The value of physical education is too well known for me to dwell upon it, but if it is necessary in high school and colleges, I feel that it is more necessary in a school of our type,” David Weakley once wrote. “It stimulates competition, creates companionship, develops self-confidence, loyalty, and a feeling of esprit de corps.”1
Those words provided the foundation for what would become a comprehensive athletic program for the Alabama Boys’ Industrial School. Like all schools, its sports teams had their share of ups, downs, and memorable moments.
One of the first recorded accounts of ABIS athletic competition was in 1907, when an article in The Boys’ Banner reported the school’s baseball team defeating The Ensleys six to two in a rain-shortened contest.2 One of the spectators at the game was none other than Judge Feagin of the local police court, a figure well-known to the hometown team for obvious reasons. The Banner mentioned that he “made a short talk to the entire school in which he gave them some excellent advice.” One would imagine that the topic of that speech covered more than just balls and strikes.3
Another article that same season showed that boys from a century ago were not immune to the trash talking that has become so common among today’s athletes. The Banner article is printed below just as it appeared, with quotations and unusual spelling intact. Some of the inferences have been lost to time, but the intent to poke fun at their opponents remains clear.
The B.I.S. ball club is fast becoming a “holy terror” to all aspiring Knights of the Diamond. The visiting teams come “trabbling up de road” with a look in their eyes, as much as to say, “Oh, well, it’s hardly worthwhile to fool our time away with these boys at the school, but they need practice and we will help them out.”
They certainly do help the boy to get practice, but not in the way the visitors expect.
The first victims of the deceptive curves of the gentleman from “Cairo” was the Ensleys. After that the gentlemen from the Birmingham post office, who were deluded into the fact that because they could throw letters fifty ways for Sunday in Uncle Sam’s letter field, they could put up an equally good showing on the B.I.S. ball grounds.
Next came the “terrors” from East Lake with a record of 21 games won and one lost. Well, it is hardly worthwhile making any comments, as the score table will tell.
ABIS competed against local high schools in a number of sports, including baseball.
The included box score showed that the ABIS boys did back up the big talk of their cocky scribe by defeating East Lake two to nothing.4
The loss of some of the Banner’s issues makes it impossible to accurately trace the emergence of the athletic program. It has not been determined if the teams were in continuance existence or may have been suspended from time to time due to financial difficulties, World War I, and other factors. For whatever reason, athletic activity begins to be mentioned again prominently in the 1930s.
A Banner piece from 1932 looked to the start of the basketball season with optimism.
Coach Williams is going to have charge of the basketball team, and he sure does know his stuff when it comes to playing basketball. The school’s prospect for a winning team is very good, with veterans returning from last year’s team.5
A 1938 Banner article also held high hopes for a victorious season, along with some impressive prose from an aspiring sportswriter.
“Shoot! Hey! Nice shot, Harvey!” Once again these familiar cries re-echo through the gymnasium of the school as the Golden Tornadoes of the Alabama Boys’ Industrial School begin their training for the coming basketball season. The crashing of bodies, perspiration, smell of wintergreen; all these remind us that basketball is with us once more and will be king for several months. Now is the time of the year that the Rose Bowl, the World Series and the “champ” are almost forgotten for the thrills and the glamour of the basketball court.6 (Golden Tornadoes Train, Boys’ Banner, January, 1938, p. 3)
The nickname Golden Tornadoes is used periodically during this period, but in the following years it was common to hear the teams referred to as the Golden Raiders, as in this report from 1945.
With a record of two wins, one tie and a loss, the Golden Raiders courtmen journey to Trussville today for a tussle with Hewitt High School.
Today’s game against Hewitt will mark the first time an A.B.I.S court team will invade an opponent’s court.7
It is interesting to speculate if the rare occurrence of a road game was due to security concerns on the part of ABIS, the reluctance of other schools to host this team from the reform school, or simply due to travel and financial constraints.
Team sports were not the only activities offered at the school. Boxing and track are also mentioned in the annals of the institution, and given the skills involved in these two sports—and the requisite talent some of the residents were known to possess in that regard—it is not surprising that the ABIS boys would be competitive. A 1945 story made this proud announcement:
Top ranking runners of this institution will be entered in the Southeastern A.A.U. three mile road race on December 8th it was announced today. It will mark the first time A.B.I.S. has competed under A.A.U. auspices.8
In a similar vein, the Banner touted the prospects of the boxing squad:
The A.B.I.S. glove slingers have been working hard for the past three months with their eyes on the Golden Gloves tournament to be held at the city auditorium in February. They have been meeting the cream of the crop of fighters around Birmingham and more than holding their own. Indeed their reputation has spread so that sometimes it is hard to match them.
The boxing team was organized last January. At the Golden Gloves tournament, A.B.I.S had four entrants who made a creditable showing although handicapped by lack of experience. To gain this experience, Mr. Ball and Mr. Nunnelley have been matching this year’s team in all the local amateur shows held this fall. Out of 21 fights, the boys from A.B.I.S. have won 10, drew 9, and lost only four. Now with the Golden Gloves tournament only a few weeks off, the team is working out each night in the gym. So don’t be surprised if we win a couple of state championships.9
Despite all of these athletic pursuits, it should come as no surprise in Alabama that football seemed to be the favorite sport of all. More attention—and ink in the Banner—was given to this fall mainstay than any other. The football program appears to have started in the 1930s under Coach “Jum” Nunnelley, and that period also was its heyday in terms of victories. A Banner article from 1938 summarized the team’s recent success.
Coach Nunnally’s football team blocked, tackled, passed and kicked themselves to new and greater glory by emerging victorious another year. One defeat in 16 games, that’s the record for the past two seasons which the Boys’ Industrial School football team boasts. This season the team won seven and lost but one, while in 1936 it was undefeated and untied in an eight game schedule. Total scores for the campaigns will show the ease with which the industrial lads overcame the majority of their opposition. In ’36 the team piled up a total of 245 points to 25 for the opposition; this season they ran up a 190 point total to 19 for opponents.10
It did not take long for the school to descend from such dizzying heights.As the grid team fell on hard times, the Banner, with tongue in cheek, blamed it on supernatural forces.
A new member seems to have been playing on the school’s football team for the first two games of the season, to judge by the outcome of the two games, and the entire student body is arming itself with stout hickory clubs in an effort to be ready to send this unwanted member, Old Man Jinx, to the unhappy haunted grounds, or some other remote place.11
Not only did the record on the field plummet, but the school actually became dependent on outside support to equip its team. The Birmingham News printed a letter from Colonel Weakley thanking Marshall Durbin of the City Salesmen’s Club for their support.
Col. D. M. Weakley, superintendent of Boys’ Industrial School, in a letter to Durbin expressed hearty approval and appreciation of the plan to raise funds for the football team. He declared he felt that if the Industrial School boys were properly equipped they could compete on equal footing with other teams. It would instill in them a feeling of confidence and pride, he pointed out.12
Even the new uniforms and pads did not help. The 1945 squad fell to rock bottom, winning only one game against eleven losses, including a school record defeat of sixty to nothing at the hands of Cordova High School. It fell to Coach Ray Kruger to come up with some motivation. After going scoreless in the first six games of the season, he offered a “sizzling steak” to the first player to score a touchdown for the Golden Raiders. One of the ABIS defenders intercepted a Bessemer pass and scampered sixty-five yards for a touchdown and a sirloin, but the hard-luck eleven still lost the game eight to seven. Something inspired the entire team, however, for they won their only game the following week 54 to zero with nothing at stake—or steak—but pride.13
After such a lousy season, it is only natural to look for small victories. In a wrap-up to this season-to-forget, the Banner sportswriter found one bright spot.
Noteworthy indeed, is the fact that the Raiders were penalized only once for anything other than an offside. In all they received only thirteen penalties, winning for themselves a reputation for being one of the cleanest teams in this area. In this writer’s little book, that counts a great deal more than a list of figures in the win column.14
In fact, that is quite a remarkable feat for a team of so-called “bad boys.” Given Colonel Weakley’s stated goals for his athletic program, that is the stuff of which champions are made.
In addition to several varsity sports, ABIS had recreation for all the students. In this photograph, officers supervise a recreation period.
1 Birmingham News, “City’s Salesmen’s Club to Conduct Campaign for ABIS School,” September 15, 1940.
2 Boys’ Banner, “Base Ball,” September, 1907.
3 “Rakings.”
4 “Base Ball.”
5 Boys’ Banner, “Basketball Season to Start,” December, 1932.
6 Boys’ Banner, “Golden Tornadoes Train,” January, 1938.
7 Boys’ Banner, “Sports Shots,” December 14, 1945.
8 Boys’ Banner, “Sports,” November 27, 1945.
9 Boys’ Banner, “Sports,” January, 1939.
10 Boys’ Banner, “Punt Formation,” January, 1938.
11 Boys’ Banner, “Jinx on Football,” October, 1939.
12 “Salesmen’s Club.”
13 Birmingham Post-Herald, “Karnegay Wins Steak Dinner for Touchdown,” November 6, 1945.
14 Boys’ Banner, “Sports Shorts,” November 27, 1945.