FOOD | BAY TABLES
Winter Greens Promising more than just good luck, dark, leafy vegetables are a nutrition powerhouse. Take another look at the Southern staple, and maybe try a fresh, new preparation.
recipes and text by MAGGIE LACEY photos by ELIZABETH GELINEAU
A
s the chill of January sets in, large stockpots simmer slowly in kitchens across America. Steam rises and savory smells fill the house, promising a hearty meal to warm the body and soul. In the Deep South, however, that large pot is just as likely to be bubbling with leafy greens as it is with soups or stews. Cooking a big pot of collards, turnips, mustard greens and more — fresh from a local farm field or even the backyard — is a part of Southern culture going back hundreds of years. This culinary tradition is still enjoyed today in kitchens large and small, by both Black and white, young and old. Mary Smith, of Mary’s Southern Cooking on Springhill Avenue in Mobile, remembers cooking greens when she was a girl, helping her mother take care of 12 children. “I still cook my greens the way my Mama taught me,” she says with pride, “and that’s what we serve in the restaurant.” Growing up in rural Baldwin County, a bunch of greens was no farther than out the family’s back door. Today the restaurateur relies on the farmers to come to her, and they do. So do the customers — in droves — looking for a taste of Southern cooking that hasn’t changed over the decades. “I had an 80-year-old man tell me once that my greens tasted just like his Mama’s did. Well, that made me swell with pride.” While she says she likes to braise turnip greens the best, collards will do. “And when they go out of season, you can switch to frozen greens without hardly noticing at all.” Fortunately, greens are in season now and ripe for
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SPICY SAUTEED GREENS WITH BILL-E’S BACON
the picking. For those who aren’t used most varieties of greens contains a full to cooking this Southern staple, they day’s recommended intake of many are typically sold fresh by the bunch vitamins and nutrients. The liquid in and can look a bit intimidating. the bottom of the pot, called potlikThe unwieldy armful of leaves, once ker, is full not only of flavor but also washed and chopped, can overflow vitamins that have leached from the your biggest pots. They quickly cook greens into the broth during cookdown, however, and are happy to siming. Old-timers recall receiving a mug mer in broth or water for several hours. of potlikker alone, saying it “fortified It’s “put on a pot and go do something the constitution!” (Read more about else” kind of cooking. the health benefits of greens on page Greens are a prehistoric food, and 28.) Keep in mind, however, that addrecords of modern man cooking them ing heaps of smoked pork and salt will date back to ancient Greece. A memundo some of the good and will also ber of the Brassica oleracea family, they mask the natural flavors that are worth are first cousins to cabbage, broccoli, experiencing and enjoying. cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and more. Each kind of delicate leaf has its own They have often been referred to as flavor and texture, and every cook might “headless” throughout history because have their favorite. “I grew up eating they never produce a tight head like turnip greens,” says Chef Duane Nutcabbage and are grown purely for their ter, Atlanta-born co-owner of Mobile’s leaves. Collards, in particular, are a Southern National restaurant. “But I mainstay in culinary cultures in such eat all the greens now that I’m older. distant locales as My favorite is to mix turIndia, Brazil, Tannips and mustards, with “I LIKE TO COOK MY zania and northern some turnip roots cut GREENS OVERNIGHT. Spain. And while up in there.” While the TODAY I LIKE TO COOK folklore tells us recipe at Nutter’s house that collards came MY GREENS FOR will have what he calls the over to the Ameriusual suspects — onions, TOMORROW. IF YOU cas with the Afrilots of garlic and a splash SERVE THEM FRESH, can slave trade, it of apple cider vinegar — THE SEASONING is now thought that at the restaurant he loves HASN’T HAD TIME TO collards have been to experiment. Especially SIT UP.” here for thousands with collards. “They have of years. The Afsuch strong, sturdy leaves - MARY SMITH OF ricans instead recthat you can do all types MARY’S SOUTHERN COOKING ognized the greens of stuff with them.” Benas something familiar to the cuisine of ton’s bacon, ginger and coriander often their homeland and adopted them as make an appearance. The leaves can be their own. Greens have been a mainstuffed and rolled like a burrito, shredstay on African-American tables — and ded like coleslaw or sauteed like fresh a symbol of African-American culture spinach. The methods and preparations — throughout America ever since, but are only limited by your creativity. especially in the Deep South. Cooking with Southern greens runs While cooking collards, turnips deep in the veins of Nutter and Smith, and mustard greens couldn’t be closer and probably yours, too. On the folto our culinary roots here along the lowing pages are recipes and tips to Gulf Coast, they also have benefits inspire you to pick up leafy bunches at that far outweigh most other Southlocal farmstands, roll up your sleeves, ern comfort food. Greens are a nutrireach down in your bones and get a tion powerhouse. Just one serving of pot simmering. MB january 2022 | mobilebaymag.com 25
HOMEMADE PEPPER VINEGAR from Loxley Farm Market
UNSLICED BACON from Bill-E’s in Fairhope A HAMHOCK from Hazel’s Farm Market
MARY’S TURNIP GREENS
BABY KALE from Local Appetite Growers in Silverhill
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GREENS AND RICE CASSEROLE
FOOD | BAY TABLES
KNOW YOUR GREENS MUSTARD GREENS These frilly leaves are the same plant that produces mustard seeds, so it’s no wonder they are peppery and pungent! Add a splash of acid, like pepper vinegar, to tame the bitterness. COLLARD GREENS Perhaps the most versatile of the greens, their thick leaves can even be filled and rolled like cabbage. In other uses, however, their thick leaves mean you might need to increase the cooking time. KALE (shown previous page)
A trendy food for a reason, kale’s tender leaves can be eaten raw in salads, blended in smoothies or stirred into soups. Unlike some other members of the family, this leafy green grows well year-round. TURNIP GREENS These tend to be more tender and a bit sweeter than other green varieties. They have an edible root, much like a rutabaga or beet, which can be chopped and added to the pot or cooked and mashed on its own.
FOOD | BAY TABLES
NUTRITION POWERHOUSE Fiber The soluble fiber in greens can help absorb cholesterol, while the insoluble fiber feeds the good bacteria in the gut, helping you digest foods more efficiently. Vitamin K Crucial for healthy bones, consuming enough vitamin K helps the body absorb calcium and strengthens the fundamental structure of bones, reducing the risk of osteoporosis. One serving of mustard greens pack an entire day’s worth of vitamin K! Phytonutrients Greens are full of these plant-based antioxidants that neutralize free radicals and may help reduce the risk of developing certain cancers. Folate Essential for proper growth of the body, this vitamin is particularly important for children and pregnant women. Potassium This vitamin helps regulate your heartbeat, balances the effect of salt on your body and helps your muscles contract. Vitamin A The eyes, heart, lungs and kidneys depend on this vitamin. A 1-cup serving of fresh kale contains over 200 percent of the recommended daily intake of vitamin A. Lutein and zeaxanthin Research shows that these two antioxidants are essential for healthy eyes and may prevent age-related vision loss.
BEANS AND GREENS SOUP
SPICY SAUTEED GREENS
MARY’S POTLIKKER COLLARD GREENS
SERVES 4
SERVES 8-10
1 tablespoon olive oil 3/4 cup unsliced bacon, in 1/2 inch cubes 4 cups chopped greens (we used collards) 1/4 teaspoon red chili flakes, or to taste 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley salt and pepper, to taste
Heat olive oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Add bacon and stir until beginning to brown. Add greens and continue to stir occasionally, until greens are wilted and begin to char on the edges. Add seasonings and stir for 2 minutes until the flavors combine. Serve warm.
BEANS AND GREENS SOUP SERVES 6 1 tablespoon olive oil 1/2 yellow onion, diced 1/2 pound smoked sausage, sliced 4 cloves garlic, minced 1 teaspoon dried thyme 4 cups chicken broth 1 can diced tomatoes 2 cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed 3 cups finely diced greens (we used kale) salt and pepper, to taste
Heat oil in large stockpot over medium heat. Saute onion and sausage until onion is soft, stirring occasionally to prevent burning. Add garlic and thyme and stir until garlic is soft and translucent. Add remaining ingredients and stir until well combined. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Cover and cook for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Check seasonings and serve with crusty French bread or cornbread.
2 teaspoons bacon fat 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 1 teaspoon sugar 1/2 pound smoked meat (Mary recommends pork tail) 2 pounds collard greens
1. Combine bacon fat, seasonings and smoked meat with 8 to 10 cups of water in a large stock pot over high heat. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes. 2. Wash greens well and slice thinly. Add greens to the pot and continue to simmer for another hour and a half, stirring occasionally. Check seasonings and add more salt, if needed. Let cool and refrigerate overnight. Reheat the following day and serve warm.
GREENS AND RICE CASSEROLE SERVES 8 3 eggs, beaten 1/2 cup milk 1/2 cup whole milk ricotta 1 teaspoon kosher salt 1/4 teaspoon freshly cracked pepper 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce 5 cups finely chopped greens (we used a mixture) 4 cups cooked rice (we used long grain, like basmati) 1 1/2 cups shredded Italian blend cheese, divided 1 1/2 tablespoons panko bread- crumbs 1/2 cup shaved Parmesan cheese
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, stir eggs, milk and ricotta with a whisk until well combined. Stir in seasonings. Add greens, rice and 1 cup shredded cheese. 2. Grease a 9-by-12-inch baking pan, or equivalent measure, and pour rice and greens mixture into pan. Smooth the top. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs, Parmesan and remaining 1/2 cup shredded cheese. Bake for 30 minutes, or until the edges are bubbly and top is well browned.
MARY SMITH OF MARY’S SOUTHERN COOKING SHARES HER TIPS FOR MASTERING THE PERFECT POT OF GREENS: Choose bunches that look crisp and fresh with no yellowing of leaves. Do not wash greens until you are ready to use them. Wrap in a kitchen towel and store in the fridge until use. Separate the leaves from the stalk and remove the spine. Mary tears hers with her hands. Fill a sink basin with water and submerge leaves. Agitate so any dirt and debris falls to the bottom of the sink. Drain and repeat until water runs clear and you don’t feel any grit. Tip: If your kitchen sink is small, fill a cooler with water and clean greens outside. Shake leaves dry and roll them up one small bunch at a time. Slice crosswise into thin julienned strips. If using meat, simmer meat for about 30 minutes before adding greens. Then cook greens an hour and a half. Serve greens the day after cooking for optimum flavor. Just cool and store in fridge overnight.
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SPOTLIGHT | PEOPLE
Papa Bill Spinning tales and pizza dough with Bill McGinnes, founder of legendary Gulf Shores pizza joint Papa Rocco’s
interview by EMMETT BURNETT • photos by MEGGAN HALLER / KEYHOLE PHOTO
january 2022 | mobilebaymag.com 31
I
f you know Gulf Shores, you know Papa Rocco’s restaurant. They grew up together. In the mid-1980s, “Papa,” also known as Bill McGinnes, rocked the culinary scene of what was then a sleepy little beach town. It is sleepy no more, in part because of Papa Bill. Mobile Bay Magazine caught up with the 79-year-old restaurateur for an on-site interview among the aroma of baking oysters and sounds of sizzling pizza. We discussed his role as a beachside culinary pioneer, surviving hurricanes, and life
at 101 West 6th Avenue, the Gulf Shores “Home of Warm Beer and Lousy Pizza.” Actually, the restaurant’s motto was our first question. Your slogan is “Home of Warm Beer and Lousy Pizza,” yet your food has won awards! What were you thinking? (smiles) “In about our third year of business, a pilot friend of mine from New Zealand flew banners on the beach. One night, while discussing messages to place on his banners, we grabbed a pitcher of old beer. It was warm, and we laughed about it. We instantly had an idea, ‘Let’s go with that — Warm beer, lousy pizza!’ He flew the message across Gulf Shores: Papa Rocco’s, Home of Warm Beer and Lousy Pizza. That night, the restaurant was packed. Customers approached me laughing, saying, ‘I demand my money back! False advertising! This beer is NOT warm and the pizza is NOT lousy!’ The warm beer / lousy pizza message is also on my merchandise, T-shirts, everything. I sell the hell out of it.” You are from the Detroit area. Why move and open a business in Gulf Shores? “Actually, I was born in Glasgow, Scotland. My family left when I was 12 for a new life in America. Dad worked in the coal mines of Scotland, which was dangerous, and he wanted out. After trade
school graduation, I became a project engineer at a large cutting tool manufacturer. I also worked in sales, management — everything on the drawing board. The stress was killing me, and I had to make a change. A friend’s parents retired in Fairhope, and my wife Rose and I visited them when on vacation. That’s when I discovered Gulf Shores, but back then it had nothing. In those days, a Gulf Shores phone book could fit in your back pocket, but I had a vision and saw the town’s potential. (Editor’s note: In 1980, the U.S. Census reported the population of Gulf Shores was 1,350. Today, it is 15,000.) As for this building, I have no idea how old this place is, but a Michigan friend opened it as an all-you-can-eat buffet. It wasn’t doing anything. I got it, expanded it and turned it into a pizza delivery restaurant. Oysters, a bar and full-scale dining followed later. It took every dime we had.” Tell us about the early days. “We opened in March 1985 on a wing, a prayer and with no money. Back then, Gulf Shores had about five restaurants. But I had the only delivery service. I came to work at about 8 a.m. and stayed until 2 or 3 a.m. the next day, every day. I was the bookkeeper, cook, delivery service, everything. In about 1988, I closed pizza delivery and became full in-house dining.” Did you ever wonder, what have I done? “All the time. Business was not good when we started. It was tough. I wanted to tell Rose to keep her bags packed. We might be moving soon. And if that wasn’t bad enough, I had never seen a hurricane before until one hit us. Since then, we have experienced many storms. Ivan shut us down for months. We had three feet of standing water in the dining room — and this place is on stilts!” Who is your typical customer and has it changed over the years? “It depends on the season. (laughs) In summer, we generally have families with kids — our atmosphere is like Chuck E. Cheese. In
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winter, we have the retirees / snowbirds / old folks — the atmosphere is like Jurassic Park. Locals visit every day. We have also seated Rush Limbaugh, Ken Stabler, Tom Brokaw, Wayne Newton, Mike Ditka, Al Hirt and some other pretty famous people.” When you came here almost 40 years ago, what culinary experience did you have? “Experience? Ha! That’s easy, zero. But I knew a guy in Detroit who owned Iggy’s Pizza. I told him of my plan and asked if I could come in two nights a week for him to show me how to make pizza. He agreed. I brought Iggy’s Pizza techniques from Detroit to Gulf Shores. Later, I got the idea to open an oyster bar. Nobody did that back then. My menu is different from others down here because I do not fry anything. Nobody in Michigan fries food, and I don’t either. But I have great baked oysters. We were also the first restaurant to have a full menu until midnight and one of only a few places with live entertainment seven nights a week. I hired local entertainers and great people.” Where did the name Papa Rocco’s come from? “Rocco is the name of a friend who retired down here from Michigan. Papa was just added to it. Now everybody calls me Papa. Sometimes I forget my real name (laughs).” How is business today? “I have good people working here, so I don’t do everything like I used to. I still come in every day. But at age 79, I have slowed down a bit but do a lot of PR work for the restaurant. People like to take their picture with me, even little kids — I don’t know why. I do know I did the right thing coming here, and comparing a Gulf Shores winter with a Detroit winter sealed the deal. I am not going back.” MB Opposite, top McGinnes tosses around some dough, something he did daily in the early days of the restaurant. Bottom A ser ver at Pappa Rocco’s wears a t-shirt advertising their “warm beer and lousy pizza.”
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GUMBO | AWARENESS
text by AMANDA HARTIN
MOST LIKELY TO CHANGE THE WORLD
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Jules Starr, founder of The CORE Project, Inc., is on a mission to change the world, one special person at a time.
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t’s hardly 8 o’clock on a Thursday morning, but the parish hall at Episcopal Church of the Redeemer is bustling. After a wave goodbye to their loved ones, students enter, shrugging off backpacks and coats before heading to seats scattered about the recreation room. Shelves, overflowing with books, games and educational manipulatives, create pods, each filled with desks arranged in various configurations. From the rear of the room, a voice effervesces, “Good morning, J-squad!” The boys at the back table, each of whom have J-names, look up and allow smiles to cross their faces. Julia Starr mirrors their grins and takes one last bite of her half-eaten oatmeal. The petite dark-haired woman, better known as Jules, winds her way through the room, doling out more personalized “good mornings” and high-fives. She’s magnetizing, an honest-to-goodness cheerleader for everyone in this place — the type of person you feel better for having met. But at the end of the day, Jules would say it’s not about her at all. “There’s something about this atmosphere, these people,” Jules says of The CORE Project, Inc., the nonprofit corporation she established in 2020 to serve the area’s special needs community. She plops down on the wingback chair in the church’s library, likely the longest spell the mom of four will sit all day, and she speaks about the multi-pronged company. The acronym “CORE” stands for “Creating Opportunities Reaching Everyone.” And Jules means everyone, saying, “We are here for whoever needs us.” A snapshot of individuals she and her team of 90 serve includes those with autism spectrum disorders, cerebral palsy, epilepsy and learning disabilities. Even those considered borderline typical who are struggling in public school are welcome. And it’s not just children they’re eager to help. The Auburn
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University alum tells of a 60-year-old with Down Syndrome who recently toured the Hitt Road facility. “We are here for people from diagnosis to death,” Jules assures, pointing out that individuals don’t “age out” of this program, making it unlike anything else in the region. “I’ve always had a heart for people who I felt needed something,” Jules says when asked about the impetus for The CORE Project. “But it came out of a maternal need.” And lots of prayer. Jules was 25 and working as a boardcertified behavior analyst when two brothers with special needs, then-ages 4 and 5, entered her life and forever changed it. As the boys got older, she found herself struggling with the same things as her clients’ parents. “I started to relate in a completely different way than I did as a provider. The panic, the worry of what’s next. And what do we do when we need a babysitter?” Day-to-day difficulties gave way to fullblown panic when Jules’ oldest turned 18. “We only have a few years until he turns 21, and then there’s nothing in this state that can house my son for the day because of his behavior problems. I realized I wasn’t the only parent panicking. A 36 mobilebaymag.com | january 2022
group of us got together to talk about our kids’ needs as they age and try to figure out what we were going to do about it. “I was feeling the pull. Everything was getting heavy for me. I looked around and noticed everyone was leaving the state. You can go to Florida and get services, but that doesn’t make home any better. We’ve got to make home better. Our city is great. Our community is great. There are a lot of people here who would help, we just have to start connecting all of those resources.” Jules prayed for an answer, saying she didn’t need a nudge; she needed a “good shove.” The next morning, her eldest son looked up and grabbed her hand. She remembers thinking, “Alright, let’s fix this. Let’s make something that works for everyone, where we remove obstacles and concerns and worry and panic.” And so was born The CORE Project. Jules steps out into the hallway and peeks into the church’s choir-roomturned-classroom. A student is hard at
“WE ALL WANT A PURPOSE-DRIVEN LIFE, TO FEEL LIKE WE LEFT THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE. YOU CAN’T CONVINCE ME THAT OUR KIDS DON’T FEEL THE SAME WAY.” – Jules Starr
work with a speech therapist. As she observes, a sandy-haired Skyler walks by with a clipboard, taking the morning’s coffee orders. His spreadsheet is almost full. “We have a COREfee Shop,” Jules says proudly, “as part of the CORE Life program.” She grins and keeps walking. As early as age 14, individuals are able to integrate or fully transition to CORE Life, which is life-skills coaching and vocational training. “They can move at school age, still receive school, but really concentrate on what they can do,” Jules explains. “Our goal is to give them a look at a minimum
of 10 jobs.” One of the jobs includes work contracted with Threaded Fasteners, Inc. “They give us orders, and we fill them. Our kids started outperforming their employees!” Jules hopes that one day The CORE Project can acquire a vehicle to transport individuals to jobs in the community. “We’re not worried about lives being ‘rich’ with money; we’re worried about productive living. What I don’t want are 30- and 40-year-olds sitting in a corner coloring.” CORE Life is just one prong of services available. The CORE Academy, another offering, is a year-round, K-12 school where instruction is given one-on-one or in small groups and is adapted to suit each student’s needs. CORE ABA (applied behavior analysis therapy) is another integral prong. “That’s what they are doing in here,” Jules says as she re-enters the parish hall. Everyone is engaged in an activity, many of whom are using electronic talk pads to communicate with their therapists. As they are able, students are eased into the classroom setting. “Some students do so well they leave here and go on to public or private schools,” Jules says as she walks from pod to pod, beaming as any proud mom would. “We even have one student who is now in all honors classes at Davidson.” Jules steps outside, leaving the din of learning behind, and she peers out over seven wooded acres of peace. A therapist and her student, out for a stroll, walk by, crunching pine straw underfoot. When The CORE Project started at the West Mobile location, there were only four students. In less than two years, the organization has expanded to include an additional two locations, now serving 62 families and four school systems — and Jules hopes to keep it growing. “The more people who collectively recognize the problem, the more resources come into this mission. Maybe on that list is someone who says, ‘I’ll give you this building over here so that you can serve 100 more kids.’” In addition to on-site instruction, The CORE Project provides services to students enrolled in public or private schools. “We actually have two kids at St. Paul’s, and
they’re doing beautifully,” Jules says, shading her eyes. “That’s the kind of model I want. Wherever parents want their kids, let me meet you there. I’m not trying to take their child and bring them here. If you’ve identified a problem or you’re feeling as heavy as you are right now, what can we do to relieve some of that? And if the answer is, ‘help my child,’ let us do that with you.” Jules is also passionate about helping families as a whole. “In my opinion, one of the downfalls of specialized programs is that you teach to the child, but you forget about the family. The holistic approach of treating the unit has been revolutionary. Parents tell us their goals and dreams, and we strive for that. If they want to go out to eat as a family, we teach them as a family how to go out to eat. If they need help in church, we will come sit with them in church.” CORE Respite, another service offered, is one Jules hopes to be almost exclusively a community resource. “The divorce rate in families with special needs kids is about 80 percent. I would tell parents, just drop your child off at Respite and go remind yourselves that you still like each other.” One last prong of the multi-disciplinary program is CORE Clinical, which includes parent training, a mental health clinic that’s open to anyone in the com-
munity, and diagnosis of and treatment for emotional and behavioral problems. “The reason no one has produced this model before is because it’s hard,” Jules says. And it’s not cheap. She cites the payroll as being $2.4 million. “It’s a laborintensive job. But I don’t care how much money it costs or how many hours I work — the happy that I see in my two oldest and the weight that’s off my shoulders gives me purpose and gives them life.” The clock ticks toward 9:30 now, and a mother named Lisa, leaving her son’s progress report meeting, sees Jules across the parking lot and walk-jogs over to exchange hellos. “I don’t know what we would do if he wasn’t here,” Lisa says of son Grant. “There’s no anxiety or worry, and that’s the biggest blessing for special needs parents.” The two hug goodbye, and on Lisa’s heels are parents Trista and Tony, also leaving their monthly meeting. “When we got here, they started training us on how to use the talker with her,” Lisa says of 8-year-old daughter Alyson, who is nonverbal. “We were able to get inside her brain, and her behavior got better.” There’s been improvement in other areas, too. With the help of occupational therapy, Alyson is now able to hold her head up for longer and can use her finger
to point. “We recently took her to the zoo for the first time.” Tony nods tearfully about the milestone. “We don’t want people to need us,” Jules says as the couple walks away. “We want to put ourselves out of business. I want to make better day care workers, better Sunday school teachers, better teachers. Our community outreach is as equally important to me as what we do in-house. If we can make people not need services because we have more of an impact in our own community, then we become stronger for it. We are a better community when we can say we have seen this problem, we have banded together and are making strides to fix it.” Jules steps into the sunlight, closes her eyes and enjoys a few more moments of quiet contemplation. It’s suitable that the Trussville, Alabama, native’s high school superlative was “Most Likely to Change the World.” She’s certainly off to a good start. MB Opening portrait Jules Starr with her four children, now ages 19, 18, 6 and 3. Opposite Jules Starr, executive director of The CORE Project, Inc. Above CORE Life provides life-skills training and vocational coaching to individuals, including working in the COREfee Shop, hands-on woodworking projects and fulfilling orders with local manufacturer Threaded Fasteners, Inc.
january 2022 | mobilebaymag.com 37
A Life Made for Radio Locally renowned “Music Man” Catt Sirten lived in 14 cities before coming to Mobile. Now he’s reflecting on the journey that led to his permanent home on the Gulf Coast.
text by JOSH GIVENS • photos by MEGGAN HALLER / KEYHOLE PHOTO
W
ith his charmingly tranquil demeanor, subtle charisma and smooth-asbutter voice, Catt Sirten has been a fixture of the Mobile radio and music scene for almost 40 years. It was here that he found a home for his ultimate passion in life: Introducing people to songs that they would never be able to hear or experience otherwise. His impact is well known across the Alabama Gulf Coast, where many of those listeners have taken solace in his music selections at the start of a long workday or even on the beach preparing for a relaxing weekend. Whether it’s on his signature Sunday Jazz Brunch program or his Radio Avalon show, the music aficionado and superb orator is a master of spotlighting new songs and artists and even occasionally telling their unique stories through his photography. The mellow man behind the Mobile mic came from very humble beginnings. “My parents were part of the migration to the North in the early ’50s for work,” Sirten says with a smile
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on his face and a hint of nostalgia in his voice. “They went to Michigan, which is where I was born. My father worked in the car factories there. I have an older sister and a younger brother, and when we got to be school-aged, my parents decided they didn’t want to raise their kids in Flint, Michigan, so we moved back to north Alabama [Limestone County]. My parents were both children of sharecroppers and lived in extreme poverty. But somehow or another, even without high school educations, they turned out to be wise in how to raise kids. My father and mother are the best two people I’ve ever met.” For those of you wondering what sort of parents Opposite: Catt Sirten records at would name their son Catt, his home studio in don’t worry. It was not cruel downtown Mobile, and unusual punishment. from where he has been producing Ironically, the name didn’t episodes of Sunday even come from his parents Jazz Brunch for — it was just a nickname. local radio station But, as is often the case 92 ZEW.
january 2022 | mobilebaymag.com 39
with nicknames, there’s a great story behind it. “My original name is Thomas Glenn Sirten. But back in the ’70s, I loaded everything I owned into my Ford Grenada — which was really just a bunch of pots and pans and about 3,000 albums — and moved from Birmingham to Panama City for work where they wanted me to be this rock ‘n’ roll maniac. So they came up with a story about me and called me by the radio name Cartwright Stone. But everyone called me Catt Stone for short. I hated the Stone part, but Catt just stuck, especially because when I was a kid and my mom couldn’t find me, she would walk outside and look up in the trees.” Sirten was exposed to music at an early age by his father, who would listen to gospel songs and take his son to local all-night gospel singings. Although Sirten soon gravitated toward other genres, he says the biggest thing that seemingly prevented a future career behind the mic was the fact that he was born physically tongue-tied and never even knew it. When he was 5, he underwent a medical procedure in which doctors snipped a ligament in his mouth to try to correct the problem. “I had this physical handicap [from birth] in which the ligament under your tongue knots up, so you learn to talk without the use of your tongue. When I was 12, I was at a cousin’s house and they had a little tape recorder. They were recording everyone in the room. I heard a voice on there and didn’t know who it was. I said, ‘Who’s that?’ And they said, ‘That’s you.’ And then I heard the voice say something that I had said. 40 mobilebaymag.com | january 2022
“I FELL IN LOVE WITH MUSIC, FROM THEN ON, IF I HAD AN EXTRA DOLLAR, I WOULD BUY MUSIC. I ENDED UP WITH TWO CASES OF 8-TRACKS AND WAS KNOWN AS THE MUSIC MAN. I STILL DIDN’T KNOW MUCH ABOUT RADIO THOUGH, OR EVEN CARE. FOR ME, IT WAS ALL ABOUT THE MUSIC, AND I THOUGHT RADIO WAS MUSIC.” – Catt Sirten
“I was a little shocked. So when I got home, I ran down the road about a quarter of a mile to our neighbor. I said, ‘Hey, do I talk funny?’ And he said, ‘Yeah, you didn’t know that?’ I didn’t know I talked funny. All I knew was that I sounded like me!” It was soon after, during his sister’s 16th birthday party, that Sirten heard what he fondly refers to as “real music” for the first time. One of his sister’s friends brought over some albums, and they
Top to bottom: Sirten’s musical balancing act in 1979. Sirten on air at a Mardi Gras broadcast from the Riverview Plaza in 92 ZEW’s early days.
headed to the basement. Sirten grabbed their plastic record player and began listening to artists like The Doors, Gary Puckett & The Union Gap and many others. His heart melted. “I fell in love with music,” he says. “From then on, if I had an extra dollar, I would buy music. I ended up with two cases of 8-tracks and was known as The Music Man. I still didn’t know much about radio though, or even care. For me, it was all about the music, and I thought radio was music.” That all changed in 1973 during his senior year of high school. “I was at the county fair, and they were having a kid’s day. I was walking through the fair by myself, and a local radio station was there. As I walked by, the disc jockey said, ‘Hey! What’s your name?’ “So I talked with him. After we got off the air, he said, ‘Are you Reba Sirten’s son?’ I told him I was. He said, ‘She’s my cousin!’” I went into the little booth, and they had me read the weather forecast along with something else. This is just a little radio station in Ardmore, Alabama. But it was kind of cool, and I liked it!” The rest, as they say, is history. Sirten took a job as a student reporter for a local station in Athens, giving five-minute updates on the happenings of West Limestone High School. Although he was juggling a steady factory job at the time, careerlevel radio soon became an option again, when
he and most of his factory coworkers were unexpectedly laid off. He decided to take the license test and passed on his third try. Later that year, he landed his first official radio gig playing big band, pop, oldies, country and gospel music at a station in Pulaski, Tennessee. Little did Sirten know that his journey into the world of radio would lead him through 14 cities over the next 10 years. Ironically, it was video, not radio, that initially drew him to Mobile. But after just a year, Sirten packed his bags and moved to Phoenix, Arizona, with his best friend who was from Mobile herself. But she soon grew homesick, and the pair returned in 1984. And that’s when “the magic” happened. “I was doing video commercials in Gulf Shores for a cable company, january 2022 | mobilebaymag.com 41
Top to bottom: Sirten with Grammy-award winning singer Melissa Etheridge. The crew of 92 ZEW back in the early days. Sirten with Mississippi bluesman and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee B.B.King.
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and at that time 92ZEW had gone on the air as a rock station,” Sirten says. “It wasn’t having much success, and the owner decided to sell it. You could tell something was going on because they were losing their pro announcers. I went in and told them who I was and what I do and my history.” Just like that, he landed the job of program director, a position he would hold three times between 1984 and 2009. Reminiscing on his time there and what the station means to him is a truly emotional experience, one filled with fond memories that few people in this life are fortunate enough to have in their careers. “You know, I was 30 when I came here, and what really made Mobile stick for me was the local music scene and 92ZEW. I had this vision of a radio station that utilized music as a connective thread. People are connected by music. It’s a universal language. When I first arrived in Mobile, I realized a lot of people in this market had been exposed to music that people in other places had not.” In September of 1985, Sirten launched what would affectionately become known as Brown Bag concerts and chose Bienville Square as the featured location. “When the ZEW first started, we didn’t have any money for salaries or anything,” he recalls. “We were Downtown in the commerce building at the time, and I would often go for walks across Bienville Square. It had two full-time caretakers in those days, and it was manicured to within an inch of its life. It was gorgeous, and you could walk there on the most beautiful day, and no one would be there but homeless people. The homeless had essentially run everyone out. I wanted to do concerts there. Our manager and a lady with AmSouth Bank came up with the idea of having something called September Celebration. And it became the forerunner of BayFest. But I came up with the idea of doing concerts in Bienville Square.” The Brown Bag concert series ran successfully from April 1986 through 1994 when 92ZEW officially went off the air. (92ZEW would return to the air in 1997.) Unable to part with the Brown Bag series, Sirten generously and sacrificially dug into his own pockets to keep the beloved event going for another seven years, after which the city of Mobile kept it alive and active until COVID-19. “Brown Bag was a truly special thing,” Sirten says. “We had marriage proposals happen there. We had nonprofits represented there. And a lot of folks don’t know that Brown Bag was really the start of Downtown revitalization for the city of Mobile. We would have 12,000 or 14,000 people coming out there not only for the music but also to socialize and enjoy the communal
aspect. We’ve even had two or three movies use Brown Bag as part of their fill material.” Sirten says he chose to make Mobile his permanent home because it’s the one place where he can do exactly what he loves and also earn a living doing it. “It’s never been about money, though. The real magic for me is being able to play two songs back-to-back while you’re in your car driving and tapping your fingers on the steering wheel for 11 minutes, and you never even realize you were listening to two different songs. A huge part of my dream, and being able to do that, was manifested at 92ZEW. I felt like I wasn’t worthy to be a part of that station and honestly kind of feel that way all the time about my life.”
“YOU KNOW, I WAS 30 WHEN I CAME HERE, AND WHAT REALLY MADE MOBILE STICK FOR ME WAS THE LOCAL MUSIC SCENE AND 92ZEW. I HAD THIS VISION OF A RADIO STATION THAT UTILIZED MUSIC AS A CONNECTIVE THREAD. PEOPLE ARE CONNECTED BY MUSIC. IT’S A UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE. WHEN I FIRST ARRIVED IN MOBILE, I REALIZED A LOT OF PEOPLE IN THIS MARKET HAD BEEN EXPOSED TO MUSIC THAT PEOPLE IN OTHER PLACES HAD NOT.” – Catt Sirten
So, listen up, Mobile: The next time you find yourself cruising the highway, tapping your fingers to a familiar rhythm, lost in a captivating piece of music, think of Sirten and maybe even say a little, “Thank you.” I can guarantee he’s thinking of you. MB
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UNDER This year’s class of young, local professionals is raising the bar of success and inspiring optimism for this new year on the Bay. interviews by AMANDA HARTIN AND BRECK PAPPAS photos by MATTHEW COUGHLIN shot on location at FUSE FACTORY
[ PROUDLY SPONSORED BY ]
january 2022 | mobilebaymag.com 45
OMAR ALKHARABSHEH, M.D.
NICK ERINARNOLD DELAPORTE
STUART BALL, M.D.
Assistant Professor of Interdisciplinary Clinical Oncology, University of South Alabama Mitchell Cancer Institute
Underwriter, The American Equity Underwriters Inc.
Vitreoretinal Surgeon, Premier Medical
During Nick’s tenure at The American Equity Underwriters (AEU), he has been promoted from underwriting assistant to account manager to his current role of underwriter. A tested leader, Nick is responsible for the profitability of 140 accounts at AEU (roughly 10 percent), and he was part of a team that was once recognized as “MVP Team of the Month” by parent company AmWINS Group. All the while, Nick, a professional tennis coach, has contributed in countless ways to the local tennis community, from running lessons at Heron Lakes Country Club to even working as head coach of the St. Luke’s varsity girl’s tennis team.
After an ophthalmology residency and a vitreoretinal surgery fellowship at the University of Kentucky, Stuart, who is board-certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology, has returned to his hometown of Mobile eager to make a difference in the field of ophthalmology and become involved in the community. While in residency, Stuart won the Wirtschafter Award for his outstanding contributions to resident education as well as the Mark Gross Research Award for his work on chronic corneal pain. He also received the distinct honor of being elected by the faculty to serve as chief resident.
ALMA MATER
University of Kentucky HOMETOWN Mobile
Since joining USA Health Mitchell Cancer Institute in 2018, “Dr. Omar,” as he is endearingly known to patients, has driven the Institute’s growth and increased hematology cancer patients’ access to care throughout the Southeast. Omar serves as a physicianscientist, actively pursuing advances in treatment and care for cancer patients, and he is the principle investigator of four open clinical trials. Certified through the American Board of Hematology, the American Board of Medical Oncology and the American Board of Internal Medicine, Omar is hoping to help lead MCI into the future by developing a stem cell transplant program. ALMA MATER Jordan University of
St. Edward’s University HOMETOWN Houston, Texas
Science and Technology; Michigan State University; Mayo Clinic HOMETOWN Al-Salt, Jordan SPOUSE + CHILDREN Isra; Raya (6), Tala (3), Ali (7 months)
Sage; Lizzie (5 months) FIRST JOB Stringing tennis racquets and mowing a lawn in exchange for free tennis lessons
FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOUR JOB Helping patients through their
cancer journey
WHAT DID YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GREW UP? I’ve wanted
SPOUSE + CHILDREN
Olivia; Barrett (2), Stuart (6 months) GUILTY PLEASURE
Astronaut ice cream
WHAT WORD WOULD YOU USE TO DESCRIBE MOBILE? Knows-
How-to-Throw-a-Party
Best smile
GUILTY PLEASURE
M&M McFlurry from McDonald’s
IF I WERE MAYOR, I WOULD...
“If put your mind to something, work hard and do your due diligence, you will certainly succeed.”
Bring in a Topgolf with a view of the Mobile River. HIDDEN TALENTS My dad and his family are from Argentina, so I can speak and understand a lot of Spanish.
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SPOUSE + CHILDREN
WHAT DID YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GREW UP? A fireman FIRST JOB Residential construction BEST ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED Love what you do. HIGH SCHOOL SUPERLATIVE
to become a doctor since high school. BEST ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED As my father told me,
ALMA MATER Tulane University;
FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOUR JOB Getting to meet new people
every day
WHERE WOULD YOU TAKE AN OUT-OF-TOWN GUEST TO EAT?
Callaghan’s Irish Social Club
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MATTHEW KENDRICK METCALFE-BEES T. DUNKLIN Principal / Designer, Matthew Monroe Bees Interior Decoration
In 2019, when Matthew was chosen to participate in New York City’s prestigious Kips Bay Decorator Show House, he was one of the youngest participants ever selected and only the second Alabamian to be invited. Matthew has worked on homes from Los Angeles to the Hamptons. A native of Butler County, he is among the most published designers in the Southeast; his work has been featured in publications such as Garden & Gun, House Beautiful, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times, and in 2020, Architectural Digest named him one of six rising young designers in America. ALMA MATER
The University of Alabama HOMETOWN Georgiana, Ala. SPOUSE + CHILDREN Addison; Presley (5-year-old Goldendoodle) FIRST JOB Baling hay on my grandparents’ farm in rural Crenshaw County GUILTY PLEASURE Blueberry cheesecake ice cream from Cammie’s Old Dutch BEST ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED A gentleman always keeps
an appointment.
WHAT DID YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GREW UP?
President of the United States
FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOUR JOB Every day, I get to make some-
one’s dream come true.
WEATHERS P. BOLT
KYLE ERIN BRADY DELAPORTE
Partner, Starnes Davis Florie, LLP
Founder of Drivin’ & Vibin’; Partner at RV Digital Strategy Agency
Law partners describe Weathers as one of the brightest young lawyers in Mobile, having tried perhaps more complex jury trials than anyone else of his age in Alabama. Since joining the firm nine years ago, Weathers has focused his attention on civil litigation such as warranty claims, product liability, physician malpractice, fraud and personal injury claims. Over the course of the pandemic, he has used his experience handling OSHA matters to give numerous presentations on, and assist a wide range of clients with, federal regulation related to COVID-19. Weathers is a member of Order of Fuse and is preparing to launch a water safety program for underserved communities in Mobile County. ALMA MATER Emory University HOMETOWN Mobile SPOUSE + CHILDREN
Molly; Willa (5), Wright (2) FIRST JOB Swim coach
WHAT DID YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GREW UP? Garbage man HIGH SCHOOL SUPERLATIVE
Best abs (this one didn’t age very well) BEST ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED Be grateful. My grandfa-
ther John taught me, as much through his actions as his words, to be thankful for the people and experiences we are fortunate to enjoy. IF I WERE MAYOR, I WOULD... Close Lower Dauphin Street to cars.
After setting off with wife Olivia to experience the full-time RV lifestyle, Kyle developed the most trafficked RV and camping online magazine, receiving over 3 million visitors a month. With a YouTube channel of 120,000 subscribers, Kyle has built a content team from the ground up, including 25 freelance writers, three editors and multiple content managers. As a speaker at industry events, Kyle strives to help RVers learn how to be good stewards of the land. He is also a dedicated volunteer and donor for the Eastern Shore Repertory Theatre. ALMA MATER Auburn University HOMETOWN Fairhope SPOUSE + CHILDREN Olivia;
Nora Jane (2)
FIRST JOB Host at Ruby Tuesday in
Fairhope
HOBBIES Music, RVing, walking GUILTY PLEASURE Bingeing reality
TV in the background as I review my publishing schedule IF I WERE MAYOR, I WOULD... Focus on controlling growth in Fairhope. It’s the cause of many community problems, and city leadership turns a deaf ear to the citizens’ call for action on it.
FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOUR JOB I love pairing creativity and
data. Every day I have 100,000 people to test content on.
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CHAD M. COLLINS, MHA, FACHE, CHFP Director of Gastroenterology Service Line, University Hospital, USA Health
After completing his service in the U.S. Army, Chad set his sights on making an impact in the healthcare industry. As gastroenterology director of operations at USA Health, Chad brings nine years of healthcare administration experience to every project he touches, including a $1 billion merger and acquisition of Tenet and USPI. Aside from successfully implementing a $1.2 million facility improvement project, he also served as administrative lead for a $5 million Women’s Services expansion. Chad has a special place in his heart for service and is involved with organizations such as Ronald McDonald House, Salty Kidz and Whale of Hope Inc. ALMA MATER Faulkner University;
LSU-Shreveport HOMETOWN Fairhope
SPOUSE + CHILDREN Brittany;
Madison (13), Parker (5), Pierson (2), Paxton (1) GUILTY PLEASURE Almond Joy custard from Whits FIRST JOB Cart boy at Food World HIDDEN TALENTS Sewing and working on cars
BEST ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED There is never a right time
to do the wrong thing. There is never a wrong time to do the right thing. WHO WOULD BE ON MOBILE’S MT. RUSHMORE? Every clinician
who has guided us through COVID-19 50 mobilebaymag.com | january 2022
LCDR KEITH T.GAINES DRAGO, JAGC, USN KENDRICK DUNKLIN
S. JARROD ENGLAND
MEG MCCRUMMEN FOWLER
Deputy Force Judge Advocate, United States Navy
Director of Operations, Hummingbird Ideas
Director, History Museum of Mobile
A natural leader, Gaines has rapidly advanced through the ranks to reach his current position as deputy force judge advocate for the U.S. Navy. He has been stationed at NAS Pensacola since 2016: two years as a defense attorney for service members, one year as the attorney for Naval Hospital Pensacola and the last two and a half years as Deputy Force Judge Advocate for Naval Education Training Command, which encompasses 25 percent of the Navy. Gaines also enjoys working as a CYO basketball coach for St. Mary’s Parish and Christ the King Parish, where he is also a parishioner.
As director of operations for Mobile agency Hummingbird Ideas, Jarrod has helped his team navigate the challenges posed during the pandemic while simultaneously implementing new systems for work efficiency and shepherding new partnerships for office financial management. Jarrod has 10 years of agency experience under his belt, having previously served as director of public relations for Red Square Agency. Before his time in the agency world, he served as a publicist and partnership manager in the NASCAR Cup Series for five years. His role has also presented the opportunity to work with several community organizations, including Lifelines Counseling and Mobile Boy Scouts.
In her role as director of the History Museum of Mobile, Meg has not only boosted annual attendance by 62 percent, she has increased annual grants, sponsorships and gifts by 2,802 percent. She has explored and preserved a wide range of local history by curating such exhibits as “A History of Mobile in 22 Objects” and a forthcoming Clotilda exhibition for the Africatown Heritage House. A Ph.D. candidate in art history and society at Tulane University, Meg also serves on the Rotary Club of Mobile board of directors and is a past president of the UA Mobile Alumni chapter.
ALMA MATER McGill-Toolen, The
University of Mississippi, Cumberland School of Law HOMETOWN Mobile SPOUSE + CHILDREN Annie; Wallis (4), Pierce (3), George (1) HOBBIES Coaching youth sports, golfing, traveling, and living in the land of popsicles, pirates and princesses with my three kids HIDDEN TALENT Being able to quote movie lines and song lyrics on demand (much to the annoyance of my wife) FIRST JOB Griffith Shell service station attendant FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOUR JOB I like that every day is different
and the pride I feel when I put on the uniform knowing the sacrifices of so many before me.
ALMA MATER
University of South Alabama HOMETOWN Mobile SPOUSE Caitlin HOBBIES Traeger grilling (“Smokin’ meats” as Zuckerberg would say), CrossFit, deep sea fishing, afternoon bike rides GUILTY PLEASURE Key lime pie (My wife is a registered dietitian-nutritionist, so I don’t get real sugar very often.) FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOUR JOB Our people because we are like a
family. Our clients, because I love being a part of understanding each of their businesses, and then helping them to solve various needs relative to strategic marketing, advertising, and branding.
ALMA MATER University of
Alabama; Tulane University HOMETOWN Mobile SPOUSE + CHILDREN James; James (10 months) HIDDEN TALENTS Monopoly GUILTY PLEASURE The comment section on AL.com
WHAT DID YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GREW UP? A teacher!
By 16, though, I knew I wanted to be an art historian.
WHERE WOULD YOU TAKE AN OUT-OF-TOWN GUEST TO EAT?
Felix’s or Bluegill. I love showing off our closeness and connectedness to the water. BEST ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED Your success directly
correlates to your willingness to have hard conversations. january 2022 | mobilebaymag.com 51
KIM GARRETT
RUSSELL GOODE, M.D. SEAN H. GLEASON
AMBER S. GORDON, M.D.
Director, Victory Health Partners
Orthopaedic Traumatologist, Gulf Orthopaedics
Neurosurgeon / Director of Infirmary Health Neuroscience Center of Excellence, Infirmary Neurosurgery
Kim has served as the director for Victory Health Partners since 2018, where she is responsible for fundraising, marketing, grant writing, strategic partnerships, event planning and clinical operations. She aims to raise almost $1 million annually, a crucial responsibility as Victory clinic isn’t reliant on government funding. In addition to coordinating about 70 clinic volunteers each week, Kim also developed the successful Change Maker Campaign to promote continuous monthly giving to the clinic. Kim is a familiar face throughout Mobile, thanks to her involvement in organizations such as Mobile United, Leadership Mobile and the Human Relations Commission for the City of Mobile. ALMA MATER
Abilene Christian University HOMETOWN The Woodlands, Texas SPOUSE + CHILDREN John; June (7), Rhodes (5), Luke (1) FIRST JOB Working a neighborhood lemonade stand HIDDEN TALENTS Between being a mom and working in a nonprofit, you learn hidden talents (school-costumemaker, IT, maintenance) every day. FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOUR JOB The testimonies of the uninsured
patients Victory Health is privileged to serve. For many patients, Victory is the last opportunity to find healing and hope. It is humbling to be a part of such a larger story that is changing the futures of the thousands of people we serve.
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The only fellowship-trained orthopaedic trauma surgeon in Mobile community hospitals, Russell has assisted in the development of trauma protocols and system efficiencies for local hospitals to improve patient care. This directly affects the Lower Alabama community by ensuring they receive the appropriate care as quickly as possible. Russell is also the presiding board member of the Frederick N Meyer Residents Fund, a nonprofit organization that provides scholarships and educational support to orthopaedic residents, and he was recently voted onto the executive board for the Infirmary Physician Alliance. ALMA MATER
University of South Alabama HOMETOWN Florence, Ala. SPOUSE + CHILDREN Sarah; Scarlett (5), Celeste (3), Cecilia (5 months)
BEST ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED You are as good as anyone
and better than no one.
GUILTY PLEASURES Bourbon on
the rocks and a puzzle
WHAT DID YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GREW UP? Heavy
Equipment Operator. I loved the big trucks and cranes. HIDDEN TALENTS Woodworking — and I’ve still got all my fingers.
FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOUR JOB Helping guide patients through
injuries and recovery from what can be the most unexpected day of their lives.
In 2018, Amber started the current neurosurgery practice at Infirmary Health, focusing primarily on general neurosurgery and the treatment of brain and spinal pathologies. In 2019, she developed the multidisciplinary Neuro-Oncology Board, which meets bimonthly to review cases and provide patients with an individualized treatment plan. At Infirmary Health, Amber is also the director of the Neuroscience Center of Excellence. She is currently serving alongside Ann Bedsole as the chairwoman for the Alabama School of Math and Science’s first capital campaign to raise funds for the Dr. Edward O. Wilson Science Research Center. ALMA MATER Vanderbilt University;
University of Alabama School of Medicine HOMETOWN Atmore, Ala. SPOUSE + CHILDREN
Brad; Alexander (5) HOBBIES Reading John Grisham and fishing WHAT DID YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GREW UP?
Miss America
FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOUR JOB My favorite thing about being a
neurosurgeon is being able to truly improve a patient’s quality and function of life. I get to see, firsthand, how advances in medicine and surgery can transform a patient and their family.
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PORTIA GREENJR. ABE HARPER, Principal, Prichard Preparatory School
Portia brightens the halls of Prichard Preparatory School every day with her optimism, energy, faith and contagious smile. First a school parent, then a volunteer, then a teacher, then executive director and now principal, Portia’s path to the school’s leading role was a natural progression, as students and colleagues fell in love with her leadership style and genuine affection for her students. Aside from increasing the school’s enrollment, Portia recently led the initiative to get Prichard Prep accredited through the Alabama Independent School Association, an accreditation that must be renewed every five years. ALMA MATER University of Mobile;
Columbia Southern University HOMETOWN McIntosh, Ala. SPOUSE + CHILDREN D’Alo; Dalancey (16), DaLaney (11), D’Alo Jr. (4) FIRST JOB Cook and cashier at Ward’s Restaurant GUILTY PLEASURE Dark-chocolatecovered almonds
WHO WOULD BE ON MOBILE’S MT. RUSHMORE? My mother. She is
the strongest woman I know.
FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOUR JOB I get to watch children get smarter
and smarter. I believe intelligence is not something people are born with. It is something they develop when exposed to the right learning experiences. Helping teachers provide these learning experiences for students is so fulfilling. 54 mobilebaymag.com | january 2022
JENNIFERSTEVEN GUTHRIE ASHLEY HARRIS Owner / Instructor, Glow Yoga
Jennifer has been a yoga instructor for 10 years and has led nearly 2,000 yoga classes. Certified with more than 800 hours of training, she has been featured in regional and national magazines and has been invited to teach workshops across the country. At Glow Yoga, Jennifer leads a team of 12 instructors, whose goal is to both physically and mentally prepare their students for whatever challenges life throws their way. Jennifer is also very civic-minded; she currently serves on the Gulf Shores Planning Commission and has volunteered her yoga expertise for several charitable causes. ALMA MATER Elon University HOMETOWN Austin, Texas SPOUSE + CHILDREN Drew;
Lil (9), Lloyd (4), Gracie (2)
WHAT DID YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GREW UP? A lawyer
or a secret service agent
GUILTY PLEASURE Driving around
in my “mom mobile” with the windows down while blasting all genres of ’90s music and singing at the top of my lungs HIDDEN TALENT I was a Division I college tennis player, and I don’t play much anymore, so it’s really a hidden talent. FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOUR JOB People share with me all the time
how grateful they are to have Glow Yoga and how much it has changed their lives. I’m thankful for that because it helps me remember what life is really all about ... being there for others. january 2022 | mobilebaymag.com 55
NICOLAS HAUSMAN CHIP HARTIN, MD
AFIYA HOOKER, MS, LPC KASEEK.SPARKS HEISTERHAGEN
GRAY INGLE
Marketing Leader, Hargrove Engineers + Constructors
President and CEO, The Sunshine’s Haven Counseling Center, LLC
Since joining the Hargrove team in 2020, Nick has successfully implemented several creative and innovative processes to reach the company’s clients and to market its services. Even in the face of a pandemic, his expertise in omni-channel marketing, user experience and digital media has elevated Hargrove’s brand. When taking ownership of projects, Nick leads with grace, humor and expertise; he coordinated a redesign of Hargrove’s primary website and has worked with Hargrove’s leadership team to facilitate improvements in internal and external communication. Nick has also enjoyed coaching his son’s baseball team for several years.
Afiya is a licensed psychotherapist in the state of Alabama and has over 13 years of experience in the mental health and business fields. As CEO of a counseling center and a wellness center, Afiya leads a team of clinicians and professionals and has extensive training in trauma, depression, anxiety and hypnotherapy. She also owns The Sunshine’s Haven Closet, a nonprofit aimed at providing resources to disadvantaged individuals and families. Afiya was recently nominated for the Outstanding Practitioner Award from the Alabama Counseling Association and is a member of Chi Sigma Iota, the international honor society for professional counseling.
Director of Qualified Retirement Plans, Mitchell McLeod Pugh & Williams Inc.
ALMA MATER Seton Hall University HOMETOWN Alton, Illinois SPOUSE + CHILDREN Beth;
Camille (12), Emmitt (8)
WHAT DID YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GREW UP? The next
“Pistol Pete” Maravich
WHERE WOULD YOU TAKE AN OUT-OF-TOWN GUEST TO EAT?
Felix’s Fish Camp
BEST ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED The secret to getting ahead
is getting started.
GUILTY PLEASURE The McRib HIDDEN TALENT I can make anyone
ALMA MATER Spring Hill College;
Walden University HOMETOWN Mobile CHILDREN Arrayah (4) HIDDEN TALENTS Singing and writing poetry FIRST JOB Arby’s drive-thru cashier. I was 15 years old, and you had to be at least 16 to actually make the food. BEST ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED Seek the Kingdom of God
above all else, and live righteously, and He will give you everything you need.
laugh.
WHO WOULD BE ON MOBILE’S MT. RUSHMORE? Fannie Smith
Continue to promote, encourage and incentivize local businesses within the communities we live and work.
Motley, the first African-American to graduate from my alma mater, Spring Hill College, who also has a scholarship named after her.
IF I WERE MAYOR, I WOULD...
56 mobilebaymag.com | january 2022
Since returning to Mobile in 2007, Gray has been engaged in the financial services industry, and in 2018, she joined Mitchell McLeod Pugh & Williams as Director of Qualified Retirement Plans. Gray has earned her Retirement Plan Fundamentals Certificate through the American Society of Pension Professionals and Actuaries, the premier national organization for retirement plan professionals. Though COVID-19 brought unprecedented challenges, Gray worked with a steady resilience to meet the financial needs of 401(k) plan participants impacted by layoffs, furloughs or reduced work hours. She is also an active member of the Junior League of Mobile and the national Alabama Alumni Association. ALMA MATER University of Alabama HOMETOWN Mobile SPOUSE + CHILDREN Will;
Stansell (2)
GUILTY PLEASURE Bake My Day’s
sweet-n-salty chocolate chip cookies
WHAT DID YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GREW UP? A mom BEST ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED “Remember to balance
your checkbook.” - My grandfather HIDDEN TALENT I can type 10-key really fast (from my days as a teller at Regions Bank).
FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOUR JOB I love helping business owners set
up a retirement plan.
january 2022 | mobilebaymag.com 57
MANDY IRBY, LMSW
SARAH KAHALLEY
CATHY KATEON
Child and Family Counselor, Joyworks Counseling
Director of Clinical Resources, USA Health Physician’s Group
Consumer Banking Manager / Vice President, Regions Bank
Mandy’s dedication to aiding children and teens in Mobile and Baldwin counties extends from her professional to personal life. As a former foster care social worker at the Alabama Baptist Children’s Homes & Family Ministries and as president of the board of directors for Fostering Together Gulf Coast, Mandy has helped a significant number of children find stable homes. Mandy also expands her impact by teaching foster care licensure classes. She now uses her role as a counselor to assist those in the community who face crises. Mandy and her husband have personally fostered 30 children in their home since 2012.
In the spring of 2020, Sarah headed the team that developed and launched the first mass COVID-19 testing center in the Gulf Coast Region through a partnership with the City of Mobile at Ladd-Peebles Stadium. She has since directed more than two dozen community outreach events to expand vaccine and testing access, resulting in the administering of over 100,000 vaccines and 85,000 COVID tests. Sarah’s fearless leadership has helped USA Health become a leader in the fight against COVID. In 2021, she was presented with the City of Mobile’s Exceptional Citizen Award.
ALMA MATER Troy University HOMETOWN Mobile SPOUSE + CHILDREN Ken;
ALMA MATER University of South
As consumer banking manager for Regions Bank in Mobile and Baldwin counties, Cathy oversees about 120 employees. Over her 14-year banking career, she has consistently been chosen for leadership positions. Competitive by nature, Cathy works tirelessly to grow her teams into top decile performance rankings. Coworkers recognize her desire to make life better for the employees, customers and communities she serves. Cathy is on the board for Junior Achievement, a volunteer with United Way and Habitat for Humanity. The Christ United Methodist Church member has also organized collection drives for families affected by Hurricane Sally.
Jackson (18), Calvin (17), Benjamin (14), Shawn (9), Landon (4), Ethan (2) GUILTY PLEASURE Crime dramas FIRST JOB Popeyes
WHAT WORD WOULD YOU USE TO DESCRIBE MOBILE? Emerging WHERE WOULD YOU TAKE AN OUT-OF-TOWN GUEST TO EAT?
Alabama; The University of Alabama at Birmingham HOMETOWN Mobile CHILDREN Julian (15), Olivia (9), Adelinh (8) FIRST JOB Piercing ears at Earrings and Things
ALMA MATER Auburn University,
biologist
HIGH SCHOOL SUPERLATIVE
WHAT DID YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GREW UP? Marine
Las Floriditas
IF I WERE MAYOR, I WOULD...
ers if you don’t take care of yourself also.
Develop mobile units to offer healthcare resources to areas of our community which we know lack access to care.
people who are in crisis. I enjoy being able to come alongside someone in need and help them find hope.
depression, living in the future causes anxiety, living in the present brings you peace.
BEST ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED You can’t take care of othFAVORITE THING ABOUT YOUR JOB I love that I get to be a support to
58 mobilebaymag.com | january 2022
BEST ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED Living in the past causes
University of South Alabama HOMETOWN Mobile SPOUSE + CHILDREN Bunky; Brady (8), Ann Easley (5) FIRST JOB I helped start the Campus Store at St. Paul’s Episcopal School. GUILTY PLEASURE Old Dutch Ice Cream; it’s our favorite family date night. Funniest laugh
FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOUR JOB Investing in others through
coaching and development and watching them take the next step in their careers, knowing I had a small part in helping them achieve goals.
BEST ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED Control what you can control.
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ASHLEY KLEINSCHRODT Chief of Navigation, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Ashley oversees, manages and leads a team of engineers in the dredging and dredged material disposal operations of numerous channels along the Gulf Coast while also overseeing the management of approximately 2,200 miles of inland waterways across the Southeast. During her 13 years with the Corps, she has received numerous awards and distinctions and is a recognized technical expert in her field. The Mobile native sails competitively and has won both gold and bronze medals for crewing. In the community, Ashley is involved in growing young students’ interests in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) fields and has volunteered at Grand Bay Middle School’s Career Day and participated in the Girls Exploring Math and Science event held at the University of South Alabama. ALMA MATER
University of South Alabama HOMETOWN Mobile SPOUSE + CHILDREN Paul; Joie (6), Parks (1) HOBBIES Boating, sailing, gym, fantasy football HIDDEN TALENT I can leg press 360 pounds.
WHERE WOULD YOU TAKE AN OUT-OF-TOWN GUEST TO EAT?
Front Yard Tacos and Nova for a matcha HIGH SCHOOL SUPERLATIVE
I didn’t have one, but my 30s superlative is “most likely to have everyone drinking tequila by end of the night.” 60 mobilebaymag.com | january 2022
ERIN DELAPORTE JOSHUA MANNING Chief Operating Officer / Vice President of Operations, Ameri-Force, Inc.
Josh transcended the ranks, from management trainee to chief operating officer, in 13 short years — unprecedented, according to a colleague who says the Elberta, Alabama, native is “perhaps the strongest employee Ameri-Force has ever had.” Being responsible for the nationwide staffing operations for the marine and industrial sectors, Josh has accumulated a deep well of contacts and is able to mobilize large teams with a moment’s notice. The self-described amateur foodie and aspiring mixologist leads the company’s marque sponsorship, the Austal United Way Golf Tournament, where he smokes and serves some of the best brisket in South Alabama. Josh enjoys traveling with his family and is always ready for the next epicurean adventure. ALMA MATER Auburn University;
Troy University
HOMETOWN Elberta, Ala. SPOUSE + CHILDREN Hannen;
Bennett (4), Owen (3), Lela Jane (2) FIRST JOB Picking and pitching watermelons and canteloupes with my mom on hot summer mornings. IF I WERE MAYOR, I WOULD ...
Resolve our recycling issue in Daphne. WHO WOULD BE ON MOBILE’S MT. RUSHMORE? Hank Aaron,
Archbishop Lipscomb, Bob Grip and John Edd Thompson GUILTY PLEASURE Donut holes and New York-style cheesecake january 2022 | mobilebaymag.com 61
DANIELLE MASHBURN-MYRICK Attorney, Phelps Dunbar
Danielle graduated magna cum laude from Rhodes College, after which she taught English in Kyrgyzstan through the U.S. Peace Corps program. After completing her service, she helped manage her family’s retail furniture business, Green Gates Market in Fairhope, before enrolling in law school. Danielle received her Juris Doctor degree, graduating magna cum laude, in 2013, after which she clerked in the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Alabama. Upon joining Phelps in 2015, she established a bankruptcy practice for the firm’s Mobile office. When she’s not working, reading or exercising, you can find Danielle on the sidelines at the soccer field or attending a social with her small group from St. James Episcopal Church, where she and her family are members. ALMA MATER Rhodes College,
University of Alabama School of Law HOMETOWN Fairhope SPOUSE + CHILDREN Matthew; Ida Mae (8), Telly (6), Virginia (1) FIRST JOB Summer camp counselor HIDDEN TALENT Cooking. My husband will tell you, I keep it well hidden. WHAT WORD WOULD YOU USE TO DESCRIBE MOBILE? “Estu-
ary.” Just like Mobile Bay is a unique mixture of fresh water and saltwater, the Mobile area blends influences from New Orleans, the Florida Gulf Coast and other parts of the Deep South into something uniquely our own. 62 mobilebaymag.com | january 2022
CAROLINE MCGUGIN, M.D., MSPH
JOHNATHAN MCKINLEY
Breast Surgical Oncologist, Infirmary Surgical Specialists
Executive Chef, Fairhope Inn
Caroline is a fellowship-trained breast surgeon, specializing in the surgical management of breast disease, including breast cancer, high-risk conditions and benign breast disease. She offers her patients at Mobile Infirmary and Thomas Hospital a multidisciplinary approach to the treatment of breast cancer, advanced surgical techniques, and a passion for breast cancer research. Caroline has a masters of science in public health in addition to her robust surgical training, which includes being a Harvard clinical fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham & Women’s Hospital and Dana Farber Cancer Institute. She is active in her community with her two sons and as a member of Fuse Project. ALMA MATER Vanderbilt University HOMETOWN Dallas, TX SPOUSE + CHILDREN Wesley;
Jack (2), Charlie (2 months) HOBBIES Traveling, horseback riding, running and skiing
BEST ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED Be kind, honest, work hard
and never stop learning. - My Dad
HIGH SCHOOL SUPERLATIVE My
high school didn’t do this, but I was voted best dressed of my medical school class. IF I WERE MAYOR, I WOULD ...
Continue to revitalize Downtown and add more running and bike paths.
FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOUR JOB My patients. I consider it an
extraordinary honor and privilege to be a part of their cancer journey.
By age 20, John turned his sights from forestry to his childhood aspiration: Becoming a chef. His love for food, especially chicken and dumplings, was born in his grandmother’s kitchen. After working in popular Auburn restaurants, John turned to culinary school, graduating in 2013. He began his own catering business and taught cooking classes, but it wasn’t long before The Grand Hotel Marriott Golf Club, Resort and Spa tapped him for his talent. In 2018, John was hired as executive sous chef for the Battle House Hotel & Spa. Under his leadership, the Battle House was named No. 3 in food and beverage among 100plus Renaissance Marriott properties in the world. In November 2020, John was named the Alabama Restaurant & Hospitality Association Chef of the Year. He now delights diners with his culinary prowess at the Fairhope Inn. ALMA MATER Culinard Institute of
Virginia College in Birmingham HOMETOWN Monroeville, Ala. SPOUSE Kayla Ford
WHAT DID YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GREW UP? A chef GUILTY PLEASURE Gelato FIRST JOB Forester’s hand WHERE WOULD YOU TAKE AN OUT-OF-TOWN GUEST TO EAT?
Chuck’s Fish
WHAT WORD WOULD YOU USE TO DESCRIBE MOBILE? Animated FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOUR JOB The people you meet and the
food, of course.
january 2022 | mobilebaymag.com 63
DANIEL MCMAHON, M.D. General Surgeon / Assistant Professor, University of South Alabama Department of Surgery
After graduating magna cum laude from the University of Alabama, Daniel received his medical degree from UAB through a military scholarship. He was commissioned as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy in 2008, promoted to lieutenant commander in 2014, and selected for commander in 2019. During his service in the Navy, Daniel completed numerous overseas deployments as a flight surgeon and forward deployed combat trauma surgeon. He received numerous military awards throughout his active duty service and has published two books. Daniel is considered one of the most influential faculty members at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine. ALMA MATER University of
Alabama, University of Alabama Birmingham School of Medicine HOMETOWN Fairhope SPOUSE + CHILDREN Aurelia; Benton (8), Aurelia Marie (6) HOBBIES Hunting and fishing
WHAT DID YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GREW UP?
A fighter pilot
IF I WERE MAYOR, I WOULD ...
Work hard on the conservation efforts of Dog River and Mobile Bay. FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOUR JOB Working with a group
of extremely talented and dedicated professionals to relieve the pain and suffering of those who are ill. 64 mobilebaymag.com | january 2022
J. TAYLOR NORTON CIC, CRM
DEE ANNE ODOM, PE
Founder / CEO, South Shore Insurance Companies
Distribution Support Manager, Alabama Power
In the span of eight years, Taylor started not one but two companies from scratch, growing the firms’ teams from two people to 36 full-time professionals whose work in Mobile and Baldwin counties has expanded to include six states across the Southeast. The Certified Insurance Counselor and Certified Risk Manager is a graduate of Alabama Leadership Initiative and Leadership Baldwin County. Active in community fundraising, Taylor cofounded “Clays for A’s” and founded “The Great Turkey Drive,” which has provided over 14,000 meals since its inception.
Dee Anne has established herself as a primary thought leader whose attitude and tremendous work ethic equip her to be an impactful leader. In her role, Dee Anne is responsible for planning Alabama Power’s response to major storm restoration events and for leading those efforts during the restoration. In 2020, she led local restoration efforts after hurricanes Sally and Zeta. Dee Anne enjoys participating in programs that focus on engaging youth in engineering. She has served on the Alabama Power Service Organization board and as a district director for Tau Beta Pi engineering honor society, working with engineering students in universities from Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee and Kentucky.
ALMA MATER Auburn University HOMETOWN Loxley SPOUSE + CHILDREN Shelby;
Joseph (6), Chapman (4), Shep (2) FIRST JOB I started my first enterprise at age 5. It was a massage business called “Reunion Relief,” which gave foot and back massages to my aunts and uncles during a family reunion. My first real job was working as a forestry/reforestation technician for my father. WHAT DID YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GREW UP? My first
memory of answering this question was at the age of 4, and I answered “penguin.” Our entire class erupted in laughter. My face still gets red when I think about that moment.
WHERE WOULD YOU TAKE AN OUT-OF-TOWN GUEST TO EAT?
Bucky’s at The Grand Hotel for a Redfish Reuben (and the sunset).
ALMA MATER University of South
Alabama, University of Alabama HOMETOWN Satsuma SPOUSE + CHILDREN Jonathan; Bryson (5), Blakeley (3) GUILTY PLEASURE Eating chips and salsa for dinner HIDDEN TALENT Memorizing the words to any and every song
BEST ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED Focus on the things you
can control. Worrying about the other things fixes nothing.
WHERE WOULD YOU TAKE AN OUT-OF-TOWN GUEST TO EAT?
Dauphin’s for the beautiful views
FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOUR JOB Getting the lights back on after a
storm and mentoring younger engineers.
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TERRELL L. PATRICK, MPA
TRAMAINE PERRY
Director of Youth and Family Services, Mobile County District Attorney’s Office
Vice President / Business Banking, Hancock Whitney Corporation
Terrell sees leadership as an opportunity to serve others, and his commitment to engaging youth and promoting positive and healthy family relationships is evident to all who he encounters. As director, he has developed programs and curricula to educate students, parents and community partners on the topics of bullying, truancy, internet safety and human trafficking. The 2019 Mobile Area Mardi Gras Association King Elexis I is passionate about at-risk youth and youth mental health. Terrell is a member of the Mobile United Leadership Class of 2022 and is a Big Brother with the Big Brothers Big Sisters Organization of South Alabama.
During his basketball career at the University of Mobile, Tramaine broke nearly every record in school history. Even then, coaches and school administration recognized him as born leader. Instead of becoming a professional athlete, Tramaine turned his attention to the world of finance. In his three years at Hancock Whitney, he has brought in new clients and consistently smashed year-to-date goals. When not in the office, Tramaine is on the court, coaching the Mobile Grizzlies 10U Club basketball team and the Daphne High School Varsity basketball team. The University of Mobile Alumni Star recipient says his relationship with God is the only thing that has carried him through this life.
ALMA MATER Troy University HOMETOWN Mobile HOBBIES Cooking, traveling, hang-
ing out with family and friends, walking and playing with my dog Louie Graham BEST ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED Strength doesn’t come
from what you can do. It comes from overcoming things you once thought you couldn’t. IF I WERE MAYOR, I WOULD ...
Work to provide more mental health services to our community and offer residential facilities for displaced teens and children. WHO WOULD BE ON MOBILE’S MT. RUSHMORE? My mother,
Connecyt Patrick Jenkins, because she is my superwoman. 66 mobilebaymag.com | january 2022
ALMA MATER University of Mobile HOMETOWN Hammond, La. SPOUSE + CHILDREN Kimyatta;
Jaden (10), Jacob (9), Justin (4) FIRST JOB Wells Fargo Financial. GUILTY PLEASURE Trolli Sour Gummy Worms
BEST ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED Self-control is strength,
but calmness is mastery.
HIGH SCHOOL SUPERLATIVE
Most Likely to Succeed and Mr. Hammond High FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOUR JOB Helping people achieve their
dreams and goals by providing sound counsel and guidance.
WILLIAM BRADLEY PITTS, M.D. Pulmonologist / Intensivist, Pulmonary Associates of Mobile
Brad joined Pulmonary Associates of Mobile in 2017 and quickly gained his patients’ appreciation, thanks to his attentiveness and time spent with them. He served an integral role in the design and management of the practice’s relocation to West Mobile, keeping patient flow, comfort and safety the utmost importance. Board certified in Internal Medicine, Pulmonary Medicine and Critical Care Medicine, Brad is passionate about teaching the next generation of medical students. He is a member of Christ United Methodist Church and is an adjunct faculty member at the University of South Alabama Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine. ALMA MATER Spring Hill College,
University of South Alabama College of Medicine HOMETOWN Mobile SPOUSE + CHILDREN Melissa; William Grady (6), Victor Jackson (1) HOBBIES Woodworking, cooking and traveling
WHAT DID YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GREW UP? Combina-
tion astronaut and professional surfer GUILTY PLEASURE McDonald’s chicken nuggets and horror movies GUILTY PLEASURE If I could retroactively give myself one it would be “Most Likely to Buy All Their Clothing from Costco.”
WHAT WORD WOULD YOU USE TO DESCRIBE MOBILE? Endearing
january 2022 | mobilebaymag.com 67
PATRICIA PARNELL POWE, CPA Business Manager, University of South Alabama College of Medicine
After living in Tuscaloosa for several years, Patricia moved back to Mobile and hit the ground running getting involved in the community. According to acquaintances, she is a very dedicated employee, leader and volunteer who uses her accounting knowledge and servant spirit to benefit the community and her church. In 2019, Patricia received the Distinguished Alumna Service Award from St. Paul’s Episcopal School. She is treasurer and a board member at Beckwith, parent council member and new parent chair of the Saints’ Fund at St. Paul’s Episcopal School, and vestry member, confirmation mentor and Sunday school teacher at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. ALMA MATER University of Alabama HOMETOWN Mobile SPOUSE + CHILDREN Garrett;
Hilton (6), Mary Stuart (3) FIRST JOB Hostess at Zeke’s Downunder in Orange Beach HIDDEN TALENT Party planning. I enjoy any excuse to get friends or family together to celebrate everything. WHERE WOULD YOU TAKE AN OUT-OF-TOWN GUEST TO EAT?
Dew Drop for onion rings and Via Emilia for Eggplant Parmesan.
IF I WERE MAYOR, I WOULD ...
Continue the revitalization of Downtown and create more of an entertainment district on the waterfront, therefore bringing in more visitors and sales tax revenue to our city. 68 mobilebaymag.com | january 2022
GRANT REAVES
JACOB ROWE
Principal, Stoic Equity Partners / Senior Associate, Marcus & Millichap
Artistic & Executive Director, The PACT Theatre Company
Grant began his real estate career after his time at Auburn University with a specialty in investment commercial real estate. Beginning as a broker, Grant transacted over $100,000,000 of hospitality assets in under 5 years. In 2020, Grant formed Stoic Equity Partners with a fellow broker. Stoic is a private equity real estate firm specializing in acquiring and developing commercial real estate throughout the southeast. In the community, Grant is a member of Church of the Apostles in Daphne and is involved in development conferences throughout the year. ALMA MATER Auburn University HOMETOWN Columbus, Ga. SPOUSE + CHILDREN Lawren;
William Craig Reaves II (2 months) HOBBIES Blue marlin fishing GUILTY PLEASURE Watching Christmas movies 365 days a year FIRST JOB Brick cleaner, which is to knock the old mortar off of bricks from demolished buildings to be resold as reclaimed bricks. When I had cleaned and stacked 600, I made $30. HIDDEN TALENT My wife says I am impeccable at laying pine straw.
WHERE WOULD YOU TAKE AN OUT-OF-TOWN GUEST TO EAT?
Jesse’s in Magnolia Springs
FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOUR JOB The ability to work through com-
plex deals and issues to get the project to the finish line.
As a student at St. Dominic’s Catholic and McGill-Toolen High schools, Jacob spent much of his time onstage at Playhouse in the Park and Chickasaw Civic Theatre and with the Mobile Singing Children and the Spring Hill Singers. In college, Jacob was awarded numerous dance awards, and his keen eye for detail led to a two-year tenure as the production manager of both The Alabama Repertory Theatre and Dance Alabama. He spent the summer of 2018 as the director of musical theatre at the world-renowned French Woods Festival of the Performing Arts in New York. He now brings his many talents to The PACT Theatre, where, according to a parent, Jacob has created a safe, positive environment for performers where he encourages kindness, support and hard work. ALMA MATER University of Alabama HOMETOWN Mobile HOBBIES Traveling, working and
hanging out with my dog Nova FIRST JOB Lifeguard and a brand representative at Hollister GUILTY PLEASURE Watching cheesy Hallmark Christmas movies IF I WERE MAYOR, I WOULD ...
Invest in the arts! I would work hard to bring a professional summer stock program into the city, invest in facilities to bring in touring Broadway shows, and create a yearly grant for art organizations to help fund art education.
january 2022 | mobilebaymag.com 69
SYDNIE SHUFORD Sixth grade counselor, Causey Middle School
Sydnie began her career as an elementary classroom teacher. After receiving a Master’s degree in counseling, she became the school counselor at Dawes Intermediate before moving to Causey Middle. Sydnie is described as a superior communicator, exceptional writer and speaker, and an innovative and transformational leader who thoroughly understands what it takes to champion children in education. She is an awardwinning teacher and counselor, having garnered the National Blue Ribbon Award Winning Counselor, Alabama Performance Award Winning Teacher, and National Blue Ribbon Conference Presenter titles. ALMA MATER
ENOCH LAMAR SMITH President, Easy Heating & Cooling
In April 2005, Enoch founded Easy Heating & Cooling, Inc. The Alabama-licensed HVAC and general contractor has won many accolades, including the 2020 Small Business of the Month and the 2021 Small Business of the Year Finalist, both of which were awarded by the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce. Enoch believes each day allows him to perfect his craft and train others in the field of HVAC technology. He accomplishes this through a partnership with local mentorship programs, one of which is The Minority Accelerator Program with the University of South Alabama. Enoch is a member of Mount Hebron Church Ministries and is currently pursuing a degree in mechanical engineering.
University of South Alabama HOMETOWN Mobile SPOUSE + CHILDREN David; Olivia (20), Taylor (18), Jackson (6) HIDDEN TALENTS Re-creating accents I hear, sleuthing GUILTY PLEASURE Reality shows on Bravo
HOMETOWN Mobile SPOUSE + CHILDREN Gretta
for his revitalization of Downtown; Abraham Mitchell, for his contributions to the University of South Alabama; Hank Aaron; and Joe Cain.
HIGH SCHOOL SUPERLATIVE
WHO WOULD BE ON MOBILE’S MT. RUSHMORE? Sandy Stimpson,
FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOUR JOB I am blessed with the opportunity
to meet wonderful children and make a lasting, positive impact on their lives. 70 mobilebaymag.com | january 2022
Lendale Smith; Mariah Viola HOBBIES Bicycling, fishing, basketball, football, photography FIRST JOB Quincy’s Steakhouse HIDDEN TALENTS Motivational speaker, teaching, photographer, multicraft repairman, dancing, singing, Christian gospel preaching Best Smile, Class Clown, Most Likely to Be Successful
FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOUR JOB Being the Comfort Air Hero. Ev-
eryone knows I am there to rescue and save them from uncomfortable living conditions and higher utility costs.
LUKE SPAULDING Senior Vice President / Commercial Banking, IBERIABANK / First Horizon
Luke is described as a hard-working go-getter who is always seeking out new opportunities. As an undergraduate, he was a long snapper for the University of Alabama. Luke took his intensity from the field into the banking industry, where he has worked for 10-plus years. He enjoys finding innovative ways to help clients reach their financial goals and objectives. In the community, Luke is a mentor with Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Alabama, assistant basketball coach at UMS-Wright and basketball coach at St. Ignatius. ALMA MATER University of Alabama HOMETOWN Mobile SPOUSE + CHILDREN Ashley;
John (7), Ann (3)
BEST ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED See a little, see a lot; see a
lot, see a little.
HIDDEN TALENT I can pretty much
fall asleep anywhere, at any time, within a two-minute window. HIGH SCHOOL SUPERLATIVE
Most Athletic
WHO WOULD BE ON MOBILE’S MT. RUSHMORE?
Jeremiah Denton, Ozzie Smith, Jimmy Buffett, Orlando Jones
FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOUR JOB Customer interaction and develop-
ing relationships with some of the best leaders in our community.
TREVOR STUBBS, M.D. Orthopaedic Surgeon, Bayside Orthopaedic Sports Medicine & Rehab Center
After his orthopaedic surgery residency at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Trevor went on to complete a fellowship in sports medicine at Lenox Hill in New York City. While there, he served as an assistant team physician for the New York Jets and New York Islanders. Trevor joined Bayside Orthopaedic in 2020 where he is committed to not just ever-improving hightech techniques of joint replacement, but inspiring young minds through a hands-on educational program at area schools. Trevor is a volunteer physician for the Robertsdale Bears and an active participant in the national Stop Sports Injuries campaign. ALMA MATER
Louisiana State University HOMETOWN Pride, La. SPOUSE + CHILDREN Megan; AJ (4), Grady (1)
WHAT DID YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GREW UP? A garbage
man because riding on the back of the truck looked like a blast. WHERE WOULD YOU TAKE AN OUT-OF-TOWN GUEST TO EAT?
Glass of wine at Provision, dinner at Camellia Cafe and ice cream at Mr. Gene’s Beans. IF I WERE MAYOR, I WOULD ...
Work to strengthen the partnerships of healthcare networks based in Mobile with the providers of the Eastern Shore.
ABBY ROSE WILSON, MSN, RN Nurse Manager, Springhill Medical Center
Since she began working at Springhill Medical Center, Abby has served as hospital house supervisor and director of patient relations, the last of which she voluntarily gave up to take on the job of managing the hospital’s primary COVID-19 nursing unit. Abby is described as a leader of heroes and a hero to heroes — she was carrying out incredibly important lifesaving work throughout her entire second pregnancy. Abby is a licensed minister in the Church of God, and she teaches life groups and helps her husband’s church ministry, all while maintaining a 3.92 GPA in graduate school — she’s nearing the completion of her nursing doctorate. ALMA MATER University of
Alabama in Huntsville HOMETOWN Sylvania, Ala. SPOUSE + CHILDREN Kyle; Emma Rose (5), Sarah Kate (1) HOBBIES Running, spending time with my children FIRST JOB I grew up working on the family farm. My first public job was at Sonic Drive-In.
WHERE WOULD YOU TAKE AN OUT-OF-TOWN GUEST TO EAT?
Osman’s Restaurant.
HIGH SCHOOL SUPERLATIVE
Class Clown. I love to see people laugh and be happy.
WHO WOULD BE ON MOBILE’S MT. RUSHMORE? Public service figures
Mobile Bay’s 40 Under 40 is designed to recognize the top individuals under age 40 who demonstrate leadership, professional excellence and a commitment to Bay-area communities. Every year, winners are selected from diverse fields and backgrounds, including business and entrepreneurship, banking, the arts, medicine, education, and more. Emphasis is placed on candidates with a strong commitment to community involvement.
KNOW THE NEXT 40 UNDER 40? We want to know! The nomination period for next year begins
August 1, 2022, and will run through mid-September. Visit mobilebaymag.com/40-under-40
for more information.
like a nurse, firefighter, police, etc. MB january 2022 | mobilebaymag.com 71
text by SONNY BREWER • portrait by MATTHEW COUGHLIN
FROM FLY CREEK
FAIRHOPE WATERMAN CAPTAIN CARL BLACK REFLECTS ON THE TIDES BEHIND HIM
TO THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD
AND BACK 72 mobilebaymag.com | january 2022
january 2022 | mobilebaymag.com 73
C
Carl Black’s sailboat is 9,948 miles as the crow flies from his home in Fairhope. Make that an albatross. You’ll soon see why. His yawl-rigged Hinckley Bermuda 40 is named CV for curriculum vitae, Latin for the course of one’s life, literally. “And the name makes for easy radio contact — Charlie Victor,” Carl says, translating his boat’s name into the international phonetic alphabet. CV is “on the hard” in Malaysia. As soon as his visa paperwork is approved — COVID is slowing things down — Cap’n Carl will fly there to splash his boat and singlehandedly sail her across the northern Indian Ocean to Africa. He might hang out for a year, as he did in New Zealand and Australia. Setting sail from Africa, he’ll finish what he started. “I sailed CV out of Fly Creek in October of 2015 on a trip around the world.” Carl regrouped on arrival in Panama and spent four months there before crossing through the Panama Canal to the Pacific Ocean. What grew in a boy’s mind, dreaming of someday seeing firsthand the world he saw in “National Geographic” pictures, got real in 2014. He went up to the Chesapeake and bought his Hinckley. “She was scattered all over the boatyard. I put her back together in eight days and sailed her down the East Coast, through the Keys to Key West, and across the Gulf of Mexico in January to Fly Creek. “I had my ass handed to me on that leg,” he says, without elaborating. If you’ve ever sailed out of sight of land and had a runin with weather, you might conjure images. He totally refitted CV to assure her seaworthiness and departed Fairhope for the 2015 Madisonville Wooden Boat Show’s boatbuilding contest. “They give the contestants boards and plywood and glue and fasteners. Then you’ve got two days to build a boat to compete in the race.” His eyes light up as though this was an adventure as big as the voyage ahead of him. “I want to be on the other side of the world when this article comes out,” he says, “so I won’t be around to face the ribbing I’ll
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get.” It’s hard to reconcile a man shrinking from a little media attention when he’s willing to risk storms screaming through his rigging and waves taller than a house. We’re kicked back on his front porch. A gray fall day. Fine mist in the air. “Don’t spend 500 words getting to the question, Sonny. You writers like to show off. Just ask do I get scared at sea.” I don’t even ask, only nod to him with my eyebrows raised. “The answer is yes,” he says. I know another Fairhope sailor on midnight watch at the helm in the open Gulf of Mexico, bound for Cuba, who caught the moonlight’s gleam off his big heavy chrome starboard winch and realized that everything on his boat wanted to be at the bottom of the ocean. The insight suddenly terrified him. But Carl has nothing else to say about fear at sea. “Scott Gutteriez tried to tell me that Hinckley was not the right sailboat for crossing oceans, mostly alone. She’s graceful and beautiful and sails fast. She’s got wide decks. But the mizzen mast gets in the way of a dinghy, of solar panels and my windvane.” Carl says he will sell CV as soon as he gets her home. Another sailor might have spun his helm hard alee and returned to home port soon as his boat proved not just right. But Cap’n Carl lays his hand on the wheel and doesn’t look back. He’s in for the long haul whether he’s laying a course across the Atlantic, the Pacific, and numerous other smaller seas, or building an international maritime business from a one-man start-up called Shade Tree Marine. Carl was not yet 20 when his skills around boats — their engines and hardware, their hulls and decks, their lines and sails — put him in demand on the Fly Creek waterfront. In fact, he came to my rescue and showed me line-by-line, board-by-board, screw-byscrew how to restore a 1942 36-foot ChrisCraft sedan cruiser. We talk about that. He says I was the one who tagged him Cap’n Carl. “You used it in the headline of some kind of get-to-know article. And the name stuck,” he says. I found the newspaper piece in question. Throw-back-thirty, to 1991. Carl Black is 28-years old and already holds his U.S. Coast Guard 50-ton captain’s license, and
throughout the profile I referred to him as Cap’n Carl. From the article: The business card reads Shade Tree Marine, A Company That Knows A Bit About Many Things, and lists the proprietor as Captain Carl Black. Ten cards couldn’t list all the things Captain Carl will take on in his jack-of-all-trades working day along the Fly Creek waterfront. “I made me a quick $10 bill this afternoon. I went down and checked the propeller of the D.L. Jean. They thought it was fouled with something, but it was clear.” Carl is known these days to do that kind of work for free. “Shadetree philosophy doesn’t have anything to do with the quality of my work, I’d just rather work in the shade than in the sun.” Carl spoke of the wooden boats still sailing and working and how nobody really wanted to work on them. “I love wooden boats going back to the time when I was fifteen… Joe Miller [who was an artist and craftsman in Fairhope] gets a lot of the credit for setting me on this road. He was teaching shop at Organic School [where Carl graduated] and liked the way I handled tools. He asked me to become his apprentice. Joe taught me a lot.” Another Fairhoper, David Wetzel, taught Carl all about wooden boats, not only how they were built and of what kinds of wood and fasteners, and how they were rigged with lines and cleats and tackle, but also how to respond to the heart and soul of a wooden boat. So of course, it was to Carl Black that Charlie Ingersoll, himself a colorful chapter in the story of Fairhope, sold his beloved wooden sailboat he’d built by hand from the keel up. “That boat, her name is now Spice, taught me that a wooden boat’s life begins when the tree is cut to lay her keel. Not just when she’s launched and christened.” Back to the ’91 article: “There aren’t many people who have in more time on the creek than I do. There was a year when I did not miss one single day coming down to Fly Creek at least once. Even on those days when I had no work to do, I’d drive down just to check on things.” Cap’n Carl’s curling longer hair and beard casts him as the seaman he is, with a darkeyed gaze that confronts weathered horizons. His lanky stride has purpose, an ambling gait
that conveys authority, the swing of his arms signaling willful intent. If we were choosing sides, you’d want to be on his. There is an impish sparkle in his eyes that gives away an inherently good nature. If this man likes you, he’ll hand you whatever piece of the world is at his disposal. But if he’s got an issue with you, it’s better to give him a wide berth. If Carl Black calls starboard, you give way. On Carl’s front lawn is a huge rusting and ancient anchor surrounded by flowers. The incongruity is appealing and artistic. And though it is massive, it’s not a match for the anchor that greeted me at the entrance to his place. I think of the time I asked Cecil Christenberry at Old Tyme Feed how much for a big rock like the ones outside his store. “The boulders are free,” he said. “Delivery will cost you a fortune.” I ask Carl about getting these big anchors dropped at his place. He unwinds a layered and colorful story about flatbed trucks, trailers and cranes, and big-armed men. About friendships written in the blood and bone of men lending a man a hand. Where the offer
“You know Tony’s Towing? I got Tony to set that big anchor down the hill there. He called me on a Thanksgiving morning. Didn’t charge me a dime. Nor did Hydraulic Crane,” Carl says. By lunchtime, the giant piece of iron welcomed visitors into a boatman’s world of other maritime artifacts set here and there around Carl’s place. Some welded together into art and sculptures. “The one down there,” Carl points, “with the marine toilet mounted to leaf springs that look like wings — well, you can figure out what I call that piece.” Pushing back in my rocker, I ask, “That big anchor out front, the shank must be 12 feet long and weigh more than a car — how in hell did it get bent?” Carl cocks an eyebrow. “Do you remember when I helped you rebuild your old wooden boat and a can of glue turned over and you set to cussing?” “We all remember things a little different, but where you going with this?” I ask. “I told you I was disappointed you chose profanity to get your feelings out. I think I
the great force of winds. “And you’re out there on it,” I say, shaking my head. “I was 15 when I got my first work on a boat. Sonny Nowell, the skipper of the Crimson Tide, a 50-foot wooden hull shrimp boat, hired me on as a deckhand one summer,” Carl says, and adds, “David Curtis on the Dismas took a chance on me when others wouldn’t. Mentored me when the other captains warned him he was taking on more than he was bargaining for. I was a kid, but mostly on my own. I worked summers and weekends in the winter.” He talks about the people who taught him and believed in him. Carl grows serious, introspective, then turns his eyes on me. Like, listen up, dude. “I cried when Joe Miller died. I cried the way I did not cry when my own father died. He was that important to me. And I miss him still these years later.” Yeah. Joe Miller, Carl’s mentor, and a dear friend of mine, would likely pipe right up and say, “Carl Black is one of Fairhope’s best. He’s a soaking wet, head-above-water, waterman.”
“THERE AREN’T MANY PEOPLE WHO HAVE IN MORE TIME ON THE CREEK THAN I DO. THERE WAS A YEAR WHEN I DID NOT MISS ONE SINGLE DAY COMING DOWN TO FLY CREEK AT LEAST ONCE. EVEN ON THOSE DAYS WHEN I HAD NO WORK TO DO, I’D DRIVE DOWN JUST TO CHECK ON THINGS.”
of money would be an affront to the code understood between friends. I’ll scratch your back if you’ll scratch mine is some kind of profanity not fit for this company of men. Carl’s friends at Hydraulic Crane Services hauled the big anchor from the Mobile waterfront and dropped it on his lawn. He’d decide later where to put it. But it weighs 20,000 pounds, and you can’t just hookup and drag it behind a Dodge pickup or a Kubota tractor. Besides, an anchor is not supposed to be easily dragged around. They are designed to hold a ship steady and in place and are a common metaphor for the steadying force people must sometimes call upon. And several anchors here and there convey that message around Carl’s place.
said something about a larger and better vocabulary,” Carl says. He switches back to the question about the bent anchor. “All I can say is sparks were flying. The links in that anchor chain were 8 to 10 inches long, and heavy, and being ripped through that hawserhole. Crewmen hauling ass, getting the hell outta there. The band on the winch was probably screaming. I can only imagine the radio talk between the foredeck, the wheelhouse and a pissed-off captain with a hung anchor …” Cap’n Carl’s voice trails off, then he says, “When that thing got bent, people on deck hid behind whatever was handy. A lot of hollering and cussing, watching to see what happened.” I say something about the force of the ocean when it gets stirred to mountain heights by
Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Give me a man with his own strong flavor, like circus bears and fishcamp coffee.” Emerson wanted to steer clear of milktoast types who run only lukewarm. He’d not sidestep Cap’n Carl, who is known to run hot. “I don’t check the things I say,” Carl admits. “When I speak my mind, it sometimes gets me in hot water.” And yet, here’s a man raised by Fly Creek watermen, taught the ways of boats and weather, and cool-headed enough to himself become a seaman and a captain. And a business man. Separating the two words is intentional. I ask him what’s special about the specific date he gave me for founding Albatross Marine — May 1, 1997. “I worked for another company on the waterfront, and a friend january 2022 | mobilebaymag.com 75
of mine, Rivers French, encouraged me to start my own business. After tax day, April 15 of that year, I cashed in my IRA. It landed on the 18th. I left my job on the 19th, and I sent out faxes and letters to the contacts I’d made in the maritime trades.” And now Carl Black is CEO of a business that requires $7,000 a day to open its doors and handle expenses. “We move an unbelievable amount of money through our accounts on behalf of our clients. It’s not our money, but we get to keep some of it,” Carl says. It’s not unusual, he adds, for a tanker to bill $50,000 just coming into port — towage pilots, harbor fees, etc. “And we pay those bills.” He tells me they
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even make cash payroll deliveries to the ships whose crews are paid in U.S. dollars. Cap’n Carl’s got a sense of humor. His global company is named after an albatross that appeared in Johnny Hart’s comic strip B.C. In a strip from 1999, the character Peter is — well — sailing around the world on a raft. He looks up at a big bird about to land and says, “Well, well, if it ain’t Albert Ross.” “That’s Albatross!” says the bird. “Whatever!” replies Peter. In 2001, when all things touched turned to gold for Carl and he needed to separately incorporate the three different aspects of his maritime services, he named them Al’s
Transportation, Bert’s Line Handling, and Ross Maritime Vessel Agency and Logistics. “I grew 10 feet tall,” he says, when he got his first call from an international shipping company. “And they’re still my client after more than 20 years.” I ask him how much money he makes. Just right out. And, Carl, being Carl, and also my friend, wants to give me an answer. “A lot more than that $10 bill you wrote about,” he says. Okay, but I don’t for a second doubt that he would still strip to his skivvies and dive under some boat to help a sailor in need. He’d give his best. The way his employees give their best to him. “Trevor Walters, April Cordero, and Joe Watson make it possible for me to be aboard my sailboat and not in the office. I mean, look, I’m semiretired, usually on a boat somewhere far away from here, and yet the business doesn’t miss a beat, it’s growing. “It was hard, though, starting my own business. I almost gave up. So many hoops to jump through. My businesses are all international in nature with a lot of forms and regulations and records keeping. Zero room for error or guesswork. But within four years of starting, by 2001, things had turned in my favor. A steady wind, one might say. And now we process eight figures annually.” Carl Black’s word is his bond, and it’s served him well. “The ethics and work habits I learned from those shrimpers and boat captains on Fly Creek I’ve used to build my business dealing with companies around the world,” Carl says. “What worked on Fly Creek on the Dismas boat, the Crimson Tide and all the others 30 years ago works today with my international business clients.” “I’ve been working on boats over half my life,” Carl said 30 years ago in my profile of him. “My retirement plan is my versatility. Someday I hope to stop patching on them and use them. I’d like to have a boat to live aboard and cruise.” Cruise? I just looked at a map, and there’s a whole lot of blue between where the CV
is moored at this moment and Fly Creek. On a 35-day run from the Galapagos in Ecuador, Cap’n Carl brought aboard 15 cases of beer, 2 bottles of rum and 3 bottles of wine. “A sailor must have his grog,” he says, “to watch the sunset and reflect upon what brought him to the middle of the ocean. I stared at that last beer until I knew I’d finally made the passage into the anchorage in French Polynesia.” He’s covered 10,000 nautical miles, which is way short, because he’s not sailing in a straight line, leaving about 15,000 miles to go. “I expect I’ll be gone two or three more years,” Carl says. He likes to make landfall and get to know the locals. Most of the time, he befriends the people and likes their country and overstays his visa. “I’ll sail the north Indian Ocean and around the tip of Africa, then home to Mobile Bay and Fly Creek. The slip I used to
have, though, the city cancelled because I was deemed not a suitable citizen.” But that’s another story. After the horn of Africa, it’s water, water everywhere, until the Gulf of Mexico comes ashore down at Fort Morgan and Dauphin Island, where Carl will ease into the mouth of Mobile Bay finishing his voyage around the world. Maybe drop anchor and stay awhile with us locals. MB
Images this spread
Cap’n Carl Black sails his newly acquired 19-foot Lightning sailboat in Pensacola Bay before a regatta while he waits to get back to his 40-foot Hinckley in Malaysia.
january 2022 | mobilebaymag.com 77
EXTRAS | CALENDAR OF EVENTS
Jan[new]ary JANUARY 8 “FOREVER FIRST LADY” 8 p.m. A stage play centered around Michelle Obama and the example she set as First Lady. Tickets: $58 and up. MOBILE CIVIC CENTER THEATER ASMGLOBALMOBILE.COM
KID CHEFS BEST ON THE BAY
JANUARY 8
THROUGH JUNE 12 THE VIKINGS BEGIN Only in the U.S. for a limited time, this exhibition brings to life cuttingedge research into some of history’s most fascinating people. HISTORY MUSEUM OF MOBILE HISTORYMUSEUMOFMOBILE.COM
THROUGH JANUARY 5 MAGIC CHRISTMAS IN LIGHTS Prepare to be awestruck as you walk through the gardens, decorated with more than 3 million dazzling lights. Rain or shine. Closed Christmas day. BELLINGRATH GARDENS AND HOME BELLINGRATH.ORG
THROUGH JANUARY 8
WEDNESDAYS JANUARY 12 THROUGH FEBRUARY 23 WINTER WEDNESDAYS AT BELLINGRATH 10:30 a.m. Each workshop covers a special feature of the Gardens or Home, garden tips or guest lectures. Events included in Gardens admission; free for members. BELLINGRATH GARDENS AND HOME BELLINGRATH.ORG
THROUGH JANUARY 17 ICE SKATING AT THE WHARF Times vary. Lace up and skate around this winter wonderland. Admission: $15. THE WHARF, ORANGE BEACH ALWHARF.COM
JANUARY 7 - 9
CRESCENT MOON PARADISE Zipporah Camille Thompson explores alchemical transformations through clay and textiles, eliciting social change.
THE GULF COAST RV SHOW Featuring the very latest makes and models of recreational vehicles from the nation’s top manufacturers. Admission: $10, cash only; kids under 16, free.
ALABAMA CONTEMPORARY ART CENTER ALABAMACONTEMPORARY.ORG
MOBILE CIVIC CENTER THEATER ASMGLOBALMOBILE.COM
KID CHEFS BEST ON THE BAY 5:30 - 8:30 p.m. Guest chefs are partnered with kid chefs for a mystery basketstyle cooking exhibition. Admission ticket includes endless charcuterie, one drink ticket and sampling of teams’ prepared dishes. Advance tickets: $12, ages 13 and up; $8, ages 12 and under. EXPLOREUM SCIENCE CENTER MOBILECOUNTYAL.GOV/COMMUNITY_EVENTS
JANUARY 14 CODY JINKS 7 p.m. The country singer-songwriter is known for hits like “Ain’t A Train” and “Same Kind Of Crazy As Me.” SAENGER THEATRE ASMGLOBALMOBILE.COM
JANUARY 14 - 30 “PUFFS” 7:30 p.m. F/Sa. 2 p.m. Su. Watch as Wayne Hopkins, a boy from New Mexico who is neither brave, smart nor a snake, navigates seven increasingly eventful years at a certain school of magic. JOE JEFFERSON PLAYERS JOEJEFFERSONPLAYERS.COM
JANUARY 15 SANDCASTLE SHOWDOWN 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. Forget the snowman! Local businesses compete in a sandy and friendly castle-building competition. FLORA-BAMA LOUNGE AND PACKAGE SANDCASTLESHOWDOWN.COM
To have your event included in the online or print edition of Mobile Bay Magazine, email calendar@pmtpublishing.com. 78 mobilebaymag.com | january 2022
JANUARY 15
JANUARY 22
DARCI LYNNE & FRIENDS 7 p.m. Singer/ventriloquist Darci Lynne Farmer impresses audiences with her sweetheart disposition, show-stopping talent and hilarious puppet friends. Tickets: $30 and up.
RUN FOR SHEP 2022 9 a.m. Following the 5K and 1/2 mile fun run, join the “No Mo Chemo Party” in honor of local children who have fought and won the battle with cancer.
JANUARY 15 “PART OF YOUR WORLD” KREW OF KINDNESS FAMILY BALL 6 - 10 p.m. The Krewe of Kindness, a volunteer-based and family-led nonprofit organization emphasizing the importance of inclusion, hosts it third annual Mardi Gras ball. Open to all ages. Tickets: $20, ages 5 to 12; $40, ages 13 and up. THE BATTLE HOUSE RENAISSANCE MOBILE HOTEL & SPA • KREWEOFKINDNESS.COM
JANUARY 16 WEDDINGS TO BRAG ABOUT BRIDAL SHOW 11:30 a.m. - 4: 30 p.m. Event planners will be present to offer advice and answer any questions you might have concerning your special event. One lucky bride will be awarded a free reception venue and Caribbean honeymoon. Admission: $10. MOBILE MARRIOTT WEDDINGSTOBRAGABOUT.COM
JANUARY 21 - 30 “SMOKE ON THE MOUNTAIN: HOMECOMING” 7:30 p.m. F/Sa. 2 p.m. Su. It’s October 1945. The war is over, and America’s years of prosperity are just beginning. Join the Sanders family as they send the Reverend Mervin and June off with hilarious and touching stories and 25 fabulous bluegrass gospel favorites. CHICKASAW CIVIC THEATRE CCTSHOWS.COM
DAPHNE CITY HALL • SHEPHARDSFLOCK.ORG
JANUARY 22 & 23 FIREWORKS OF JUPITER 7:30 p.m. Sa. 2:30 p.m. Su. Enjoy Mozart’s greatest symphonic work, the brilliant Jupiter Symphony, and Tchaikovsky’s “Rococo Variations.” Tickets: $20 and up. SAENGER THEATRE MOBILESYMPHONYORCHESTRA.COM
JANUARY 23 PIANIST MICHAEL BROWN 3 p.m. An afternoon of music by Michael Brown, hailed by The New York Times as “one of the leading figures in the current renaissance of performer-composers.” LAIDLAW PERFORMING ARTS CENTER MOBILECHAMBERMUSIC.ORG
JANUARY 25 - 30 “MENOPAUSE: THE MUSICAL” 7 p.m. Tu - Sa. 2 p.m. Sa/Su. This hilarious musical parody set to classic tunes from the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s will have you cheering and dancing in the aisles. Tickets: $25 and up. OWA THEATER • VISITOWA.COM
RUN FOR SHEP
SAENGER THEATRE ASMGLOBALMOBILE.COM
JANUARY 27 - FEBRUARY 14 THE MARVELOUS WONDERETTES 7:30 p.m. Th - Sa. 2 p.m. Su. This smash Off-Broadway hit takes you to the 1958 Springfield High School prom. THE PACT THEATRE • THEPACTMOBILE.COM
JANUARY 28 THE OAK RIDGE BOYS 7:30 p.m. The four-part harmonies of The Oak Ridge Boys is one of the most distinctive and recognizable sounds in the music industry. Tickets: $35 and up. SAENGER THEATRE ASMGLOBALMOBILE.COM
JANUARY 29 CRUISE TO THE SITE OF OLD MOBILE A one-of-a-kind, 3.5-hour excursion through the Mobile-Tensaw Delta to the original site of the town of Mobile, founded in 1702. Tickets: $22 and up. BLAKELEY PARK • BLAKELEYPARKK.COM
JANUARY 27 & 28 “PLEASE, MR. POSTMAN” 7 p.m. Escape for an evening as you immerse yourself in the beautifully entertaining correspondence between characters and be reminded of the sweet memories of passed notes and silly text messages. DORSETT AUDITORIUM, UNIVERSITY OF MOBILE ASOTA.UMOBILE.ORG
JANUARY 29 & 30 BIG BEACH MARATHON, HALF & 7K Start times vary. The flat course and fully paved trails through Gulf State Park provide stunning views of the Gulf of Mexico. Registration: $45 and up. THE HANGOUT, GULF SHORES BIGBEACHMARATHON.COM
january 2022 | mobilebaymag.com 79
GUMBO | COLLECTIONS
Collecting Our Southern Souls Lynn Oldshue reflects on the origins of her popular storytelling series “Our Southern Souls” and the new book it produced. interview by BRECK PAPPAS • portrait by DEVIN FORD
S
ix years ago, journalist Lynn Oldshue set out to write a story about bus riders in Mobile. “The first time I rode the bus, I feared rejection,” she remembers. “Instead, riders scooted over and made room for me.” It began a profound, months-long experience for Oldshue — riding the bus and collecting the heartfelt stories of her fellow passengers. When her husband bought the book “Humans of New York,” filled with the stories of random New Yorkers, Oldshue was inspired to create Our Southern Souls as a website and Facebook page where she could post profiles of everyday Southerners. Now, in a book of 177 captivating profiles, Oldshue shares true tales of triumph and heartbreak in our own backyard. Where did you pick up your love for people’s stories? I’m a reader and a listener. My family
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published newspapers in Mississippi, and I grew up in Yazoo City in the shadows of Mississippi writers Willie Morris and Eudora Welty and storyteller Jerry Clower. I always dreamed of being a writer and telling people’s stories, but it took a long time to get here.
Where did you find your subjects? Everywhere. Most of them are people I randomly walk up to. These are the people all around us: at the Fairhope Pier, on Dauphin Street, taking your order, walking past you on the sidewalk, or in line with you at the grocery store.
How did this book come about? People started asking for a book, but it never felt like the right time. That changed last December. Some of the World War II veterans, civil rights activists and older Southerners that I interviewed started passing away. I spoke with Katherine Phillips Singer days after I posted her story online, and she said it was the last time she would tell her story. She died two weeks later. Their stories are our history, and I want to help pass them down. I owe a lot of credit to Jodi Engel who designed the book and really created something beautiful.
Did you learn any tricks to approaching a stranger and engaging them in conversation? I usually walk up and say, “I have a crazy question for you.” I show them some of the stories from “Souls” so they know what they are getting into. “Souls” works because I approach each person with warmth and kindness. I care about them from the moment I meet them. Someone listening with real interest is rare these days, and it feels good when it happens. We all want to know our lives and our stories matter.
You write in the book’s intro, “Whatever I predict their story might be, I am wrong every time.” Is that part of the reason you wrote “Our Southern Souls,” to remind us to challenge our everyday assumptions about people? At the beginning of “Souls,” I had to unlearn a lot of habits, such as making assumptions about people — especially strangers. My brain naturally categorized them and inserted my own narrative, often concluding they weren’t special or worth my time and attention — even though I knew nothing about them. I was wrong. Everyone has a story worth hearing, and you can’t judge a book by its cover. Six years and 1,800 stories later, people still surprise me every time. Who provided you with the biggest surprise? Every story has a surprise. Every one of them. I am still surprised how personal and deep these conversations go in a short amount of time. Some of the best conversations I’ve had are with people I only met once. Do you think there’s a healing power to sharing your story with another person, and did you ever witness such healing while working on this book? I believe in the healing power of stories. Most interviews cover some of the hardest parts of their lives. A shift often happens after they talk through the past out loud and let it go. One woman told her story for the first time, and after she finished she said she could see in color again. Faith’s story in the book is the first time she spoke about her abusive husband. It was hard and she was anxious, but it was followed by the freedom of releasing fear, guilt and shame. She went back to school and finished her degree in counseling to help other women. The healing power of stories requires a good listener. Each of us can give that to someone else.
“I find hope and comfort in these conversations with people just trying to get through life. I now know we are all saints and sinners with no right to look down or to judge. Every person in the ‘Souls’ book has made me a more compassionate, understanding human because of what I learned from them.”
You’re donating all proceeds from book sales to the United Way of Southwest Alabama’s Pledge Project. Can you tell us about that project? For me, conducting the “Souls” interviews and writing stories for Lagniappe about sex trafficking, poverty and domestic violence opened my eyes to the vulnerabilities in our community and what people do to survive. There are great programs like Big Brothers Big Sisters and Dumas Wesley providing solutions in Mobile, but they are limited by funding and have waiting lists for people who need their help. The Pledge Project began in 2020 to raise money to get 2,020 kids off these lists and into programs they need. The book is dedicated to your yellow lab Rosie who you said was by your side during the entire writing process. It’s only fair to ask — how do you think Rosie would describe her own life story? Rosie was an emaciated puppy when my
nephews found her in a box in the woods. They gave her to us when we moved to a farm with acres to roam. She went from discarded and unwanted to two homes where people love and care for her. She gives that love and comfort right back, putting her head on my leg or moving closer when she hears my frustrated voice talking or cussing to myself when I can’t get the words right. She always looks like she is smiling and happy right where she is, and she calms me down. Where can readers buy “Our Southern Souls”? In Fairhope, it’s for sale at Page & Palette and Melt & More. In Mobile, it’s at The Haunted Book Shop and Ashland Gallery. You can also order it online at bookstore. dmclients.com/our-southern-souls. Turn the page to read excerpts from “Our Southern Souls.”
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Excerpt from “Our Southern Souls”
Sahar
Bathon “I’m the kitchen manager at Five restaurant on Dauphin Street. We give out 70 to 100 free lunches on Thursdays to anyone who wants to eat. A portion of our sales at the restaurant goes to American Lunch, so we can afford to do this. At the end of the day, the restaurant also gives our leftovers to the homeless and hungry instead of throwing them away. My mom taught me that it is not what you receive, it’s what you give. The blessings will come. My mom and grandmother taught me how to cook, and I picked it up along the way. My grandmother said, ‘If you know how to cook, you don’t have to depend on a woman.’ I’ve been cooking for 13 years. One day I want to own my own restaurant. I know what it’s like to be in a difficult situation. We have three daughters. Our daughter, Camille, was diagnosed with cancer when she was 3. She passed away a year later on April 29, 2017. We were at St. Jude’s in Memphis for more than six months. We stayed at a Ronald McDonald House for a while. People cooked and cared for us. They became our family away from family. Watching children battle cancer with smiles on their faces made me realize there’s no reason to go through life with a frown. Camille lives on through us in everything we do. My tattoo says, ‘Family over everything.’ That’s how I live my life.” 82 mobilebaymag.com | january 2022
“I grew up in Iran and lived there for 27 years. I am Baha’i. We believe in peace, love and living in harmony, no matter your background or religion. Iranians don’t recognize us or give us our basic human rights. In school, I was called names and treated like I was dirty by teachers and students. I passed the test to get into the university four times, but I was never accepted. Being a woman and part of a minority religion, I was persecuted all of my life. I was like a caged bird. As a woman growing up in Iran, the traditional thinking is that you are no one until you get married and become someone’s wife. But I was very independent. At age 18, I moved to Tehran with my sister and started working. We needed our father’s approval to do this. A woman can’t leave the country without permission from a father or husband. Women are raising their voices and showing who they are, but men still dominate the culture. If you wear boots or jackets, you are dressing provocatively to men and have to pay a fee. I was arrested for an outfit I wore. I love to dance and teach Zumba. I couldn’t do that in Iran because it was provocative towards men. But men touch you on the street, and it’s not safe. I was sexually abused in the workplace when I was an 18-year-old intern. I couldn’t report it or take action because they would say it was my fault. It is hard to grow up in a world like that. My sister and I left Iran in 2010. We went to Turkey and applied to enter the U.S. We didn’t have a sponsor, so we were sent to Mobile as refugees. We didn’t know anyone here. We didn’t know the language, the culture or what to do. Catholic Social Services helped us when we arrived. The first two years were hard. I went to school and graduated with honors. I used Google Translate to get me through. I am not sad about my past. It is what makes me a fighter and survivor. People can’t stop you. Your culture can’t stop you. Sometimes you have to move away to make a change. We have to show a better way to the next generation. My best voice is art, and I want to make people think and open their eyes.”
Excerpt from “Our Southern Souls”
Jeremy “I started Cops for Kids because I want kids to understand that police officers are human. We like to have fun and are approachable. When I talk to kids in schools, some tell me about a family member in jail or that a police officer came to their house the night before. I want to give kids a lighter side of what we do. I let them sit in the police car and turn on the lights and sirens. I also give them stuffed animals and police badge stickers. I love seeing some of my kids from the elementary schools in my area at Mardi Gras. My spot is at the corner of Royal and Dauphin streets. I started doing fun things with a mask that fell off one of the riders. Kids wanted to high-five and take pictures — it escalated from there. One officer escorting a band started dancing when they got to my corner. I thought, ‘Heck no. There’s no way he is doing that on my side.’ We had a dance-off, and my dancing started from there. Mark Zuckerberg stopped by Mardi Gras last year during his tour of the states. He stood at my corner, and I said to him, ‘This may be a stupid question.’ He grinned and said, ‘I am.’ He asked me to keep it quiet because they were just here to have a good time. I had my picture made with him. At least 200 officers work each parade, and there is an officer at every intersection. We are tired and cranky by the last two days, but we’ll still kick it around a little bit.”
Donna “I’m 48 and just got my high school diploma. I finished with a 4.0 GPA. Math and science were the hardest parts, and I got help with those. One of my daughters is going back and getting her diploma because she saw me do it. At 16, I got pregnant and dropped out of school. I wanted to go back, but one year turned to two, and two turned to three. At 48, I was fired from my day care job because I didn’t have my diploma. If he hadn’t fired me that day, I never would have gone back to school. Now I want to be an X-ray technician. It’s hard to find a job that works around my pain. When I was 25, I was shot in a drive-by shooting in Prichard in 1996. They shot three people that night. I’m terrified of doctors, so I didn’t go to the hospital. I didn’t know my intestines were twisted from the shooting. After I got pregnant, the doctors had to untwist them. I lost the baby. My son had just turned 20 when he was incarcerated for murder. He’s in for 25 years. He was going the wrong way and probably wouldn’t be here today if he wasn’t in jail. I’m trying to get him on the right path. I want him to have his head on straight when he gets out. I worked three jobs when my kids were young: a day care, Goody’s department store, and a cleaning job. I didn’t have enough time to raise my kids. My son got out of hand. I feel guilty about that, but I was doing the best I could to pay the rent and buy food for my kids. I advise anyone to stay at home with their children. My oldest daughter struggled in high school but put herself through college. My 12-year-old daughter keeps me going. Both of my daughters inspire me to do better. My Mama taught us if you do something right the first time, you won’t have to do it again. I hope my kids learn that lesson from me.” MB january 2022 | mobilebaymag.com 83
THE ARTS | LITERATURE
Hold the Sugar, Sugar Author Audrey McDonald Atkins has nothing against a sweet breakfast. But please, oh please, leave those grits alone.
excerpt from the book THEY CALL ME OR ANGE JUICE by AUDREY MCDONALD ATKINS
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et’s get one thing straight: sugar has no place in grits. If you want to put sugar on your breakfast, eat oatmeal. Eat Cream of Wheat. Eat Ralston. But never, ever, under any circumstances, put sugar on your grits. There. I’ve said it. Grits are meant to be salty and buttery. Sprinkled with black pepper. Savory all the way. Add some cheese, maybe some sausage. Let some runny egg yolk ease up beside them. If some ham gravy trickles across your plate, it’s all good. But never sugar. Shrimp and grits is good. Fried fish and grits is good. Grillades and grits is good. What’s decidedly not good? Sugar and grits. Grits are ground corn, yellow or white. They are coarse. Polenta is not grits dressed up and visiting from Italy. Grits are grits. And grits are never sweet. Grits is singular even though it ends in s. You may have a
singular bowl of grits, but you can’t just have a grit just like you can’t just have a spaghetti. You don’t put sugar on spaghetti either. Grits are comfort food. Grits are breakfast, lunch, and/or dinner. You can slice up cold grits and fry the patties, preferably in bacon grease or butter. Do not top these patties with sugar or, God forbid, syrup. Grits will fortify you. Grits will stick to your ribs (and the pot if you don’t watch out). Grits should be considered a health food. Why? Because they are sugar-free! Throw that box of instant grits away. I don’t even want to know if your grits come in a paper envelope and the instructions include the word microwave. Take the time to make them from scratch, slowly. Savor the texture, the corn flavor. Get them good and salty. Drown them in butter. Enjoy them right down to the last forkful. And remember, hold the sugar. MB
Born and raised in Citronelle, Atkins shares stories about growing up and living in the South in her book, “They Call Me Orange Juice,” and at her blog folkwaysnowadays.com.
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HISTORY | COLONIAL MOBILE
A Little Garden of Eden Historian John Sledge leads us on a stroll through the streets of Spanish Mobile. text by JOHN SLEDGE
Above “Ft. Conde during the Spanish Administration,” oil painting by C. A. Marshall, 1850. This fanciful view more resembles a Mediterranean port with its hills, crenellated fort, stone quay and turbaned figures than marshy Spanish Mobile. Nonetheless, it represents an important early artistic attempt to conjure a slice of Mobile’s colonial past. COURTESY THE HISTORY MUSEUM OF MOBILE
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HISTORY | COLONIAL MOBILE
S
everal years after Mobile’s capture by the Spanish in 1780, a French military officer and backwoods diplomat named Louis LeClerc Milfort paid the town a visit. Milfort found Mobile’s riverside situation “pleasant,” and delighted in the residents’ private gardens neatly fenced by cypress pickets. He toured brick Fuerte Carlota with the post commander, noted the productive turpentine industry in the surrounding piney woods, and stated that the inhabitants, though by no means wealthy, were completely happy. After all, there were fruits and vegetables “as good as there are in Europe” outside their back doors, and the hunting and fishing were “excellent” practically within the town limits. “Mobile is a little garden of Eden,” Montfort concluded, “which induced me to go there often.” Spanish Mobile lasted 33 years, 17801813, throughout which it was a small military outpost with limited trade. Fuerte Carlota was the dominant feature, its overgrown glacis and inferior brick ramparts brooding over river and town. Military observers were generally dismissive of its defensive strength. Pierre-Joseph Favrot — Milfort’s guide — considered it useless and grumbled that “a good cannon shooting a four pound ball would raze it in two hours.” Nonetheless, others admired its tidy parade ground and orderly barracks. Among its amenities was a well and among its terrors a dingy dungeon. An American merchant forced to spend the night in the latter described it as “a dismal place, the water dripping from the arch, and the floor very wet.” South and west of the fort there was limited settlement because the British had cleared fields of fire during the
late siege. The notable exception was the property of the Spanish treasurer, Miguel Eslava, whose lot included a house, garden, and little cabins for enslaved people west of what is now Monroe Street. North of the fort, Government Street, so named as early as 1788 for the “Government House,” or royal warehouse that sat where the Exploreum is today, stretched roughly between the river and modern Jackson Street. At the foot of Government, a 380-foot-long wharf constructed on cedar pilings and decked with two-inch cypress boards fingered over the muck and into the stream. The wharf was anchored by Montuse’s Tavern, a popular watering hole well stocked with wine and clay pipes managed by a former barrel maker and his wife. Royal Street ran north hemmed by muck and marsh on the east. Water Street did not yet exist. Dauphin Street, then called St. John, and Conti (St. Peter) were the principal east-west routes. All of these streets were relatively narrow, and other than oyster shells scattered over mud holes or heavy wooden planks thrown over rivulets, were unimproved. The town’s core blocks lay between Government and St. Anthony Streets and the river and Claiborne Street, where the Campo Santo, or cemetery lay. Most observers described the burial ground as unfenced and unkempt except for one or two well-built brick tombs. Beyond lay wilderness as far as the eye could see, threaded by paths oftener trod by the Indian’s moccasined toe than the soldado’s booted heel. Besides the fort and cemetery, prominent landmarks included the parish church at Royal and Conti Streets, oriented so that it faced north. One traveler was unimpressed by Catholicism’s local seat, remarking that it resembled a barn with a cross perched
atop the gable, and that its interior religious items included cheap tin plate and a lackluster painting. The hospital dominated the block where Bienville Square now sits, and stables, lean-tos and small houses cluttered the nearby lots. Spanish Mobile’s population was never much above a thousand souls — whites, blacks, Indians and mixtures of all three. Royal rule was mild in this far-flung colony, and free people of color owned property and held skilled jobs. Josiah Blakeley, who had a small plantation on Blakeley Island that he called “Festino,” counted 90 houses in town, “all of wood and but one story high.” Many dated from the French period (1711-1763). These sat on cypress pilings a few feet high and consisted of timber framing infilled by brick, mud and moss. They were roofed either by clay tile, or more frequently, bark slabs. Some had wraparound galleries, and most vegetable plots, fruit and nut trees. Little pig or chicken enclosures were ubiquitous. Modest as it was, Spanish Mobile was coveted by the boisterous new young nation on its northern doorstep. Its somnolent rule by a distant monarchy whose restrictive trade policies and tariffs choked access to the Gulf of Mexico was intolerable by American lights. At last in the spring of 1813, federal troops under the command of Gen. James Wilkinson bloodlessly seized Fuerte Carlota and raised the Stars and Stripes. As the Spanish troops filed out, the existing residents contemplated how their little town might change. That it would change significantly none doubted. And so it did. MB John S. Sledge is the author of “The Gulf of Mexico: A Maritime History.” january 2022 | mobilebaymag.com 87
HISTORY | ASK MCGEHEE
What’s the story behind Downtown’s long-forgotten St. Andrew Hotel? text by TOM MCGEHEE
In the 1880s, Austrian-born Andrew Dacovich operated a restaurant and “coffee saloon” on North Royal Street just south of the Battle House Hotel. Coffee saloons offered coffee as well as tea and hot chocolate, but there was no food beyond a cold sandwich. Dacovich’s adjoining restaurant took care of that. By 1895, he had added furnished rooms to the mix, and in 1900, he had established the Commercial Hotel, Restaurant and Cafe at 14 N. Royal Street, right next door to the Battle House. According to city directories, the second floor held the hotel’s billiard hall. A spectacular fire on a cold February night in 1905 took the original Battle House Hotel, but few recall that the Commercial was also a victim. Dacovich wasted no time planning its replacement, and in June of that year, it was announced that architect Rudolph Benz was preparing plans for a 150-room hotel, making it the largest in the city. The name St. Andrew apparently honors the owner, not the patron Saint of Scotland.
Mobile’s Largest Hotel Before construction was complete in 1907, an addition to the structure was announced, which brought the room count to just over 200. The hotel was advertised as being “strictly on the European Plan,” indicating that food was never included in the price of those rooms. Management was provided by Dacovich and his two sons, George and Joseph. Advertisements proclaimed that the establishment was “Elegantly furnished (with) Modern Equipment; Mahogany, Walnut, Quartered Oak and Birdseye (maple) Furniture.” The building’s design called for “ladies’ parlors, cozy corners, large sample rooms on every floor, carpeted rooms, each equipped with a telephone.” No mention was made in the ad campaign regarding private baths for those hotel rooms. The “sample rooms” were there to attract traveling salesmen or “drummers” as they were known at the time. Food service was provided in a cafe within the hotel and a separate bar was operated for male patrons. By 1920, Dacovich was running the St. Andrew alone. An account in the September 1 issue of the Register recalled the former hotel on the site noting, “there are men and families who stopped at the Commercial, came back when the St. Andrew opened, and have continued to do so on their visits to Mobile ever since.” The Dacovich family was out of the hotel business by 1927,
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evidenced by directories listing different proprietors, and in 1930, it had been renamed the New St. Andrew. Its last listing was in the 1946 city directory, showing it had been renamed once more as Gilbert’s St. Andrew Hotel.
From Commercial Hotel to Commercial Space Like other hotels in Mobile, the St. Andrew flourished during severe housing shortages during World War II. At war’s end, the Battle House Hotel underwent major upgrades, which the owners of the St. Andrew either could not or would not undertake. Times had changed and the days of “drummers” were over. By 1947, the hotel had been demolished and replaced by an uninspiring one-story commercial building, housing a clothing store. Sadly, the St. Andrew, like its short-lived predecessor the Commercial, has been long forgotten. MB
Above A fanciful postcard depiction of the St. Andrew, then located on North Royal Street, just south of the Battle House Hotel. Left Architectural rendition of the St. Andrew, 1905. PHOTOS COURTESY TOM MCGEHEE
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END PIECE | BACKSTORY
A Bowl of Fun Photo courtesy Alabama Department of Archives and History
“The 6-foot, 5-inch, 240-pound [Forrest] Blue was the defensive star for the South in this year's Senior Bowl game in Mobile, Alabama. How did Blue feel about being drafted ahead of [Dennis] Homan and [Ken] Stabler? 'I really can't put it into words,' said the pre-law major. 'I'm glad to be chosen right up there with the stars.'” – excerpt from a Feb. 1, 1968, article by Mike Anderson, as reported for The Auburn Plainsman, on Forrest Blue, the Auburn offensive lineman and San Francisco 49ers' first-round draft-pick
IT WAS A COMFORTABLE 73 DEGREES AT NOON on January 6, 1968, perfect weather for the dignitaries watching the 19th annual Senior Bowl at then-named Ladd Memorial Stadium, as seen below. The first Senior Bowl — a game featuring the nation's top senior collegiate football players and NFL draft prospects — originated in 1950 at the Gator Bowl Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida, but moved to the Azalea City the following year, where it has been played ever since. Produced annually by the nonprofit Mobile Arts & Sports Association, the Senior Bowl has raised over $7.8 million to date. Initially, players were divided into North and South teams, but in 1991, team nomenclature was changed to "American Football Conference" and "National Football Conference," to distinguish where the coaching staffs were from. In 1994, names reverted to North and South, before finally returning to American and National designations in 2021. The 1968 game was a matchup between coaches Mike Holovak from the Boston Patriots, representing the North, and Hank Stram from the Kansas City Chiefs, representing the South. The South won, 34-21. THE WHO'S WHO OF WHO'S WHO Lindsey Nelson, (far left), American sportscaster, age 48. Known as much for his opening phrase, "Hello, everybody, I'm Lindsey Nelson," as his 300-plus multicolored jackets, Nelson covered college football for 33 years, including the 1958 Senior Bowl. Debi Faubion Attorri, (second from left), 1968 America's Junior Miss, age 17. The Oklahoma native went on to a career in TV, radio and film, finding much success as an Emmy award-winning newscaster. E.B. Peebles Jr., (second from right), Senior Bowl president and CEO, age 50. The lifelong Mobile resident and Citadel graduate is credited for the revitalization of the Senior Bowl. His name now adorns the stadium in which the game was played for 70 years, along with Ernest F. Ladd's. Fred Whiddon, (far right), president of the University of South Alabama, age 37. Founder of the first four-year state-supported university in Mobile, he became the youngest university president in the country at age 33. He held the position for 35 years.
10
The single-season record number of players sent to the Senior Bowl from one school, set by the University of Alabama, 1987. Auburn sent nine players the following year.
$343
Amount of money players on the losing Senior Bowl team received in 1950. Winners received $475. The last time players were paid was 1988.
1958
Year the Senior Bowl was first nationally televised, aired by NBC — it's been on TV every year since.
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37
Number of times the South / National team has won, solidly dominating the North / American team's 32 wins