Auburndale at Leesburg, First Game Here, December 1, 1969

Sports Section
Daily Commercial
December 1, 1969

Auburndale has a record of six wins and four losses. Their record is a bit misleading, three of their defeats have been at the hands of strong Class AA teams. Winter Haven, Lakeland Kathleen (believed by many to be the strongest team in the State), and Plant City. The only Class A team to beat Auburndale was Wachulla and this was in the last game of the season.

Passing and using a multiple offense are Auburndale's mode of attack. "They are quick and lanky, much like the Tigers of Columbia High (Lake City)," says Leesburg's Head Coach Wilbur Lofton.

Resources
Sports Section
Daily Commercial
December 1, 1969

Article provided by:
Gerald Lacey
Staff Writer
Carver Heights Quarterback Club
geraldlacey@leesburgyellowjacketsfootball.com
www.leesburgyellowjacketsfootball.com

Gerald is a professional Internet marketer and social media marketing expert. His online business ventures and websites generate multiple streams of income annually. His consulting clients include best selling authors and international speakers.

Gerald is the CEO/President of Lacey LLC and OmariWholesale, Inc. He runs his entire business from his home where he is able to spend quality time with his family and friends. He is passionate about helping individuals to build and monetize their personal brand online.

 

District Title Races, November 25, 1969

Clay Hartsoe
Commercial Sports Editor
Daily Commercial
November 25, 1969

Leesburg gained a berth in the State Class A Playoffs by defeating Seminole High School of Sanford Friday, 47-31. The Seminoles are listed as one of the two prime prospects (Plant City 8-1 is the other) to play Wildwood in the Dad's Holiday Bowl in Leesburg.

With the District Title in their pocket the jackets travel to lake City Friday.

The Tigers of Lake City sport a 9-0 record and are ranked No. 1 in the state Class A rankings. The tigers must win this one to earn a spot in the playoffs because Perry (9-0) will go if Lake City loses. The Tigers have a super defense that has registered six shutouts this year. Their offense is also capable of producing fireworks. They defeated Live Oak 56-0 this past Friday.

Leesburg's head Coach, Wilbur Lofton, feels that it will take a supreme effort by his team to win this big one. The Jackets (9-0) are ranked No. Two and no matter who wins the game, it should be a whale of a contest. So if you have the time Friday night it should be well worth the effort to travel to Lake City to watch this one. The Commercial will have a map in Thursday's edition that will show how to get to Lake City's stadium.

Two other area teams are still in the running for State Play-off berths. They are Eustis (Class B District 5) and Umatilla (Class C District 3). Eustis  chances of going depend on whether Winter Garden Lakeview can beat undefeated Ocoee.

When talking to Lakeview's head Coach Hickman, Monday, he said, "Ocoee will be the second toughest team we have face this year (Wildwood was the toughest) judging from what I have seen of them. The game all depends on whether our defense can stop them. If we can hold them to two touchdowns we will win."

Coach Kuykendall, of Ocoee, said, last week that he felt his chances of winning this year were better than they have been in any previous meeting between these next-door rivals. With the Cardinal's pasting of Melbourne Central Catholic (40-0) last Friday night, Coach Kuykendall might be right.

One thing's for certain, most of the Eustis Panthers will be at the Lakeview-Ocoee game Friday night to see just who does go to the playoffs, Eustis or Ocoee?

Umatilla's chances of going to the playoffs are shakey at best. Even if they beat lake Weir Friday night, the Bulldogs' 7-3 record might not be enough. Their chief competitors for the District Title, Lithia Pinecrest, is 6-3. Pinecrest's losses were to three very tough Class B teams, turkey Creek, Zephyrhills, and Mulberry. The total number of victory's for Pinecrest's opponents is 40

Although Umatilla will have won seven games, if they beat Lake Weir, their first victory was over the Sanford J.V. team and this will not count toward District. Therefore, Umatilla's district record will be 6-3, with their opponents victory's totaling only 35.

Wildwood was eliminated from the District 4 B title, although they beat Lake Weir 38-0, when South Sumter defeated Zephyrhills, 17-13. so, the Wildcats will play in the Dad;s Club Holiday Bowl where they should prove to be a worthy opponent for whoever is picked to play them.

Resources 

Clay Hartsoe
Commercial Sports Editor
Daily Commercial
November 25, 1969

Articles provided by:

Gerald Lacey

Staff Writer

Carver Heights Quarterback Club

geraldlacey@leesburgyellowjacketsfootball.com

www.leesburgyellowjacketsfootball.com

Gerald is a professional Internet marketer and social media marketing expert. His online business ventures and websites generate multiple streams of income annually. His consulting clients include best selling authors and international speakers.

Gerald is the CEO/President of Lacey LLC and OmariWholesale, Inc. He runs his entire business from his home where he is able to spend quality time with his family and friends. He is passionate about helping individuals to build and monetize their personal brand online.

What Does The Dad's Club Really Do? August 27, 1970

Wayne Stokes
Sports Editor
Daily Commercial
August 27, 1970

How many of us ever stop and wonder just what a group like the Leesburg Dad's Club does with all the money they accumulate after a year of fund raising activities?

It seems as if the group is constantly working on projects to raise money. Usually these efforts prove to be successful, but what ever happens to the proceeds: The results of the expenditures are very seldom ever made public, and what is the reason?

First of all, the Leesburg Dad's Club is composed of men who have the interest of the youth at Leesburg High School at heart, not any personal gain. These men spend many hours of their free (and sometimes not so free) time at work, striving to make school life just a little bit more enjoyable and prideful for the students who are lucky enough to be enrolled at LHS.

The members of the Dad's Club receive no financial gain whatsoever from their work with the club, but their genuine feeling of personal satisfaction is worth more than money can buy.

We were in attendance at the last meeting of the Dad's Club, at which time the subject of football team insurance came into the spotlight as the primary order of business.  Every year it has been the policy and practice of the Leesburg Dad's Club to pay the cost for the insurance premium for every football player that is a member of either the Varsity or Junior Varsity squads. This has been a sizeable amount to pay every year, and it seemed as if the costs would never reach a leveling off point, increasing more each year that passed.

This year, insurance costs jumped by six dollars per policy holder and it requires only simple mathematics to figure out that the increase in the amount the Dad's Club has to shell out has risen considerably. In fact, if you multiply the number of football players presently out for the teams (over 100 strong) by the six dollar increase, you come up with a six hundred dollar increase in the insurance budget along.

Parents of Leesburg High School football participants should make it a point to personally thank the Dad's Club, as every boy that is in the program this year is covered by an insurance policy that costs $31.50 each. Not the first penny of this premium cost is coming from the parents, as the Leesburg Dad's Club is once again picking up the tab for the nsurance program.

During the discussion of the feasibility of handling the insurance program in 1970, one though kept being forwarded that explains the entire concept of the Leesburg Dad's Club. After every exchange, whether pro or con, it was brought up that it was for the kids benefit that the money was accumulated, and it should be spent toward the best interests of the kids involved. Eventually this line of thinking prevailed, but it gets harder  and harder each year to pick up the entire tab for insurance, taking into consideration the spiraling cost factor.

The Dad's Club has been accustomed to buying meals for the athletic teams when traveling, but his activity will have to be curtailed in 1970. The budget will not stand for the expenditures.

To the members of the Dad's Cub that works so hard each year, this is a sore spot to withstand. They feel that more could be done if a more active membership was available to help in the club's activities. With additional hands pitching in to help out with the fund raising activities, more money could be raised for the budget, easing the load on the parents and school, and providing the area with a high school athletic program that would be the superior to any around.

Promoting the high school programs and promoting the high school youngsters is what the Dad's Club is all about. Without help and solid community support, the club would become a floundering organization, one sure to become useless failure. In the Leesburg Dad's Club, there is an abundance of good solid leadership that does a great job of keeping club activity organized and it is because of their diligent, conscientious efforts that the club has accomplished as much as it has.

The club has a need now for new active membership, capable of furthering the principles of the club. Leesburg is loaded with good potential Dad's Club members, but for some reason, the majority never seem to get involved.

Right now would be a great time to do just that.

Get involved with your Dad's Club. Today. You'll find out that it is a fine group of men, ones that a sportsman can enjoy associating with.They need your help.

The next meeting of the Dad's Club will embark the group on a brand new format of regular meetings. The club will now hold their meeting s at the Boulevard Buffet meeting room, where films and guest speakers will be a part of every meeting. This should offer the prospective member an opportunity to enjoy the tasty food that the Boulevard Buffet is famous for, In addition to enjoying the finest in sports films at every regular meeting. After a long period of all work and no pleasure, the club decided that it was time to have some fun along with their work, and the dinner meetings offer the greatest potential along these lines.

September 10 is the date of the first dinner meeting of the Dad's Club, so if you haven't been contacted by one of the membership committee concerning your joining the club, then by all means feel welcome to be at the meeting and enjoy the fellowship of a fine group of men.

The Dad's Club is in the midst of a recruiting drive to enlist new members into the club, because new blood is imperative if the alma and projections of the group are to be realized.

If interested in joining the club, contact Frank Lukens, Club President, or any Dad's Club member and they will be genuinely glad to have you aboard.

One note in closing, Leesburg High School is the only school around that has their entire football Insurance costs underwritten by an outside organization.

That speaks well for our Dad's Club and their efforts.

Resources
Wayne Stokes
Sports Editor
Daily Commercial
August 27, 1970

Article provided by:
Gerald Lacey
Staff Writer
Carver Heights Quarterback Club
geraldlacey@leesburgyellowjacketsfootball.com
www.leesburgyellowjacketsfootball.com

Gerald is a professional Internet marketer and social media marketing expert. His online business ventures and websites generate multiple streams of income annually. His consulting clients include best selling authors and international speakers.

Gerald is the CEO/President of Lacey LLC and OmariWholesale, Inc. He runs his entire business from his home where he is able to spend quality time with his family and friends. He is passionate about helping individuals to build and monetize their personal brand online.

Stadium project delay due to tight money, April 7, 1970

Sports
Daily Commercial
April 7, 1970

The stadium project of the Leesburg Dad's Club has ran into another snag, but this one cannot be resolved until the tight money situation eases. With the majority of the razing of the old bleacher sections completed, the only holdup in the beginning of new construction is the lack of money available through our local finance institutions.

After a talk with Franklin Ezell, Chairman of the Stadium Committee, he explained that the Dad's Club recognizes the dilemma that the local banks were experiencing and the organization did not consider it to be in the best light to ask the banks to loan the money to them at the very low rate of interest which they will be charging, especially with the money market as tight as it is right now.

So, the new section of stadium will have to wait we are experiencing the pangs of the tight money situation, but as soon as it is feasible, the green light for construction will be given and a full-speed effort will be undertaken.

All of the prestressed materials for the new section has been poured and is ready for installation, as soon as the proper word is given.

Buster Hancock, head of the finance Committee, is in charge of the money situation , and as soon as he gives the go-ahead, Then Stadium Chairman Ezell will begin to get the project underway in earnest.

Resources 

Sports
Daily Commercial
April 7, 1970

Article provided by:

Gerald Lacey

Staff Writer

Carver Heights Quarterback Club

geraldlacey@leesburgyellowjacketsfootball.com

www.leesburgyellowjacketsfootball.com

Gerald is a professional Internet marketer and social media marketing expert. His online business ventures and websites generate multiple streams of income annually. His consulting clients include best selling authors and international speakers.

Gerald is the CEO/President of Lacey LLC and OmariWholesale, Inc. He runs his entire business from his home where he is able to spend quality time with his family and friends. He is passionate about helping individuals to build and monetize their personal brand online.

Razing of old bleacher tomorrow

Razing of old bleacher tomorrow

 

Stadium project: all systems go

 

By WAYNE STOKES
Sports Editor
Daily Commercial
March 13, 1970

The stadium project of the Leesburg Dad's Club has the green light once more and activity will soon be the big thing around the Memorial Stadium area. Construction of the new concrete section of stadium will begin immediately after the razing of the existing east stands is completed.

The razing of the old section of stands on the east side is the main item of business for the Dad's Club members and this will undertake at 9:00 a.m. tomorrow after a delay of two weeks due to a technicality that had to be ironed out by the County and State Education Departments. County School Superintendent Clyde #. Stevens made the necessary moves to get the project back on the right track and now the Dad's Club expects nothing bur progress until the new facility is completed. The 1970 Leesburg Yellow jackets will christen the new facility next season.

An appeal has been issued for all available help to meet at the stadium at 9:00 in the morning to pitch in and help with the tearing down and removal of the east stands, in order for the new construction to begin. Dad's Club president Don Napier urges all men that can make it to be there and contribute their efforts to this project, so that possibly the new construction can begin within ten days.

The new stadium section will be made of concrete and will serve as the home section of the stadium and this will be a great improvement over the wooden bench type seats now in existence.

Resources

WAYNE STOKES
Sports Editor
Daily Commercial
March 13, 1970

Article provided by:

Gerald Lacey

Staff Writer

Carver Heights Quarterback Club

geraldlacey@leesburgyellowjacketsfootball.com

www.leesburgyellowjacketsfootball.com

Gerald is a professional Internet marketer and social media marketing expert. His online business ventures and websites generate multiple streams of income annually. His consulting clients include best selling authors and international speakers.

Gerald is the CEO/President of Lacey LLC and OmariWholesale, Inc. He runs his entire business from his home where he is able to spend quality time with his family and friends. He is passionate about helping individuals to build and monetize their personal brand online.

Dad's Club Goes To Work Next Saturday

 

By WAYNE STOKES
Sports Editor
August 9, 1970

Next Saturday morning, the Leesburg Dad's Club will tackle a job that no one has any heart for but is absolutely necessary. The east section of the Memorial Stadium seats was torn down during the spring, in anticipation of the construction of the new $65,000 concrete section, given tentaitve approval at the time.

Red tape has been the bugaboo of the project, as it is in so many times situations, and the final financial arrangements could not be made in time for the new football season. The project is still the primary goal of the Dad's Club for the next year and it will mean a very active season on behalf of all club members, making sure that all plans have the green light when the time comes.

Now, that brings us to the problem of putting the old wooden section of bleachers back up in the proper way. It is a small task if enough personnel is on hand to help out and that is what we need right now. Enough help.

With the season opener on September 25 against DeLand at home, the seats have to be fully installed and safety checked before the season can get underway. If you can postpone your golf game or fishing trip for one weekend, come on out next Saturday and give us a hand as we skin our knuckles and mash our fingers, just having a ball putting the stands back in the original order.

Boxing fans in our area will be happy to hear that young Hector McBride, Tampa featherweight and laimant to the State Featherweight title, was named as Ring Magazine's Featherweight Prospect of the Month for September. McBride made two local appearances during the tenure of the Leesburg Boxing Association and the classy fighter impressed everyone round with his style of boxing. Hector also mad several appearances on the Orlando Sports Stadium cards of Pete Ashlock and everywhere the youngster appears he leaves the crowd very pro-Hector McBride when he is finished with his opponent.

McBride will appear in Tampa Monday night in what should be the toughest fight of his 15 bout career, going against Gillermo Benzant, the tall Dominican Republic feather champ. McBride, called the Toy Terrier by the Tampa press, is managed by highly regarded Low Viscusi and trained by wily old veteran, Bill Gore. Both men are the upper echelon of the fight business and both are predicting.

WAYNE STOKES
Sports Editor
Daily Commercial
August 9, 1970

Article provided by:
Gerald Lacey
Staff Writer
Carver Heights Quarterback Club
geraldlacey@leesburgyellowjacketsfootball.com
www.leesburgyellowjacketsfootball.com

Gerald is a professional Internet marketer and social media marketing expert. His online business ventures and websites generate multiple streams of income annually. His consulting clients include best selling authors and international speakers.

Gerald is the CEO/President of Lacey LLC and OmariWholesale, Inc. He runs his entire business from his home where he is able to spend quality time with his family and friends. He is passionate about helping individuals to build and monetize their personal brand online.

Editorial

It's Our Project Now

Daily Commericial
December 21, 1969

The new Memorial Field bleacher section, which will look like the drawing above and replace the old wooden seciton pictured at right, will give Leesburg a stadium that we can be as proud of as we are of the Yellow Jackets football team.

We need it. The Jackets deserve it.

Only one thing could stop us getting it, says Frank Ezell, who's put in a lot of time bringing it to the doorway ofexistence: that's lack of support from the people of Leesburg.

We think Leesburg will give that support.

Leesburg loves the jackets the way kinds love Christmas.

Yet...

The first game of the championship playoff series--with Auburndale--was so poorly attended that leesburg had no chance of playing any of the other championship games in Leesburg.

And The Dad's Club Holiday Bowl--a direct source of revenue for the stadium--was a poorly attended disappointment.

What does this mean? It could mean that construction of the new stadium would be delayed. There's a dim possiblilty Leesburg wouldn't get a new stadium at all.

The Dad's Club and the Stadium Committee have handled the plans so far. From now on, it's a community project.

That's the way it should be. Come on, Leesburg.

Resources

Daily Commericial
December 21, 1969

Article provided by:

Gerald Lacey

Staff Writer

Carver Heights Quarterback Club

geraldlacey@leesburgyellowjacketsfootball.com

www.leesburgyellowjacketsfootball.com