First Panthers Team Players Throw Out First Pitch
During the Panther baseball game against Pasco-Hernando State College on Friday, Feb. 21, three players from the first Panther team (1966-67) came to SFSC for a mini-reunion of sorts and to each throw out the first pitch of the game. They were Fred McCall #2, who was a pitcher and lives in Arcadia; Ronnie Jackson #7, who was a pitcher and lives in Avon Park, and Hoppy Rewis #8, who was a pitcher, and lives in Avon Park.
“I, mainly, played pitcher,” said Ronnie Jackson. “But you played whatever position you could play that day if that’s where Coach Dunning Terrell put you. We only had 10 players on the team at that time.”
He indicated that because the team was so small, the players were close and had lot of great times together in spite of having a less than stellar record on the field—something like 1-40. “But we had a great time,” Jackson said. “We used to travel in an old Chevrolet station wagon and a four-door International truck.”
His memories of Coach Terrell are vivid. “He was probably one of the nicest, greatest human beings I’ve ever met in my life. We didn’t learn a lot of baseball from him, but we learned a lot about life—how to be a better person. Just being around him made you a better person. You learned a lot about character.”
When Jackson was asked how the College has changed since he was a student, he recalled classes in downtown Avon Park. “They were upstairs in the Brickell Building, and the library and the administration offices were down where the auto parts store is now. We used to hold some classes in the old theater on Main Street, and teachers’ offices were across the street in the old Touchton Drug Store.
Jackson, Rewis, and McCall all went on to complete their bachelor’s degrees at Florida universities. Jackson and Rewis both returned to Avon Park to become high school coaches and both were inducted into the Florida Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame. “So we both had some good years,” Jackson said. “Hoppy won some state championships in football, and I won some in baseball. And it was good working with your friends.”
Although McCall is a man of few words, he commended SFSC’s first president, Dr. William Stallard. “Dr. Stallard started the College. He was a fine man. He wrote me a recommendation to attend the University of the Florida, and the dean at UF called me in and said, ‘We’ve never had a recommendation from a college president before. So, we wanted to see who you are.’ Dr. Stallard was a super guy.”
McCall graduated from the University of Florida with a degree in Physical Education to become a coach. “But I didn’t want to be a coach, so I went home,” he said. “Vietnam wanted everybody then, so I joined the National Guard and worked for the U.S. Postal Service for 34 years.”
Jackson said that he learned some life lessons while at SFSC and playing baseball at the College. “When I was in high school, I never lost a baseball game. When we played out here, we failed a lot. When I went into high school coaching, I became a Hall of Fame coach. That just tells me that, along the way, there are going to be failures. You just have to overcome that failure and you have to believe in yourself. If you work hard enough, good things will happen.”
