Paramore: Remembering a hero

Most of the time a person’s sports hero is older than them. My first one was, by some 10 years or so. My second one was five years younger than me.

Many of you know I grew up in rural Dale County in the small town of Ariton. We didn’t have a football team until 1966. The Purple Cats didn’t win a game that inaugural campaign, but our first coach, the late Johnny Turner, taught our boys the game and laid the foundation for what would be a pair of back-to-back undefeated seasons in 1969-70. Our best player was Larry Alums, a tight end who played both ways and wound up being our first gridiron product to be named
All-State and also earn a scholarship. He went to Southeast Louisiana in Hammond, which is just outside Baton Rouge.

Needless to say, those of us in elementary school idolized him. In fact, he made bagging groceries at the Dixie Dandy on a Saturday morning after a football
game the most prestigious job in town, at least in our eyes.

It was nearly 15 years later when hero No. 2 came along. He was the same age as my sister Beth, five years my junior. With all due respect to my fellow
Ariton alums, he was the finest athlete to ever don the purple and gold. His name was Leo Jolly.

A strapping 6-feet-3 inches and around 230 pounds, he was a holy terror on a football field, especially on the Class 1A level. Anybody who played with him,
against him or simply watched him can vouch for that. I recall legendary Wiregrass Sports Hall of Famer Charlie McCall talking about Leo after coaching
against him back in 1983.

“Good gosh, Paramore,” he said the Monday following a lopsided Houston Academy loss to Ariton. “You should’ve warned me about that kid. It was
embarrassing.”

That memorable Friday before, Leo had picked off three passes and returned them all for touchdowns. Every one of them were in the first quarter.
Later that year, arch-rival G.W. Long had played the Cats off their feet for three quarters in a scoreless tie. Covering the game for this publication, I’ll never
forget Leo telling me on the sideline he was about to take over. He scored three touchdowns in the final stanza, all on explosive runs.

Eventually, he caught the eye of college scouts. Auburn’s Bud Casey and Pat Dye raved to me about him. A more reserved David Rader of Alabama wound up
getting his name on a letter of intent and he reported to Tuscaloosa the summer after high school graduation. However, a heart problem ended his career before it ever had a chance to get off the ground. The finest running back this part of the state had ever seen never put on another pair of shoulder pads.

He still stayed in tip-top condition. He became a personal trainer in Atlanta, got married, and he and his wife later had a daughter.

I just missed seeing him two weeks ago at a relative’s funeral.

And then I got a phone call Wednesday from his brother Tony, a dear friend of mine who was a fine athlete in his own right. His voiced cracked as he told me
Leo passed away Wednesday of a brain aneurysm. My hero was gone. That is, in body. As far as I am concerned, he’ll still live on with the same title attached
to his name. A hero, younger than me or not.

Phil Paramore’ s column appears Tuesday and Friday in The Dothan Eagle. He can be heard weekday mornings from 7-9 or at http://www.woofradio.com. He can be reached at the same Web site.