Memories of Irondale, 1925 to 1942, Part IX by H. Bishop Holliman 

This is the ninth in a series of reflections on an earlier Irondale, Alabama by my father, Bishop Holliman, born 1919. - Glenn N. Holliman

"Beginning in 1937, I was attending Birmingham Southern College, working in the library on a National Youth Administration job, another creation of the New Deal. However, we were still Republican! In 1938, the local GOP sponsored an oratorical contest for “Young Republicans”, and I represented Alabama in the finals in Knoxville, Tennessee and won second prize - $100 – a huge sum – enough to pay a semester at college.

 

 

Baseball…During the 1930s amateur baseball was very popular throughout Jefferson County and most of the small towns fielded a team.  The baseball diamond in Irondale lay between the Seaboard and Southern tracks, along First Avenue South.  It was a Saturday ritual to attend the games that Irondale  The whites shared the diamond with blacks.  The blacks seldom attended the white games but I often went to see the blacks play. 

Some of the players I remember were Hubert Kilgore, Jack Godwin, Jesse Smoke, the two Wilson boys, Alfred McNutt and Click McDanal. 

All of these fellows were the age of Loudelle Holliman Ferrell (a sister) and Euhal Holliman (a brother).   Baseball was a big part of our lives during the 1930s.  The Birmingham Baron games were broadcast over the radio by Bull Connor, and never missed a game if I could help it.  I still remember Melton Holliman (the oldest brother) taking me to my first game at Rickwood field July 5, 1931!" 

Baseball was not the only recreation for a large family.  In the middle 1920s before middle class vacations, a summer treat was to take the family to Grant’s Mill on the east side of Irondale.  Here Ulyss Holliman supervises his children in the water, Bishop Holliman front, Euhal Holliman, Loudelle Holliman Ferrell and Vena Holliman Daly, behind the boat.
 

 

Next Post, more Memories of Irondale, Alabama in the early 20th Century....