Former Citronelle quarterback and current Saraland coach Jeff Kelly said a 1996 bowling alley fight when he was Citronelle’s quarterback was turned into a positive by coach Ronny Massey when he got back on the bus. “Blood was running down his face,” Kelly said. “We thought we were going to have to go back and run sprints under the lights but he slammed his hand down and said, ‘Now that’s called sticking together!’”
By JIMMY WIGFIELD
You won’t find it in Ronny Massey’s official won-loss record but the Citronelle coach considered a fight involving his players at a Mobile bowling alley a victory for his team if not its decorum.
Just before the 1996 season opened, Massey decided to change his practice schedule and took his team to Mobile to enjoy some all-night bowling at the Florida Lanes, which is now closed.
Some of the players didn’t know bowling etiquette and were throwing balls down the lane without waiting for the second ball, according to his wife, Helen “Ace” Massey.
“We were there at midnight and didn’t think anybody would be there,” she said.
Two men in an adjacent alley took offense and let Ace know about it.
“I think they had been partying pretty heavy,” said quarterback Jeff Kelly, who was about to start his senior season.
They complained that the players were supposed to wait on the second ball and Ace said one of the men asked: “What SOB brought these sorry kids who don’t know how to act?”
Ronny Massey heard it and intervened.
“Don’t cuss my wife,” he said.
“Are you the SOB?” one of the men asked.
The man then put his hand on Ace’s shoulder, she said.
“Get your hands off my wife,” Massey said before moving Ace aside.
Some of the players heard the exchange “and the next thing you know, there was a pile,” she said. “I was trying to keep them from fighting. Ronny was trying to hold them back.”
It was a scene Kelly will always remember.
“The biggest brawl you could imagine was going on,” he said. “It was chairs and all kinds of things. The people in the other alley were going after Mrs. Massey and the players came to her defense and it escalated.”
Years later, Ace could laugh about the irony.
“Ronny spent all those years teaching them not to fight on the field,” she said. “We got out of there quick.”
Once the players were on the bus, Massey appeared with a bloody head.
“You could have heard a pin drop,” Kelly said. “Blood was running down his face. We thought we were going to have to go back and run sprints under the lights but he slammed his hand down and said, ‘Now that’s called sticking together!’”
Ace said the bus driver tried to assure Massey the night wasn’t a complete waste.
“Coach Massey, this is OK,” the driver said. “These boys would rather have a good fight on a Friday night than bowl.”
If it had happened today, the outcome might have been drastically different.
“Today, it would be all over the news,” Kelly said.
Or much worse than in those kinder, gentler days.
“That was when you fought without guns,” Ace said. “Now, they go out and get a gun. Talk about a night of bonding.”
