Generals honor Barrett with stadium name
How could a student questionnaire for a Mr. Lee High School contest at the start of the 1960s pave the path toward a new name for a stadium in 2024?
For that’s just the way it worked out.
“They asked me, ‘What are you going to do after college?’, and I said, ‘I’m going to come back here and take Coach
job,’” he recalled with a laugh. “Really not knowing that I was going to do it, but I did it.”
Some 53 years later, Leon Barrett, Lee High Class of 1961, then member of varsity football, varsity track, Beta Hi-Y, Theta Y-Teen, L Club and coach of powder puff football, looked on as guest of honor as Riverside transformed the Backyard into Leon Barrett Stadium during Saturday’s ceremony inside the Generals’ gym.
Alongside his wife,
— the couple will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary later this year — and joined by his family and hundreds of guests from more than six decades of the school’s 97-year history, Barrett watched as the school unveiled a preview of the redesigned scoreboard.
The Duval County School Board approved the renaming of the field, long informally called the Backyard, in honor of Barrett during the fall. Formal installation of new stadium signage is scheduled for this month.
Going back to its earliest years, the Generals’ home was known as Cawthon Field in honor of who coached Lee football from 1930 to 1932 and holds the rare distinction of membership in both the University of Florida Hall of
Leon Barrett,
Dingman’s
[Virgil]
Margaret
Rainey Cawthon,
Fame and the Florida State University Athletics Hall of Fame.
Barrett had played under Dingman on the 1960 Generals squad that finished 10-1 and won Jacksonville’s Meninak Bowl, and just as he predicted, he did indeed return to the McDuff Avenue school beginning in 1966 following his graduation from Georgia to spend more than a half-century at the heart of Generals athletics.
While his most visible positions were as athletic director from 1977 to 1992 and as defensive coordinator on the
Lee squads of the 1970s and 1980s, he coached a multitude of Generals sports teams — football, track and field, baseball, softball, golf, swimming and wrestling — and served in roles ranging from coordinating graduation to maintaining the field.
Hundreds of former players and students greeted Barrett Saturday and shared their reflections
Rogers-led
Corky
with a focus on his service to the school, his Christian faith and his relentless emphasis on conditioning and discipline.
“I feel like I’m on cloud nine right now,” he said.
Fleming Island quartet on boys soccer squad
Four Fleming Island players qualified for the first team in Clay County’s annual AllCounty list in boys soccer.
Defender midfielder and forwards and represented the Golden Eagles, who qualified for last month’s Region 1-6A tournament.
Also on the first team were Clay’s and Keystone Heights’
Oakleaf’s
Cade Dailey, Daniel Vizcarrondo
Lucas Horvath Taylor Suarez
Anthony Fiore Salitre,
Aaron Wiley, Jackson Pallen, Cole Perez Marcos Sainz
Lennox Dunkley.
of Clay;
Heights;
and
Atzel
and and Orange
Park’s
Second-team honorees were
and
Aidan Pinnix Josiah Warren Braiden Bucklew, Hunter Tillman Matthew Van Hook
Luke Brunt
Xavier Abuhl Brandon Anderson
Evan Bauman Freeman Sam Shelton
Justin Studer
and of Fleming Island; of Keystone
and of Middleburg; and of Oakleaf; of Orange Park;
of Ridgeview.
Matthew Fleming Island, Middleburg lead wrestling list
Perennial state contender Fleming Island placed six wrestlers on Clay County’s AllCounty first team for boys wrestling, after finishing sixth in the Class 2A team championships in Kissimmee.
Fleming Island’s first-team honorees were state runner-up
Kaden Schaefer, Jordan Mukaddam, Laird Duhaylungsod, Matthew Kotler, Chris Chop Kevin Reyes.
and Also on the boys first team were Clay’s
and
Middleburg’s
Jacob Bucci Drew Holmquist, Gavin Fisher, Wyatt Leduc Tucker Cody, Sebastian Bonachea Ghais Cooper
Rayhn Hutchinson.
Fleming
Heck
and
and Island’s Middleburg’s
Oakleaf’s
and Clay’s Fleming Island’s Oakleaf ’s
and and Ridgeview’s
and
Oakleaf’s and Ridgeview’s
Second-team boys wrestlers are Clay’s
Rylan Herrera, Landon Martin, Will Kelley, Aaron Stacy Jadon Bell;
Matthew Newman; Grady Woodard; Connor Barnes, Micah Thomas, Keon Barrientos, Kellon Duncan Jerimiah Baker;
Joseph Ellis;
James Laycock.
and
Park’s
Middleburg’s repeat state champion headlined the county’s girls wrestling list, after completing a perfect season at 190 pounds for the Broncos.
Also on the first team were Middleburg teammates
Orange and Ridgeview’s
Cheyenne Cruce
Lily Bradshaw, Skyla Fisher, Callia Kuroski, Memphis Moses, Sarah Walsh, Koralai Ramirez, Riley Toomey Lauren Hughes; Vasheer Burke; Aurianna Phelps; Kailani Barrientos Jazzmine Moore; Zoey Fowler.
Clay champion Heck heads weightlifting honorees
Emma
Clay state champion
led the All-Clay County girls weightlifting team, following her FHSAA championships last month in both the traditional and Olympic categories.
The senior concluded her high school career as state champion in each of the last three years, setting numerous school, county and Florida records for the 129-pound division.
Also on the Clay County first team for both traditional and Olympic lifts were Clay’s and Fleming Island’s
and
Lyda
Bradi Johnson Ward.
and
Fantastic Friday for Brayden bunch
Brayden Harris,
Brayden Harris
Ansley
Kathryn
Traditional first-team selections were Fleming Island’s
Middleburg’s
Lily O’Steen, Trinity Woodley, Ari Seibel Caylee Johnson
G’Amyia Aiken
and and Oakleaf’s and
On the Olympic lifting first team were Fleming Island’s
and Middleburg’s Oakleaf’s and Ridgeview’s
Joy Johnson.
Kyla Leah Anderson, Madison
Christiana
Marshall Underwood, Beasley
Deja Hill Madison Roach.
Fans tracking Friday night’s baseball box scores might have needed a second look.
By now, the Sunshine State baseball world already knows Trinity Christian sophomore pitcher and the Florida State-committed right-hander delivered another gem. He struck out nine batters in a two-hit shutout, leading the Conquerors past Wolfson 12-0 and lowering his season ERA to 1.50. He’s also batting .400 for the season.
The only Brayden Harris highlight of the night? Far from it.
On the same evening, Tocoi Creek’s led Toros baseball to a 6-1 win over perennial state contender Providence, limiting the Stallions to one run over five innings. The Tocoi Creek pitcher, a junior, holds a 1.26 ERA so far.
For those wondering, Trinity Christian and Tocoi Creek aren’t scheduled to face each other and can’t meet in the postseason, eliminating any chance of a Brayden Harris vs. Brayden Harris pitching matchup.