Little League Opening Day and the Parhams Tribute

This morning was the official opening of the baseball games of the young people of Marietta for the 2014 year.    The president of the league, Tim  Givens,  wanted to pay tribute to the Parham family who produced two sons who were excellent athletes  and their father was an excellent coach.    The Parhams gave the league a jump start of enthusiasm for its first several years. If you have lived in Marietta a life time you know why Perry Parham field was so named.  Perry was hit by a car while riding his bike at dusk on the street he lived on.  He lingered for a few days and slipped away.

His name and his extraordinary sport abilities live on.

Perry's  brother Clayton lives in South Carolina with his wife Mary.  I enjoyed  chatting with both of them.  They are gentle and easy going and both have a sense of humor.  

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About the video:  First Clayton talks about Perry and how Perry played their father.

Tim Givens calls out the teams for a line up, which I skipped over some on the video.

Tim gives a brief history of the start of Marietta Little League and then recognizes Clayton and Mary and awards them a tee-shirt.

Tim calls me up and it the video stops (it is hard to make a selfie video).  

What isn't on the video:  Tim recognizes me as being the catalyst bringing Tim and Clayton together and had some nice words to say about my blog chicken-fat.com and me and thanked me.   The crowd clapped I walked back to Clayton and Mary and said, "Where is my tee-shirt?"

My cousin, once removed, Rose Hunter Jones came over and said hi!  I regret I didn't think to take her picture - I was still self-absorbed from having the crowd clap and cheer when I walked off the field. 

Mary and Clayton Parham