[zaga_fan]

Here is an excerpt from the article in this week's paper.

it was a place where “boys became men” through the competition there that ultimately changed their lives. Each decade produced players who would make their mark there as a Navajo or Commodore. In the 1960s names like Jerry Brewer, Jessie Harris and Calvin Beatty came to mind, Napier noted, and in then in the 1970s Kenny Miller and David Napier, and Larry Napier and Jeff Gillum in the 80s.

Perry Central, of course, produced top-notch players as well, including Timmy Neace, Al Holland, Jr., Twayne Willis and Matt Robinson among others. And it was these young men who supplied the memories on that field every Friday night.

“It’s got a lot of memories for a lot of people in different years,” Napier said.

And for the thousands of fans who have come to those games over the decades, those memories are just as real.

“Think about the thousands of people – not just the people that played their games here – but the students and fans that attended here every Friday night,” Napier continued. “A lot of people met their husbands and wives here.”

There is still one chance to make new memories at Napier/Commodore/Paul Ray Alexander Field. There’s still one chance to see the glare of the lights off the players’ helmets, to watch the competition on the field, and hear the roar of the crowd as the home team breaks the end zone, and maybe even takes a victory.

And it’s not as if the memories will truly end. The football tradition will continue for Perry County Schools with the completion of a new football field as part of a state-of-the-art athletic complex next to the planned East Perry Elementary. So, there’s a bright future to look forward to and new memories to be made, even if Friday night will mark the end of an era for a generation of Perry Countians.

“We feel like it’s time to move on,” Napier said. “It’s going to be a beautiful place that we’ve got up here and we look forward to that, but it’s kind of tough to say goodbye to this.”