Opelika High football team started summer workouts this week. Head coach Erik Speakman’s team planned three days of workouts: Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. (June 8 to 10)
This is the first time the team has worked out at OHS since spring break, when school was suspended for the remainder of the 2019-20 school year. The workout schedule is for three weeks: June 8 to 10, June 16 to 18 and June 23 to 25. The team will be off June 29 to July 6. Each group will have a different schedule for the first three days. Coach Speakman appeared on my morning sports radio show “On the Mark” (Fox Sports The Game 910-1310) last week to explain the guidelines and procedures in place for the first three weeks. The following is a summary of the Procedures and Guidelines set by OHS Football.
Players will enter through the main entrance of the indoor football facility. Doors will remain open, so no one will touch the door handles. Their temperatures will be taken and will be given hand sanitizers to use as they enter. Players will report to the turf area and maintain a six foot distance. Doors will be closed and locked after all players arrive. No one but players, coaches and essential personnel will be allowed in the indoor facility.
Players will be divided in their groups (eight players and one coach) for indoor and outdoor workouts and will be assigned a weight rack to use for the entire month of June. Players will maintain a six-foot social distance between them.
Two groups will work out inside and two groups outside on the field. The group inside will move to the outdoor field before the next group is allowed inside, in an effort to maintaining a six foot distance.
After indoor workout groups finish workouts, they will exit through the back doors of the indoor facility. Outside groups will exit through the visitors side gate. No one will be allowed to congregate around cars in the parking lot.
Groups arriving after the 6 a.m. start will remain outside until the indoor facility is cleared and cleaned. Coaches will open doors and allow the group inside the facility. Players are urged to maintain a six foot distance while waiting and are not allowed to open doors.
Players who do not drive will be dropped off in the front of the indoor facility while pickup will be in the parking lot behind the stadium in the north end zone. Those driving will park in the visitor lot at Bulldog Stadium. Student-athletes will have no access to the locker room and must arrive dressed for workouts.
(Athletic shorts, shirt and running shoes; no cleats are needed at this time)
No cell phones are allowed in the weight room, so they should be left locked in your car. There will be nowhere to lock up the phones inside.
Players must bring their own water bottles with identity labels on them because water fountains are closed until further notice. The only restrooms that will be open are those by the home side concession stand. Doors will be open to prevent touching the handle.
OHS will furnish face coverings.
I will update you on the procedures for workouts beginning July 6 in the coming weeks.
Obviously, coaches across Alabama are taking every step possible to follow procedures and guidelines for summer workouts in an effort to play games in the fall. Nothing is guaranteed, but OHS appears to have a good plan in place for those student-athletes playing football. Opelika will begin workouts with around 100 players.
PAT DYE
By now you know Coach Pat Dye passed away early Monday morning less than 24 hours after being moved from EAMC to the Bethany House. Coach Dye was a true “AUBURN” legend and a good man as well. I was blessed to have crossed paths with Coach Dye in the early 2000s. No question he was one heck of a football coach, hard nosed, demanding and strict. Like most of us, Dye had a soft side, which was hidden due to his coaching tenure. Coach Dye took time to help me during a scary time in my life after I developed Non Alcoholic Cirrhosis Disease. Early on, a liver specialist at UAB believed I needed a liver transplant to survive.
Many factors were involved, including the 35 plus surgeries I underwent after 1992.
Longtime friend Bub Langford knew Dye well and asked if he would mind reaching out to me for encouragement since he went through a Liver problem, Hemochromatosis among other issues. Coach Dye reached out and spent a long time listening to me and giving me words of encouragement.
Our relationship grew over the last 11 years to a personal friendly relationship. Coach Pat Dye did not have to talk to me nor follow up to check on my status, but he did!!
I can’t explain in words what that conversation and his friendship meant to me. I kept up with Coach Dye’s health problems over the last 6-8 months. He struggled at times but not many knew. He kept active and fought until the end.
I will miss his Monday morning calls on my sports show, “On the Mark.” Heck, I have missed them for the past few months when he was not feeling well.
Coach Pat Dye was much more than a football coach, he was a “Damn good man,” a phrase Coach Dye used to reference people he liked, including former Alabama coach Gene Stallings.
Rest in Peace Coach…I Miss Ya!
OPELIKA DIXIE BASEBALL/SOFTBALL
Opelika Dixie Youth, Dixie Boys, T-ball and softball returned to West Ridge Park this week! Teams will practice for two weeks then play games. I appreciate Opelika Parks and Recreation, Dixie Youth and ESG Team Opelika for making this happen. West Ridge is one of the best complexes in Alabama.
PLAY BALL!!!!
CORRECTIONS
I made a typo last week when writing about the All-Sports Booster Club. The money collected by the ASBC is NON-PUBLIC Money instead of Public Money. The State Ethics laws require different ways to handle Public and Non Public funds.
Non-Public money must have non-school employees making decisions on the way this money is spent.
Opelika High keeps these funds in a separate account at the school. This money was moved to OHS after the passing of longtime Booster Club treasurer Margaret Askew. School employees are not allowed to spend the money without the Booster Club Board members agreeing. Public funds come from taxes, the State of Alabama, etc.
I also made an error three weeks ago; I wrote Lewis Washington was the last African American head basketball coach instead of Tony Hoyett. I apologized to Coach Hoyett for the error.