Minutes of Rotary Meeting
June 3, 2021
By Kathy Miller
Call to Order: The meeting was called to order by Claire McCarron, President of the Rotary Club of Mobile, at 12:00 p.m.
Invocation and Pledge: Kathy Miller gave the invocation and Tommy Blankenship led the Pledge of Allegiance.
Members’ Guests and Visiting Rotarians: Tommy Blankenship introduced Members’ guests and visiting Rotarians.
New Members: Kim Garrett introduced new member, Ira Bates, Jr., and Kathy Miller introduced new member, Harris Oppenheimer.
Program: Garrett Williamson introduced Joe Gottfried, retired Director of Athletics at the University of South Alabama, who spoke on the Mobile Sports Hall of Fame. He talked about the first members initiated into the Hall of Fame, including Hank Aaron, and gave an overview of other Mobile legends, both players and coaches. Of particular interest, he focused on several female members of the Hall of Fame, including Delores Brumfield White, an All American Girls Professional League Baseball player from 1947-1953, Becky Dickinson, who coached volleyball and basketball at McGill-Toolen and was one of the winningest volleyball coaches in Alabama school history with eleven state championship volleyball teams and three basketball state championships; Ann Schilling, who coaches volleyball at Bayside and has eighteen straight wins; and golfer, Susie Redman, who played on the LPGA tour for twenty years. He discussed the NCAA portal, NCAA rules regarding transfer and the impact of players not “playing through” college. In answering members’ questions, he acknowledged hearing a statistic that there were more active NFL players from the Mobile area than any other area other than the Miami-Dade area or Dallas.
Closing Remarks and Adjournment: Claire announced members’ birthdays and the program for next week. She adjourned the meeting at 1:00 p.m.
Kathy Miller
Contributing Editor
1264224