By JOHN JAMES MARSHALL/Designated Writer

ORANGE BEACH, ALA. — First of all, to the person who invented the term “Redneck Riviera,” my Performance Fishing Gear hat is off to you. Though the nickname is fairly inaccurate, it is still massively perfect. It gives this place its own identity and it needs no geographical explanation.

I’ve been coming here for almost 20 years and I have come to appreciate that it’s more than just a bunch of condos and restaurants. Usually something grabs my attention that I had never paid much attention to before.

This year will be remembered by me as the Pelican Year. It’s not unusual to see the occasional brown pelican, but this year it is has been amazing. They have been everywhere and in all different shapes and sizes.

And they are not shy. They will fly right by the condo balcony to show off their majesty. I couldn’t be more impressed if Anthony Davis (of the New Orleans Pelicans) flew by my balcony.

There are plenty of gulls everywhere — feed one a Cheez-It from your balcony and watch how fast they get the word out — and there is the random egret showing up every now and then. But when it comes to the guys who rule this area, it’s the pelican. The other birds just get out of the way whenever they show up.

For whatever reasons, the pelicans are just posting up and ruling the roost (see what I did there!). When a fish gets out of line when a pelican is near … BALLGAME! But mostly the pelicans just hang around until a better gig comes along, When you see 20-25 of these guys take off together to go play the back nine, it’ll make you drop your drink with the umbrella in it. Meanwhile, the rest of the bird species pull over to the side of the road.

Even though I’m in Alabama, I’ve never been prouder that our Louisiana state bird is dominating on the Redneck Riviera. Alabama may have all those national football championships, but they are still stuck with the Northern Flicker as its state bird.

Some of us are “archivers” and “keepers” and probably too sentimental for our own good.

And some of us, not so much.

Mary Alice Garrett, a beloved English teacher at Ruston High for years, husband to Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame football coach Hoss and mom to Pat and Loyce, was organized, steady, and, for all the right reasons, a behind-the-scenes keeper of life’s souvenirs.

Her son Dr. Pat Garrett, recently retired after 50-plus years in college classrooms and former head of the English department at Louisiana Tech, is a close friend of mine, and he shared a piece of one of Mrs. Mary Alice’s many talents with me Wednesday morning when he dropped off some family things for the Louisiana Tech archives.

The picture above is from one page of an old scrapbook: Tech track and field teammates Joel Thomas is on the left and Dr. Pat on the right. Mr. Joel was about to graduate, Dr. Pat was a fleet-footed freshman. (He’s the Dr. Fleet Foot we write about from time to time.)

Mr. Joel was a “timber topper,” as the old sports scribes used to say. A hurdler. Ran 14.5 in the 120 high hurdles and 22.7 in the 220 lows. Also ran a 9.7 100-yard dash and a 21.3 in the 220.

And played center on the football team.

Yes. That is for real. He was a bit of an athlete. Led his team in scoring at the conference meet. Go to the following Daily Happen here and discover Mr. Joel, God bless his wonderful heart.

Big Salute to Big Daddy

Dr. Pat was a champion sprinter back in the day, a football player for his dad at Ruston High and later for Joe Aillet at Tech. This scrapbook page had glued to it the little booklet/program for the “Oldest and Largest Relay Carnival In The South. 30th Annual Southwestern Relays. April 11-12, 1958. Lafayette, Louisiana.”

But the main thing is, they were friends. Joel and Pat. Friends. And competitors. And this is just a moment in time, one moment you can’t get back. And it’s a moment that I never knew of, capturing two men who mean a lot to me.

But because of people like Mary Alice, a guy can can live that moment again, or, if you’re like me, live it for the first time.

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