Thomas Laston "Tom" Prince ^1,2

  General Notes:

Tom served two years in the U.S. Navy during World War II. Until his retirement because of ill health, Tom had been employed by the U.S. Corps of Engineers as a diamond core driller. ¹

  Research Notes:

Tom is said to have been born in Clovis, New Mexico, but the 1920 Census, Jackson Co., Alabama, Woodville, family #148, January 14, 1920, says that he was born in Alabama.

Tom was quite a high school basketball player. The following is from the Woodville newspaper: The Fast Woodville Five:

In 1928 Woodville High School was a 1-story, wooden frame building with the familiar white drop-siding seen on many old homes in the community. Out front was a well. The students took turns pumping the long handle to draw water and keep the buckets full in the classroom. Each student had a cup, usually tin, and filled it from the dipper in the bucket. The gym was a separate building just large enough to house the basketball court. The gym's walls defined "out-of-bounds" for the players. Seating was on a raised platform that cantilevered out from the court like a second floor balcony. Basketball was the center of attention for the students and the community.

The team members lived for basketball. After practice, the boys had chores to do - gather fire wood, feed the hogs, cows, chickens, work in gardens and fields, but after chores and on Sundays, when cousins came to visit, they to played year 'round basketball. The team competed against the four high schools in Jackson County: Bridgeport, Pisgah, Scottsboro, and DAR at Grant.

Wearing clean overalls and simple -plain dresses, the community members, who could get there and afford the 10 cents to get in, attended the games. Families walked out of the Cove, Kennamer Hollow, and off the mountain to cheer the team to victory.

The team members were Arnold Bishop, Garland Campbell, Tom Prince, Howard Kennamer and Henry Evans. The two substitutes were Sanford Roberts and Paul Evans. It was an exciting year for basketball. Arnold's brother, Edward, played for DAR and, with the ongoing rivalry between the two schools, the entire community turned out to see brother play against brother. Woodville also had a great coach, Cecil Chambers, recruited from Sand Mountain and wise in all the tricks of the game. With his experience Coach Chambers leveled the playing field against the rest of Jackson County.

Henry Evans played forward, one of 12 children, they lived in Evans' Cove where the house still stands today. Howard Kennamer lived in Woodville, his father was a storekeeper and his sister was Ms. Birdie Kennamer, a teacher at Woodville for many years.

Tom Prince lived on a farm off the Old Stage Coach Road. Arnold Bishop's family moved to Kennamer's Cove the year before, but Arnold wanted to finish school at Woodville so he walked the 3-miles to school.

Getting to an "away" game was always a challenge. However, the team members always managed to line up transportation for each game. Everybody walked to school. There were no school buses and very few cars. One or two of the few cars in the community would be available and a player or a storekeeper would drive. The storekeepers helped in any way. Sometimes they even gave a player his ball shoes, if he did not have the $2.98 to buy a pair.

The Progressive Age conservatively reported March 15, 1928: "The Woodville Basketball team was the winner of the Loving Cup ... (furnished by Drug Sundries Company) ... Pisgah was the contender in the finals and fought stubbornly for the first place, but were defeated by the fast Woodville five, who, exhibited some real "basketball."

In reality, the county tournament, at Scottsboro, was a dog fight from end-to-end. The big game was between Woodville and Pisgah for the Jackson County Championship. The coach had trained the team well, they used every play in the book - it was war and any thing was fair. If a Pisgah player tried to take the ball away, the Woodville player knew how to clamp down with his arm - Pisgah was charged with holding and Woodville got 2 shots for a foul. The fast Woodville five was all over the court. If Pisgah was guarding the basket, Woodville could whip around and sink the ball from the foul line. Then it was back up under the basket, quick as an eye, leaving Pisgah behind and Woodville scored an additional two points. They were all over the court and it was two points every time they shot. Pisgah's players racked up fouls against Woodville time and time again. After Woodville shot the foul shots, a Pisgah player might even find the heavy foot of a Woodville player planted squarely on his foot when the teams jumped to recover the ball. Woodville did play some real basketball when they won the County Tournament that year, and to this day the old-timers in the community still talk about what a great team, what a great, coach, what a great year for basketball it was in 1928.

The only members of the team still alive are Garland Campbell who lives in Scottsboro and Henry Evans who lives in Sheffield, Al. Henry went to work for TVA, moved around a lot, and both his family and Edward Bishop's family went to school and church together in Clinton, Tennessee, during the 1960's. Today Edward Bishop and his wife, Mattie Lou Clay Bishop, live at Butler's Mill. Submitted by: Edward S. Bishop, 6951 Butler Mill Road. Woodville, AL 35776. Sources: Personal knowledge, pictures, and newspaper.

Tom married Edith Livingston, daughter of Joseph C. Livingston and Edna Unknown.¹ The marriage ended in divorce. (Edith Livingston was born on Dec 31, 1911 in AL, USA,^1,3 died on May 8, 1943 ¹ and was buried in Union Cemetery, Woodville, Jackson Co., AL ¹.)

Tom next married Mae Willow Sparks, daughter of Joseph Henry "Joe" Sparks, Sr. and Cora Lou Burroughs.