A troubling 10 days or so

The deaths of Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson captured CNN and Fox News the last several days.
Meanwhile my hometown of Gaffney, SC got national and international attention with serial killer Patrick Tracy Burris; a troubled soul indeed.
Online I saw pictures of two classmates from GHS 71, Sheriff Billy Dean Blanton and Cherokee Avenue pastor Clyde Thomas; Blanton crying uncontrollably on the steps of CABC Wedsnesday at the funeral of the final victims Stephen Tyler and his daughter.
Other Gaffney friends were pallbearers. Gina Linder Parker, the fourth victim, was a classmate of my brother, 1977.
It is not often you read about folks you know in USA Today, for me Monday, in the issue where Federer was cover story at Wimbledon.
I am proud of both Billy Dean and Clyde. On my best day I doubt I coulda handled myself with the simple grace Sheriff Blanton did with Dianne Sawyer on GMA Monday.

Robert McNamara died Monday which woulda been my Mother's 86th birthday. I left a eulogy of sorts in comment section of my friend Randall Balmer's thread at religion dispatches.
Here is what I said there:


Hebrews 11:13
Posted by Stephen Fox posting on July 9, 2009 at 2:36 PM
Says we must confess we are pilgrims and strangers on the earth; that even after we see things afar off, are persuaded of them and confess them.On July 4th this year, two days before my Mother's birthday and the passing day of Robert S. McNamara, I attended a Fasola Sacred Harp Singing at the Liberty Baptist Church in Henagar, Alabama.Folks were there from Boston, London, even Luc Sante's Bard College on the Hudson.There I spoke to my friend Bud Oliver, an acquaintance of Robert McNamara from Vietnam.McNamara knew Oliver by name as Bud saved him close to 900,000 dollars on a project in Vietnam on the Plane of Reeds.First time Oliver told me the story I thought he was saying plainer reeds.To approach any further value of this anecdote, one would have to join in the singing of one of these occasions.The last paragraph of Roger Kimball's review of Marilyn Robinson's The Death of Adam in the NY Times several years ago strikes me as apropo here, after reading my friend Balmer's thoughts here and the NY Times six page online story.Gravity pulls us all back down to the earth where some rise again.

A Vet from Georgia read it and said simply "Wow".

Here in NE Alabama Balmer has two other disciples; Matthew Morgan, whom Balmer taught as visiting proff at Yale; and Cherilynn Crowe of Ft. Payne with a Masters from Vanderbilt who wrote Balmer up for the Baptist Joint Committee on the occasion of his church state lectures at Mercer in Georgia back in April.

Next week looks to be pretty stout as well.

Maybe I can lighten up a little the 20th or so.

Buckshot Willett, Furman and Wimbledon 2009

Here is the URL that is the guts of this blog, a front page story in the Anniston Star Sunday about the Phenom Melanie Oudin and her Anniston, Alabama connections.

http://tinyurl.com/mefp4u

Here is what it says about Buckshot

Quoting:

Such memories will surely come up when Mentone's Hank Willett holds a family gathering in late July. His late father was a first cousin to Oudin's father.This tennis family's members are bound to volley tales of Anniston native Frank "Buckshot" Willett, a boys' indoor national champion in the 1930s and a member of the Southern Tennis Hall of Fame.Buckshot Willett is one of Oudin's great-uncles.Hank Willett, considered a family historian, said Saturday that his tennis-fan brother in California has called to see whether Oudin will attend the gathering. It depends on her schedule.


I was dying to call Uncle Fremont who took advantage of the tennis and badminton public opportunities in Rome Georgia contemporaneous with Buckshot in Anniston not far away.
But Uncle Free left us in 2005; great fellow, encouraged what little gifts I had on the court.

I don't live far from Mentone. I may go up and talk some of this out with Hank.
I notified Bubba of the Rick and
bubba show this morning since he comes from the Anniston Area and some say brought the Davis Cup to Bham this year.

There is a connection to my alma mater, Furman, in all this. Native Annistonian, Dudley Reynolds most certainly comes from the same Country Club tennis tradition as Oudin's cousins and Great Grandfather.
Dudley was key to Furman and the legendary Paul Scarpa tennis program in the early 70's and one of my classmates; lived down the hall Freshman year. He and his Dad were Father Son Doubles Champs in Alabama for a long time runnig. Dudley had a roommate from South Georgia who was a character in his own right.
Dudley is now a trustee of Furman and Head of Alabama Power. Public records say Dudley did quite well last year; what you would expect from a Rhodes Scholar contender.

I never made it to Wimbledon--Barely made it out of Gaffney High Program though I did make semifinals in state tourney Jr year in 5th bracket-- even as a spectator. Gaffney High teammate Rahul Mehra has been. He and Bubba Aughtry made some net history.
Bubba's Dad Cowboy Aughtry woulda appreciate Buckshot. You can't make these names up.
Yesterday there was a front page online story in the NY Times about Oudin and her glory at the Big One this year. I left a comment at the Times story thanking them for the report, but saying the Anniston Star had the jewel of a report this year.
Buckshot Willett; one of the great sporting names of any category. It's a shame Lewis Grizzard, tennis fan, isn't still with us to nuance this one.
I knda feel like I was there this year, probably the closest I'll ever get thought I did see Chris Evert once in Columbus Georgia.
Here is to Oudin, hoping she ain't a flash in the pan; for the Glory of Anniston, Mentone, Buckshot, and all the fourth cousins once removed reflected glory and love of the game as a struggler.

Melanie in the June 29 NY Times
http://straightsets.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/29/american-teenager-oudin-ousted-6-4-7-5/

Take me To The Water

And here is that one from ED.com I was talking about if you click on the Title Below



Take me to the Water
by Stephen Fox » Fri Jun 26, 2009 5:36 pm
http://jimlinderman.blogspot.com/2009/06/recent-reviews.html

Blog above may be interesting comparison piece to the adverstisement about Baptists and 400 years of Baptism now up at http://www.ethicsdaily.com/My first reading of this blog causes me to suspect the fellow may not be doing Luc Sante on Billy Sunday justice from the easily googled essay The Museum of God and Crime; then again it looks like Sante may have more to say in this latest effort than he did in the essay with which I am familiar.


Link I thought was at ed.com but turned out abpnews.comhttp://www.abpnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4162&Itemid=53

State of Jones

It's a new book about Jones County, Mississippi, not the travails of my fellow Furman alum, Marc Sanford, the Governor of South Carolina.

Page 149 or 159 gets to the point in the book; though I do think the Pun may be intended when you read those pages.

Fascinating book as author Sally Jenkins broached Auburn QB Jason Campbell in her chat yesterday on NPR. I think it may have implications for Nick Saban and the candidacy of Artur Davis; then again I thought you could make political analogies about church cornerstones in Alabama, not Tehran.

But the summer heat is too strong, so why bring such things up.
http://doubleday.knopfdoubleday.com/2009/06/24/the-state-of-jones-by-sally-jenkins-and-john-stauffer/
Book is fascinating; at link above you can also click on the NPR Dianne Rehm show of yesterday.

Rome launches out to make Tennis Statement

http://tiny.cc/I6p2K

Rome, Ga my Dad's hometown on the verge of becoming a tennis mecca. As the article says would be the biggest facility in Southeast outside of Mobile, Alabama where Bubba Busey is in a team tournament this weekend.

I wish they woulda had this ready when I was playing there in rec tourneys in the mid 80's. Uncle Fremont deserved a facility like this as well in the 40's.

Rome had a big fight getting it's new Library about ten years ago; and you can see there are some detractors in the comment line of the article that made front page just yesterday.

At same time would be nice to know something this first class is just forty five minutes away.

Good location; maybe it will happen.

Meanwhile, at Wimbledon, Djokovic may take out Federer in the semis; and would be good if Andy Murray has another good run.

Collinsville Actress Debut???

That is if she made the edit, aspiring actress of the class of 02 or thereabout is reputedly in an early scene of Pelham 123.
She is sitting in rapid transit car as a fellow stands to exit, I hear.

Find her and line up for autographs.

Sotomayor and Bama Sen Sessions grand Tribute to Frank Johnson

http://www.c-spanarchives.org/congress/?q=node/77531&id=8676215

There is no way in which I could imagine Judge Frank Johnson voting against Ms. Sotomayor.

Likewise I could not Imagine UMC Bishop Willimon of Sessions beloved United Methodist Church, formerly of Duke, finding fault with Sotomayor were he a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

I think Cynthia Tucker of Alabama and Auburn and the Atlanta Constitution will be making a strong case that to the degree Sessions finds fault with Sotomayor he will be diminishing his tribute to Judge Frank Johnson and the advance of the United Methodist Church where it intersects national politics in the best of its witness and tradition.