Citronelle coach Ronny Massey greets then-Tennessee coach Phil Fulmer when Fulmer visited on a recruiting trip. It’s a good thing Fulmer wasn’t wearing purple.
By JIMMY WIGFIELD
Ronny Massey was so competitive, even on his honeymoon, that it literally colored his approach to football and especially his rivals.
“On our honeymoon, we played air hockey and I beat him,” said his wife, Helen “Ace” Massey. “He got so mad. Then I let him win because I thought if I didn’t, we’d never get to sleep that night.”
The desire to be victorious gave him tunnel vision and didn’t make him many friends among the opposition. While they respected him, other coaches found him unapproachable, even offputting, because he made it clear he was interested only in what was good for Citronelle during the most successful tenure of his career — and that included whipping anybody in a jersey that wasn’t crimson and gold.
“He was a Citronelle High School guy and he was taking care of Citronelle without necessarily being buddies with others,” longtime assistant coach Rotch Dungan said. “He had family to run with.”
Those feelings were deep enough that Massey developed a serious aversion to an opponent’s colors.
One night, Massey arrived to pick up Dungan at his midtown Mobile home so they could scout a future opponent at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.
“He pulled up and honked the horn,” Dungan said. “We had time, so I told him to come in and have something to drink but he said he couldn’t. My wife tried to get him to come in and he still wouldn’t. Finally, I asked him what was going on and he said, ‘To tell the truth, until you paint that door a different color, I’m not coming in.’ Back then, Jackson and Blount were our big rivals and their color was purple. Our door was purple.”
But after Massey left for Grissom, Dungan had fun with his former coach’s prickly view of anything that challenged Citronelle.
“We were all at a coaching clinic in Birmingham,” Dungan said, “and one of the vendors was giving out Blount state championship tags. We thought it would be funny to put one on Ronny’s truck. When he noticed the next day, I remember he did not think it was as funny as we did.”
If Massey’s truck was going to run out of gas, it had better not be in Jackson.
Massey had been scouting a team and was coming through Jackson when he noticed the fuel gauge resting on empty.
Ace said her husband was ready to walk.
“I’m not giving any money to Jackson, Alabama!” he proclaimed.
“I think maybe he waited until he got to Leroy to get gas,” Ace said.
Massey’s dislike of certain colors also affected the wardrobes of his wife and daughter.
“Katie and I never wore purple,” Ace said.
Those who knew Massey well accepted what others believed were the unreasonable proclivities of an otherwise reasonable man.
“It was always so much fun being around Ronny,” Dungan said. “Other than my dad, he was the most influential man in my life, even to today.”
