Celebrating Sports Fellowship,
Spirit, and Community Pride
Important Note: All those planning to attend the next meeting,
please RVSP to Taylor prior to the meeting night.
This will insure proper food coverage for the meeting.
Taylor: 251-981-2431 or taylor.means@gmail.com
GCAC
2014 Scholarship
Recipients
GCAC Donates $5,250
To Gulf Shores Middle School
The Gulf Shores Athletic Club presented the Gulf Shores Middle School football program with a check for $5,250.00 on Thursday, May 23rd.
Earlier Discussions with Head Football Coach Mel Stringfellow, revealed that the Gulf Shores Middle School football program was in dire need of
updated equipment, especially from a safety standpoint. As an example, Coach Stringfellow pointed out that all of their shoulder pads were in disrepair,
and were literally held together with string and tape.
The Gulf Coast Athletic Club made a decision to help. The donation from GCAC allows the school to purchase new shoulder pads for the entire team and help with the purchase of new uniforms.
This donation only helps Coach Stringfellow in his quest to update their equipment and the Gulf Coast Athletic Club would encourage other individuals or organizations to consider doing the same.
A strong Middle School program can do nothing but help the Gulf Shores High School Dolphins football program.
GCAC Donates $5,000
To Gulf Shores High School
Gulf Coast Athletic Club President, John McCormick, was pleased to surprise Athletic Director and Head Football Coach, Ben Blackmon, with a check for $5,000 at Monday nights meeting. The funds will be used to purchase a much needed endzone camera for filming each game and practices.
The portable unit is needed to replace the previous method of borrowing a bucket truck, that was able to pull up to the endzone and raise a volunteer high enough to record the games. New renovations at the football stadium do not allow for a truck to be used in the this same manner.
Coach Blackmon seemed genuinely surprised by the donation and thanked the club for the very generous contribution to the needs of the football team.
Coach Kevin Steele, later added that this is how communities can make a difference in not only how the teams can prosper, but how individuals can be benifited by these types of technologies as well, to further their goals and ambitions.
12th Annual
GCAC Golf Tournament
We had a very successful Gulf Coast Athletic Club,
12th Annual Golf Tournament, held June 27th
here in Craft Farms. Below are the Net & Gross winners, and for the first time, Women's & Men's winners!
Click on the slideshow below to take you to
the tournament results and photos.
A huge thank you to Chairman John McCormick,
our Sponsors, and the many others who helped put this together, for another successful tournament.
Welcome, Members & Guests!
Thank you for a great 2014 GCAC Season!
2015 looks to be another great football season which guarantees
fun and excitement for the Gulf Coast Athletic Club meetings next fall.
Check back later in the season for new meeting dates and
guest speaker announcements.
From Our
September 8th
Meeting
Guest Speaker
Justin Vincent
LSU Assistant AD
and former
LSU Running Back
The GCAC conducted its second meeting of the year on September 8th, which featured speaker Justin Vincent, former star running back for the LSU Tigers, who is currently Assistant Director of Player Personnel at LSU. Vincent recalled for the audience his MVP performance in the 2003 National Championship game where he rushed for 117 yards and LSU defeated Oklahoma for the National Championship. He also provided insights into the coaching styles of both Coach Nick Saban and Coach Les Miles. Few can say they played for two hall of fame coaches.
Taylor Means, President, addressed the members and reported that the club has established a new Foundation to ensure that the athletic scholarships can be provided well into the future. He also announced that Rod Bramblett, the “Voice of the Auburn Tigers” will be next meetings guest speaker.
Ben Blackmon, AD for Gulf Shores High School updated the members on sports activities and made a few remarks about this meeting’s scholar athlete, Nathan Harris.
Dec McClellan led the team reports portion of the meeting and presented the crying towel to the Michigan Wolverines and Bill McGinnis. Michigan lost to Notre Dame 31 – 0.
Dr. Gaylon McCullough introduced this meeting’s scholar athlete Nathan Harris. Nathan has endured an injury-plagued football career at GSHS but has recently returned to playing. He has a 3.67 GPA.
Photo's from our August 25th Meeting
From our August 25th meeting with Coaches Wimp Sanderson & Sonny Smith:
Coach Sanderson coached at the University of Alabama from 1981 to 1992 where in his 11 years as head coach his teams averaged 21.8 wins a year, with a 267-119 record, and winning 5 SEC tournaments. They played in ten NCAA tournaments making the "Sweet 16" six times. He is the only coach in Alabama history to win 200 or more games in his first 10 years. He was the SEC Coach of the Year in 1987, 1989 and 1990, and was the National Coach of the Year in 1987. In 1990, he was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame.
Coach Smith coached Auburn University from 1978-1989, where he was named SEC Coach of the Year in 1984 and 1989. In 1985, he coached the Auburn Tigers to their first SEC Tournament Championship in school history. He recruited and coached NBA Hall of Famer, Charles Barkley. From 1984 to 1988, he guided Auburn to five consecutive NCAA tournament appearances, including a Sweet 16 berth in 1985 and an Elite Eight berth in 1986. To date, he is the only coach in Auburn men's basketball history to have three consecutive 20-win seasons. In 2007, he was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame.
After retiring from coaching, Coach Smith & Coach Sanderson teamed up to host the radio program "The Sonny and Wimp Show".
We appreciate your continued support of the Gulf Coast Athletic Club & look forward to you joining us for our next meeting, September 8th!
See you then!
Taylor Means
GCAC, President
Photo's from our August 25th Meeting
From Our August 25th Meeting
Guest Speakers
Coach Wimp Sanderson & Coach Sonny Smith
Mobile Press-Register Sports Writer, Tommy Hicks was present for this meeting.
Read Tommy's piece at AL.com
From Our
September 22nd
Meeting
Guest Speaker
Rod Bramblett
Voice of the
Auburn Tigers!
The GCAC continued in full swing Monday, September 22nd, with the Guest Speaker being Rod Bramblett, the radio play-by-play announcer for the Auburn Tigers. Rod recalled for approximate 90 members and guests his team’s radio call that has become arguably the most exciting in college football history - the 109-yard Chris Davis game-winning touchdown run that followed Alabama’s “no time on the clock” missed field goal attempt in last year’s Iron Bowl. The win propelled Auburn into the SEC championship game and a shot at the national championship.
The meeting included remarks by Taylor Means, President, who announced next meeting’s speaker, Bobby Humphrey, who played from 1984-87 for the Alabama Crimson Tide. Humphrey is considered one of the greatest running backs in Alabama history and had a productive professional career with both the Denver Broncos and the Miami Dolphins.
Gulf Shores High School Athletic Director Ben Blackmon provided and update on Dolphins football and volleyball. The ever-funny Kevin Corcoran oversaw the team reports and presented the crying towel to the previously 8th ranked LSU Tigers and Gary Klussman. LSU endured a 34 -29 whipping by the previously unranked Mississippi State Bulldogs Saturday.
Dr. Gaylon McCullough introduced this meeting’s scholar athlete, Kristin House, a Gulf Shores high school senior who will letter in both Basketball and Softball and has a 3.8 GPA. Ms. House was accompanied by her mother and is considering attending Southern Mississippi or Ole Miss.
Photo's from our September 22nd Meeting
From Our
October 6th
Meeting
Guest Speaker
Bobby
Humphrey
Former Alabama &
Denver Broncos
Running Back
Bobby Gene Humphrey is a former professional American League Football player who was selected in the first round by the Denver Broncos in the 1989 NFL Supplemental Draft, after a stellar career at the University of Alabama. In his four seasons playing for the Crimson Tide, Humphrey rushed for 3,420 yards (A school record at the time), caught 60 passes for 523 yards, and scored 40 touchdowns. He made the College Football All-America Team, in 1986 and 1987. In 1986, he set a school record with 1,471 rushing yards. In 1987, he was voted as UPI's offensive player of the year and finished 10th in the Heisman Trophy balloting.
Humphrey was selected in the first round of the NFL's supplemental draft in 1989 by the Denver Broncos. During his rookie season, he rushed for 1,151 yards and seven touchdowns for the Broncos as they qualified for Super Bowl XXIV but were defeated 55-10 by the San Francisco 49ers. Humphrey, however, played well, finishing the game as the Broncos leader in both rushing (61 yards) and receiving (31 yards). Humphrey was not named NFL Rookie of the Year, due to Barry Sanders' incredible 1470-yard rookie campaign. He followed his impressive rookie performance with a Pro-Bowl selection in 1990, rushing for 1,202 yards and seven touchdowns in 1990
Photo's from our Oct. 6th Meeting
From Our
October 20th
Meeting
Guest Speakers
Bruce Pearl
Auburn Basketball Coach
Jay Jacobs
Auburn Athletic Director
The GCAC conducted its fifth meeting of the year on October 20th, which featured guest speaker Jay Jacobs, Auburn Universities’ Athletic Director and Bruce Pearl, Head Basketball Coach of the Auburn Tigers.
Taylor Means, President, opened the meeting by greeting our guests and asking David DeMyer, membership chair, to provide his report. David reported that we have 89 members, a 10% growth from last year and he hopes to bring in #90 before the next meeting.
Taylor introduced Coach Ben Blackmon, who provided a brief update on Gulf Shores Athletics. Coach Blackmon’s Head Basketball Coach also spoke briefly.
Taylor asked Dec McClelland to introduce the two scholar student athletes being honored. Dec introduced Margret Lloyd and Ryan McIntosh. Both student participate in multiple sports and both want to become Pediatricians. Each athlete spoke, providing a brief background on themselves. And each thanked the club for honoring them. Both will be considered for the end-of-year scholarship.
The ever-funny Kevin Corcoran was the “master of ceremony” for the team reports and donned surgical gloves, gown and mask to present the crying towel to Texas A&M. Unfortunately no one was present to receive the infamous award.
Taylor returned to the podium to introduce the first guest speaker, Jay Jacobs. Under Athletics Director Jacobs’ leadership, Auburn Athletics has made major strides benefiting Auburn student-athletes, coaches and fans. The department has focused on five strategic goals during his tenure: winning, graduating student-athletes, managing the department's fiscal affairs, complying with SEC and NCAA rules and providing a positive game day experience.
Jay discussed his goal of “making Auburn the best place in the country for student athletes”, and provided an update on the increase in both the quality and quantity of facilities. His philosophy is to surround himself with those that care about nurturing the student athlete to be the best in all phases of their college experience.
Jay recounted his hiring of Bruce Pearl, the new basketball head, and believes Bruce has the commitment, energy and values needed to turn the struggling program around. Bruce’s background includesassistant coaching positions at Stanford and Iowa and head coaching positions at Sothern Indiana and Tennessee, where he took the Vols to six straight NCAA division I tournaments. After being fired from Tennessee for recruiting violations, Bruce worked for ESPN as an analyst. Bruce returns to the SEC and AU has high expectations for himand the team.
Bruce was most interesting and enthusiastic. He opened his remarks by asking the audience to forgive him for his transgressions at Tennessee. He talked about his philosophy of playing fast and pressing hard, and allowing his players to reach their potential by allowing them to make mistakes. He believes he has a winning formula, the right coaching staff, including bringing Chuck Person back to Auburn, and is scheduling tough road games early to prepare his players for a tough SEC schedule. Bruce ended in remarks by taking at least 30 minutes of questions.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:45pm.
Photo's from our Oct. 20th Meeting
From Our
November 3rd
Meeting
Guest Speaker
Bill Curry
Former Alabama
Head Coach
10 year player
in the NFL
The GCAC conducted its fifth meeting of the year on November 3rd, which featured guest speaker Bill Curry.
Curry is a retired American football coach and former player. Most recently he was the head coach at Georgia State University, which began competing in college football in 2010. Curry formerly worked as a football analyst for ESPN.
Previously, Curry served as the head football coach at the Georgia Tech (1980–1986), the University of Alabama (1987–1989), and the University of Kentucky (1990–1996). He played football at Georgia Tech (1962–1964) and then played for ten seasons in the National with four different teams: the Green Bay Packers (1965–1966), the Baltimore Colts (1967–1972), the Houston (1973), and the Los Angeles Rams (1974).
Taylor Means, President, opened the meeting by greeting our guests and asking David DeMyer, membership chair, to provide his report. David reported that now have 90 members, a record for the club.
Taylor introduced Coach Ben Blackmon, who provided a brief update on Gulf Shores Athletics. Blackmon reported that the Dolphins went 2-0 in their last two football games to finish strong. Blackmon also updated the club members on the formation of the new wrestling team.
Taylor asked Kevin Corcoran to preside over the team reports. The crying towel was presented to Sheryl Cockrell and the Georgia Bulldogs who were soundly beaten by the Florida Gators.
Gaylon McCullough introduced Coach Curry by describing him as a great coach, great player, and great friend. Curry took the podium and spent the next hour telling stories about his player days with Bobby Dodd, his NFL days practicing against Ray Nitschke, and coaching tenure at Georgia Tech, Alabama and Kentucky, and his role as head of player personnel for the NFLs first Union. Bill was truly inspirational to all who attended the meeting and he received two standing ovations
After the 50/50 drawing, the meeting was adjourned at 8:45pm. By: David Lee
Photo's From Our November 3rd Meeting
GCAC Golf Tournament
Make plans today to form your team for this years GCAC Golf Tournament to be held Friday, May 8th.
This is our one fund raising event for the year
and it's success depends on you!
Contact John McCormick or Fred Dickinson
for details on teams & sponsorships.
From Our
January 19th, 2015
Meeting
Guest Speaker
Andrew Bone
Rivals.com
Reporter
&
Analyst
Andrew is a Senior Recruiting Analyst at Rivals.com, the premier platform for college football recruiting. He is an expert on all aspects of recruiting and the Nation’s top prospects. Since 2008, he has been the most productive recruiting content producer in the nation. Bone is a frequent guest on radio and television shows throughout the Southeast to talk recruiting. Additionally, he serves as recruiting analyst for Yahoo!Sports, The Tuscaloosa News, and Tidesports.com. From 2003-2012, Andrew worked as a reporter and analyst for Scout.com covering the top prospects in Alabama and spent two years as a Regional Manager for the Southeast.
______________________________________________________________
From David Lee: The GCAC conducted its last meeting of the year on January 19th, which featured guest speaker Andrew Bone, who is the recruiting reporter for TideSports, and in the state of Alabama for Yahoo!Sports and Rivals.com. In this capacity, he is responsible for tracking the progress of all recruited players in the state of Alabama - from the initial scholarship offer to signing day. Andrew develops a relationship with these players and their coaches through this journey. Andrew can be found at a high school game every Friday night and at many elite football camps around the country, including Rivals.com’s Top 100 camp in Baltimore. Andrew has over 23,000 twitter followers and provides regular updates on recruiting activity through Yahoo!Sports, Rivals.com and social media. Andrew lives in Birmingham, Alabama and has also finds time to operate a real estate practice.
Taylor Means, President, opened the meeting by greeting our guests and providing the agenda for the evening. John McCormick, stood and asked all members to applaud Taylor for his work this year.
David DeMyer, membership chair, provided his report. David, who is expected to return as membership chair next year, contingent upon a possible move, issued a challenge to all members to recruit a TCU and Ohio State fan, which would bring a new perspective to next year’s potential final four.
Taylor updated the group on Coach Ben Blackmon’s decision to leave Gulf Shores High School and take a position at Spanish Fort, and introduced one of Coach Blackmon’s assistants, who provided a brief update on Gulf Shores athletics and the search for a new athletic director/head football coach. At that time, over 100 resumes had been received.
Taylor asked Kevin Corcoran to preside over the team reports. Team reports were given and instead of a crying towel, Kevin provided a slide show recapping the year’s crying towel presentations. He then presented a summary of the Washington State Cougar’s season (David DeMyer’s alma mater) which highlighted the simply dreadful running game of the Cougar’s.
Gaylon McCullough introduced the two student athletes who were selected to represent the best student athletes of the year from Gulf Shores High School. Both provided a brief background on themselves and their goals for the future. These athletes, along with those previously selected, will compete for the annual scholarship given by the Club each year.
Taylor introduced Andrew Bone who provided a particularly insightful, behind-the-scenes view of the recruiting process, from both the athlete’s and the universities’ perspectives. It was interesting to learn that many more schools outside the SEC now recruit players from the state, which gives many more players a chance at a scholarship. Alabama and Auburn can no longer count on getting the very best players from the state. Of particular note was Jamis Winston who was recruited by Florida State and won last year’s Heisman trophy. Andrew spoke and answered questions for about and hour.
After the 50/50 drawing, the meeting was adjourned at 8:45pm.
Photos from our January 19th Meeting!
Bonus Feature!
2015 Senior Bowl Practice Pictures
From Our
November 17th
Meeting
Guest Speaker
Pat Dye
Former Auburn
Head Coach and
College Football
Hall of Fame
Member
Coach Pat Dye was a two-time All-American and the SEC's Most Valuable Lineman while playing at the University of Georgia. His first coaching role came under Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant at the University of Alabama from 1965 until 1973. In 1974 he became head coach East Carolina University where over 6 seasons he led the Pirates to a record of 48–18–1 and the Southern Conference championship.
In 1981 Dye took over the dual role of athletic director and head coach at Auburn. He led efforts to significantly expand Jordan Hare Stadium, create luxury boxes, and improve facilities. He led the Auburn Tigers to four SEC championships and brought the Iron Bowl to Auburn for the first time in 1989. In 1983, with featured back, Bo Jackson, the Tigers won their second-ever SEC championship and their first since 1957. Under Dye, Auburn played in nine consecutive bowls and he received SEC Coach of the Year honors in 1983, 1987, and 1988. Dye’s record at Auburn over 12 seasons 99-39-4.
Today Dye lives near Auburn where he is involved in wildlife management and remains a special adviser to the university. He was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 1990 and on November 19, 2005, the playing field at Jordan-Hare Stadium was named in his honor.
Coach Pat Dye’s new book, After the Arena, is now available and copies will be available for purchase and autograph at the meeting!
For extended reading on Pat Dye's history through the present, visit this website:
East Alabama Living: "A NEW SEASON WITH PAT DYE"
Photos from our November 17th Meeting!
Bo Jackson with Coach Pat Dye
Andrew Bone
