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Dan in Daytona

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Posts posted by Dan in Daytona

  1. CM vs CCC

    in The Huddle

    Posted

    11 hours ago, Jambun82 said:

    CCC called a timeout with 15 seconds left. That is why Chaminade Madonna scored the final touchdown. The Education of Dan in Daytona continues, we await the next game.  

    Listen, CCC calls a time out to "get some new guys in the title game ".  Jam, you do Daytona State basketball games all the time and see the same thing. The whole CM offensive team "sprinting" to the line of scrimmage, for another needless score, was not a good look. 

  23. Polk County Fun fact

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    1 hour ago, Nulli Secundus said:

    It could be the radiation in the water.  I'll give you the short version without cliff notes, lol.  Four things brought African Americans to Polk County:  Spanish-American war, Citrus, Phosphate and the railroads. 

    You have to go all the way back the the start of the Spanish-American war when the 10th Calvary (1 of 4) all black Buffalo soldiers was stationed in Lakeland.  During that time, Lakeland and other outlying areas of Polk County amassed large numbers of soldiers that were awaiting deployment to Cuba.  They (and their families) were set up and eventually settled around Lake Wire near downtown in what is know known as the Lake Ridge community all the way north to the Washington Park area near the hospital.  This includes central city where Bryant stadium is now located all the way up to the old Tiger Town air force base on Lake Parker once stood.  Just to give you an idea what I mean when I say "central city", central city  Every town at the time had pockets of African-Americans that were associated with the war with the largest concentration in Lakeland & Bartow.

    Citrus is another not thought of industry and back then, Polk County was the largest producer of Citrus in the state all the way until a few years ago.  Before other ethnicities came to be in Polk County, African-Americans were the top choice for menial back-breaking labor and picking trees all day in the Central Florida heat was about as rough as it got.  That further spread African-Americans all over the county especially those with endless groves (Winter Haven, Auburndale, Haines City, Lake Wales and Frostproof). 

    Phosphate mining was another hot industry beginning in the late 1800's and is still prevalent today starting in South Polk (Ft. Meade) and eventually working its way north to Bartow, Mulberry and parts of South Lakeland now known as Lakeland-Highlands where George Jenkins HS resides.  More so than Citrus, phosphate mining was laborious work and was downright dangerous, both short and long term.  Again, trying to be politically correct but what group was favored to do what others didn't want to do?  

    The railroad industry is big business in Polk now but it was really big back in the day.  When you take into account the man power to establish and maintain the rail infrastructure to move Citrus, cattle and phosphate to points north and to/from the port of Tampa, the railroad probably had the largest noticeable impact on Polk County.  Bone Valley (Mulberry and Ft. Meade) consists of an intricate rail network that crisscrosses Polk County before heading west to Tampa, north to Winston in Southwest Lakeland using either the Seaboard Air Line or Seaboard Coast line where they meet at Diamond Junction in Auburndale.  Polk County was one of the few places in the state where both companies were in direct competition with each other before deregulation and consolidation into what is now CSX.  A few miles northeast of Winston, there was a 180 acre rail repair and refurbishing yard on the edge of downtown Lakeland bordering Kathleen Rd.  That area is now home to the recently opened Bonnet Springs Park.  That area is also located in central city where large swaths of African-Americans still reside generations later.  Winter Haven, Lake Wales and Haines City also had burgeoning rail industries and a few have railroad museums that chronicle how the railroad impacted their communities.  The next time you're in Polk County and you happen to be in a town/city and you notice railroad tracks, there's a good chance there's some African-American history behind it and it probably shows.    

    How that translates into what you deem as continued D-1 success, I can only contribute that to the grind and historically, it wasn't hard to do being surrounded by Hillsborough, Pinellas, Osceola and Orange.  No disrespect to anyone affiliated with a school in those counties.  However, those are the facts.  The first Lakeland school to capitalize on integration was Kathleen given their new location and proximity to the defunct all black Rochelle High School and the neighborhood in which it served.  Lakeland was better in basketball and Kathleen was the football King.  Fast forward a few decades and both schools have swapped roles.  However, Lakeland was a little more resistant to change as it was known as the more upscale of the two.  When I was in high school 91-94, a popular chant at games against Lakeland was "Sink the Snobs" as the school pulled from wealthier, more established South Lakeland neighborhoods including Lakeland Highlands until George Jenkins opened in 1993.  The rest of the county for a long time were one schools towns so there wasn't a massive tug on talent like it is in Lakeland.  After that, Winter Haven lost some personnel when Lake Ridge opened (1995).  They have always had a decent amount of athletes but Winter Haven bleeds into Auburndale.  The 2nd city to truly suffer was Haines City with the opening of Ridge (2005) and if you take a look at their records, you can see the shift when the Oak Hill community that once drove Haines City was split.  What also happened around the same time (2003) is the city of Lake Wales created it's own charter school system and although in Polk County, operated independently of Polk County school district.  That really made things difficult talent wise in East Polk as Lake Wales was able to take in students from anywhere but primarily up US27 into Haines City/Davenport and 540 into Winter Haven.  The Blue Devils are one program I do not envy in football as they are literally smack in the middle of most of the high schools in Polk County.

    Winners
    1973 Haines City
    1974 Frostproof
    1977 Bartow
    1985 Bartow
    1986 Lakeland
    1992 Frostproof
    1996 Lakeland
    1996 Bartow
    1999 Lakeland
    1999 Frostproof
    2004 Lakeland
    2004 Ft. Meade
    2005 Lakeland 
    2005 Evangel Chr. (Lakeland)
    2006 Lakeland
    2014 Victory Chr. (Lakeland)
    2018 Lakeland

    Runner-ups
    1967 Auburndale
    1968 Kathleen
    1971 Haines City
    1972 Frostproof
    1973 Ft. Meade
    1981 Frostproof
    1991 Haines City
    1991 Frostproof
    1993 Lake Wales
    1993 Ft. Meade
    1994 Lake Wales
    1996 Frostproof
    1999 Ft. Meade
    2000 Ft. Meade
    2001 Ft. Meade
    2003 Lake Gibson
    2003 Ft. Meade
    2004 Lake Gibson
    2005 Ft. Meade
    2006 Victory Chr. (Lakeland)
    2008 Lakeland
    2008 Ft. Meade
    2013 Victory Chr. (Lakeland)
    2016 Lake Gibson
    2019 Victory Chr. (Lakeland)

    Great Polk history lesson there Nulli, much appreciated. In my day (early 1970's) Winter Haven had basketball legend Otis Birdsong (NY Knicks) who knocked my Bucs out of the playoffs my senior year and Haines City was a monster in Track and Field. I also played with QB Victor Smith at BCC who came out of Lakeland or Kathleen. Both of whom were better than us. Thanks again.

  24. Polk County Fun fact

    in The Huddle

    Posted

    6 hours ago, Floridaatlantic1 said:

    One last fact. Lakeland was the biggest recruiters and cheaters and were busted which led to crazy state rep messing with the fhsaa and high schools. Just telling the truth here. Go Venice 

    That's why Mainland High has the longest consecutive "Public School" playoff streak in the state of Florida. Mainland is currently at 29 years and it started in 1994. Lakeland High's streak started in 1993. Don't remember the year (2010's ?) when they were disqualified but that ended their streak. ( Shameless Homer Plug ).

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