Tornado-battered Amory in clean-up mode, but spirit and grit remain strong
AMORY — The defending baseball state champion Amory Panthers, off to a sparkling 14-1-1 start this spring, were supposed to play a home doubleheader against rival Noxubee County here on Tuesday afternoon.
That won’t happen. There’s no place to play. The Friday night tornado that turned many Amory neighborhoods into rubble, damaged hundreds of homes and downed thousands upon thousands of trees left the ballpark unrecognizable.
Amory High School suffered heavy damage and the baseball and softball complex was essentially blown away. The outfield fences were gone. The press boxes blew over onto the grandstands, which were dislodged. The screen behind the home plate is no more. Light poles were down all around the fields. The infield, carefully manicured before Friday night’s horrific storm, was strewn with trash and debris. Outside what used to be a concession stand were soiled baseball uniforms. The indoor batting cages were leveled, as was the team’s clubhouse. Amazingly, last year’s state championship trophy survived the storm. Across the campus, the football stadium was also heavily damaged with one set of goal posts sheared in half.
Nearby, Amory baseball coach Chris Pace spent the weekend helping with neighborhood clean-up in the heavily damaged Meadowbrook Circle area, where many of the Amory coaches and faculty live. Like it or not, Pace has become an expert at applying blue tarps to damaged roofs, including his own.
“I think Chris has helped about everyone in this neighborhood with their roofs,” down-the-street neighbor Mike Price said. “There’s been a lot of neighbors helping neighbors.”
Just as Price said that, a couple came by in a small pickup truck. “Y’all need some cold bottled water?” the driver asked. “Can I interest you in a hamburger? Got some hot off the grill in here.”
A few doors down live James and Dorothy Burrow, both in their 90s, in the same house they have lived in for nearly 60 years. James was
once a point guard at Mississippi State. Dorothy is one of the all-time Mississippi high school girls’ basketball greats, averaging 50 points a game one season. You’ve probably heard of their grandson, Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, the former LSU Heisman Trophy winner.
The storm severely damaged the Burrows’ home when the brick chimney fell through the ripped apart roof into the den. The Burrows were safe, riding out the tornado in the storm cellar they built beneath their carport after the deadly EF-5 tornado that ravaged nearby Smithville in 2011. Jimmy Burrow (Joe’s dad) and his wife drove all night from Athens, Ohio, after they received news of Friday night’s storm.
Rick Cleveland, a native of Hattiesburg and resident of Jackson, has been Mississippi Today’s sports columnist since 2016.