Demopolis baseball boosters set stage for 2015 season

If James Moody’s team works as hard as its booster club, it could be a banner year for Demopolis High School baseball.

Well before the Tigers ever got close to taking to the diamond for the 2015 campaign, the parents that comprise the booster club were busy forging through their assumed tasks of fundraising.

“I think it is absolutely the backbone. Absolutely,” Moody said of the importance of a strong booster club to modern high school athletics. “I can put things on Dereck Morrison, who is the president of our booster club, and tell him and he takes it and goes with it. He sends out emails to parents. Our parents have been good about helping any way they can.”

Among other assorted tasks, the DHS baseball boosters hit a clean home run with their annual Boston butt fundraiser, selling a record number of units.

“The Boston butt cooking, we did it a little different this year. We did it more over three days where we had people coming in over three days and picking up instead of just one day. To the best of my knowledge, we set a new personal high and we ended up selling 500 butts this year,” Moody said. “Dereck Morrison was so instrumental in getting that going. And Tommy Yelverton was up there for three straight days along with Durwood White and Ronnie Cox. They kind of spearheaded that. There were several other parents up there that really pitched in. Those four guys kind of stick out because I think they stayed the whole time almost. Without the support of all of our parents and our booster club, none of that would have been possible because I’m trying to coach baseball and they’re behind the scenes doing all that. It takes a lot of responsibility off me so that I don’t have to do that when I get home at night or other times.”

In addition to the Boston butt sale, the club also raised funds through procuring sponsors for banners along the outfield fence as well as the annual youth baseball camp conducted by DHS players.

“We’ve got Janice Holemon and Melinda Perry that do our banners for the outfield fence. It absolutely, I think, is pivotal. Even in a sport such as baseball, the cost is so expensive. Sometimes just think it’s football and it certainly is the most expensive. It costs a lot of money to put that team together and outfit them the way you want to outfit them and travel. Our booster club has been such a big help already. Most of our fundraisers are front end loaded. From here on, it’s mostly just concession stand work and stuff like that,” Moody said. “Our camp was another good year. I think we had 75 campers this year that participated in it. Our kids did a really good job of running the camp and teaching the kids. Some of the people that really helped out on that end of the camp with T-shirts and sign-ups and stuff were Tanya Patterson, Lisa Moody. They also helped secure sponsors for the camp.”

As the Tigers ready to take the field for their season opener Friday night, Moody offered a tip of the cap to the team behind that team.

“I wanted to send a shout out to those parents and those supporters and all the people in town who’ve helped support us and donated money,” Moody said. “It has been amazing this year. It really has.”