Chapter Eleven - Athletics
Throughout the years, the Sebring Firemen have been the leading organization in the promotion of sports programs and athletics in the city. The initial effort in this direction was made in November 1927 by the formation of a basketball team managed by Eph Sidders and coached by Jack Lindsay.
On this team was George Hicks, all-state center from Southern College; Merle Dawson; Bobby Butts; Eph Sidders; Doc. Yechout; Chuck Albright; Joe Lighthiser; Hal Long; "Rich" Richards; P. G. Gearing and Russell Tinney. To these were later added, Tommie Whitehouse; Ebb Gallaher; Walter Ivings; Dr. L. W. Martin; Orvel Chapman and Jim Ingle. After the first season, George Hicks took over the the coaching duties and for the next four years, did a magnificent job of guiding the play of a winning team.
The Firemen became well and favorably known throughout the state as one of the strongest competitors on the courts and they accepted games with any and all teams including Southern College, the University of Florida, the University of Miami, the House of David, the Celtics, etc. But it is not the contests with the nationally recognized squads that remain most vividly in the memories of the fans but rather, two games that were of relatively minor importance.
In those days, the ball was returned to center after each basket scored and as this consumed much of the playing time, the total tally of a winning team rarely exceeded 60 points even in a free-scoring game. St. Cloud sent a town team to Sebring and the Firemen just couldn’t miss that night. They beat St. Cloud 113 to 15 but the boys from St. Cloud were working just as hard at the final gun as they did at the opening whistle. They gave the Firemen a wonderful lesson in sportsmanship that night, that will not be forgotten.
On another occasion, the Firemen’s basketball team accompanied a large contingent of Sebring Firemen to a district meeting of the Florida State Firemen’s Association at Ft. Myers. That city had a strong basketball league and from the players of all teams, they selected the best to make up a squad that were to play the Sebring team as the feature attraction of the district conference. From the very first, it was evident that the teams were evenly matched. First one would be in the lead and then the other. Never was the score more than three or four points apart until at the very end of the final period, Ft. Myers led the Firemen 27 to 26. The ball went to center for a jump shot. George Hicks tipped it to Joe Lighthiser who passed Ebb Gallaher. Ebb shot from well out on the floor and with the ball half way to the basket, the game-ending gun went off and the ball fell cleanly into the basket with scarcely a ripple of the net. The Firemen won 28 to 27. That was a game to remember.
One man, to the exclusion of all others, is qualified to write the history of baseball in Sebring, and the part played by the Sebring Firemen. P.G. Gearing was a member of the team before the boom when the city had a full paid professional squad. After these players left town and the Firemen voted to organize an amateur team, P. G. was the manager and coach. In fact, for years he was known as "Mr. Baseball" in Sebring and old- timers all over central Florida still recall the name as one connected with pennant winning baseball teams.
As he has promised to give a complete story of the place occupied by baseball in the history of the Sebring Firemen, it would be superfluous to comment further on that phase here except to state that the game played a tremendous part in the building of the Sebring Fire Department and it also served to create opportunities for several Sebring lads to try their wings later in the field of professional baseball. No doubt, P. G. will comment on this aspect as well as the benefits derived from the big league teams that were attracted to Sebring as a training site.
In 1928 the Firemen accepted a responsibility conferred upon them by the United Sebring Association, to head up the recreational program of the city. The stewardship of this responsibility outlived, by far, the parent organization and a feeling of obligation still exists in this area among the members. Whereas other cities have spent thousands of dollars on facilities, on recreation boards and directors of programs, the Fire Department furnished these services for years without a cent of cost to the taxpayers.
With E. L. Greene at the head of the original athletic committee, a comprehensive program was formulated which provided recreation and entertainment for citizens of all levels and ages in the city. Teams were entered by civic clubs, merchants and others, in volley ball, diamond-ball, horse shoes, shuffleboard and other contests. The committee arranged the schedules and even posted some of the prizes.
In order to have a place to play these games, the Firemen built the diamond-ball court, the shuffleboards and the tennis courts in the block now occupied by the Tourist Club and municipal parking lot. When the Tourist Club was formed, the shuffleboards were turned over to the club and the Firemen developed the diamond-ball grounds at Tuscawilla Park.
Long before the movements that created the Little League, the Babe Ruth League and the American Legion League, the Sebring Firemen organized and financed a "Junior Firemen" team. They also provided the initial funds for high school baseball. Later, they joined with others in the formation of the present high school athletic association. For the high school basketball team, they provided the first warm-up clothes of the team and kept the playing floor in condition so that the school had a place to play.
Since baseball no longer enjoys the popularity it once did, the members of the Fire Department have concentrated their efforts in the area of sports and athletics, toward providing facilities for the use of the High School teams. Firemen’s Field, which had been built in 1931, was first lighted for night play in 1939 under the direction of a committee headed by Ray Paschall but the lighting system was vastly improved in 1950 under the direction of George Marchand.
High School football, which had always been played on the outfield of the baseball area, did so much damage to the turf that it was decided to build a separate field on which the team could practice. The committee, under Eldridge Pollard, made such an excellent field that steps were taken to install a separate lighting system on this area and use it for conference games. This was finished in 1960.
The following year, a grandstand was built to accommodate 1,000 persons with showers and lockers in the space below the seats.
The Sebring Firemen and their sports programs have been nationally publicized by H. Allen Smith in his popular book, "Life in a Putty Knife Factory" from which the following is quoted;—
As for the Lions Club, I became a member of this group when I was editor of the local newspaper in Sebring, Florida, back in 1926. The Lions met once a week for luncheon at the Hotel Nancesowee, and I lasted one meeting. I arrived five minutes late and found that the club inflicted a penalty for tardiness. I was compelled to mount a chair and sing a little song. The song went like this:
I’m a litt—tul prairie flower,
Growing wilder every hour;
Nobody cares to cultivate me.
I’m as wild as I can be.
While singing this song I had to place my right hand above my head with the middle finger pointing downward, and then I had to revolve slowly on the chair until the song was finished. I did it.
This matter or the Lions Club is brought up because it marks the climax of my career as athlete. Two days after the first meeting the Lions Club baseball team played the Sebring Volunteer Fire Department. A young man named Payne Sebring was supposed to pitch for the Lions, but when the time came for the game to begin he could not be found. Somebody asked me if I knew how to pitch and I said certainly and took the mound.
So far as I know they are still playing the first inning and the firemen are still at bat. They hit every ball I threw at them. I’d try throwing them ten feet out in front of the batter, but those firemen would simply run out of the box and slap them. - - -
- - - Naturally, this continual crying for the Lions’ regular pitcher didn’t do my control any good. When the score reached nine to nothing with nobody out and the bases loaded, they yanked me. The shortstop took over the pitching job and the man with the bad back went in at short. I went home. I didn’t attend the next Lions Club meeting, or any after that, and I’m sure nobody minded.