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1936-1938
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George Grant
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Grant served as president of the Dixie Amateur League in 1935, from which the Alabama-Florida
League was formed in 1936. Grant accepted, somewhat reluctantly, the first league president position after leading the league organizing meetings that took place in Troy. Grant served for three years, leaving the position after the 1938 playoff forfeit controversy, in which Grant’s ruling of where the final playoff game was to be played resulted in Dothan refusing to play. After leaving the position, Grant entered politics and became a US congressman, serving over 20 years in the position. Grant’s leadership was essential in organizing the fledgling league, and a great deal of the credit for the AFL’s early success belongs to him. |
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1939-1940, 1949-1950
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Charles T. Laney
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Laney took over for Grant after serving as league secretary during the Grant years.
Laney first go-around as the league prexy was realtively uneventful, with the exception of losing the Panama City franchise in 1940, causing the league to reinvent intself as the Alabama State League. Laney was considered somewhat of a status-quo leader, not given to experimentation. When he left office mid-season in 1940, the league was looking for someone with some new ideas. When Laney returned in 1949, he was needed to provide stability for the constantly struggling league. Laney served 4 years total, as did Moore and Smith. That seems to have been the limit for a leader to put up with the pressures of the job. |
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1940-1941
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Eric J. Ballard
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1946-1948
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Jack Hovater
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1951
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George D. Halstead
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1952-1954
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Clarence C. Hodge
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1955-1958
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Sam C. Smith
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1959-1962
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Billy Moore
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Ballard came into the league with lots of great iseas. He lobbied for interleague
post-season series play, and tried to work out an agreement with the Kitty League, but in the end, Ballard was unsuccessful. The war ended any chance of his plans materializing as the minor leagues closed up shop. |
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Hovater had been one of the league’s best umpires in the thirties, and he brought
a wealth of baseball experience to the position. He spent three seasons at the helm, managing to expand the league back to eight teams. The league had a stabile three years: No franchise folded or had to move during the period. |
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Halstead, a Headland businessman, took over in what was to be the league’s most controversial
season. His home town team, the Dixie Runners were on their way to the best record in league history and all was looking good when Ottis Johnson was killed by a pitch from Headland pitcher, Jack Clifton. Dothan owner, Charles Smith pressured Halstead to suspend Clifton, and threatened to pull the Browns out of the league. The league came within a hair of folding, but managed to recover with the help of minor league representative, Stuart Stephenson. Just as the Clifton affair died down, the umpires threatened to strike over an incident between Chase Riddle and an umpire. While that crisis was still unresolved, the Enterprise franchise folded. Halstead, having had enough pressure and misery, started making plans for a new career and took a week off to escape. Stephenson, Vice-President Rip Hewes, and Clarence Hodge managed to keep the league aflloat until the end of the season, with Halstead serving as a lame-duck president from August on. It hard to say if anyone would have done a better job weathering the storms that Halstead endured, but his unfortunate legacy will be that he couldn’t stand the heat. |
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Clarence « Shovel » Hodge was a baseball man who had done it all: Major league pitcher with the Chicago White Sox from 1920-22, one of the original
AFL managers, league umpire, and AFL umpire in chief. Hodge was picked as the man to get the league back on it’s feet after the 1951 season. Hodge, known as « Mutt » to most Alabamians and « Shovel » to the White Sox fans, was involved in the AFL in one form or another for most of league’s existence. He had become chief umpire after Dolly Lambert was fired during the strike of 1951, and he then accepted the presidency for 1952 in order to try to keep the league alive. He suceeded in doing that, and left in 1954 to accept a position as genreal manager of the Fort Walton franchise. |
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Smith was a Dothan business man who was more businessman than baseball man.
He succeeded in getting farm team deals for the league and raised the level of the league’s franchises when he brought Montgomery, Pensacola, and Selma into the league. He probably would have continued to bring growth to the league, but his abilities brought offers from other leagues, and Smith accepted an offer to become president of the Sally League for 1959. |
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Billy Moore was a well-liked Graceville banker who had been involved with the Graceville
Oiler franchise during their 6 years of existence. When the Columbus Foxes chose not to return to the AFL after 1958, Graceville was the 7th team in a league that was only willing to support six. Moore was asked to replace Sam Smith after Graceville exited, and he accepted reluctantly. Moore was a fan of the game and a knowledgable baseball man who agreed to take the positition « until they could find a replacement » because of a sense of duty to the game and league he loved. Moore made it known that ideally he would love to bring baseball back to Graceville as soon as it was feasible, but it never happened. Moore did a good job keeping the league going, and was caught by surprise when the baseball powers chose to end the league during the winter meeting of 1962. Moore wanted time to introduce integration slowly into the league, but professional baseball insisted on immediate change. Moore expected to leave the 1962 winter meetings with some new working agreements, instead, he left unemployed. |
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AFL Presidents
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