WEDNESDAY’S LIST ... of beans ’n greens ’n other things: * * * BACK-TO-BACK national championships, three in the last four years. That’s Alabama football and we may never see it’s like again.

But a bit closer to home there is Jacksonville State University. The Jaxmen also hold a record the likes of which we may never see again, either

Or have you forgotten?

If you have, it’s worth remembering that Jacksonville State holds national championships in all three of the major sports.

Rudy Abbott, now a Calhoun County commissioner, led JSU to two national titles in baseball, Bill Burgess claimed one in football, and Bill Jones took down a national basketball title. No other school, at any level, can match that.

Those championships came in the years JSU was a big dog in Division II. I think it should have remained there.

All three coaches are in the Calhoun County Sports Hall of Fame, and rightfully so.

* * * REMEMBER last week, Tuesday to be specific. It was a day that may have kept God indoors. It was rainy and misty and cold … and miserable.I’m having a talk with myself as I swing off Alabama 21 and head north on U.S. 431, thinking I’d rather be home watching The Rifleman reruns.

Then I saw him.

He was in a bucket high above the highway working on traffic lights at the new intersection.

I made three passes just to look at one of the people we really don’t appreciate. And most times don’t even notice.

I don’t know his name, but I admire him a whole bunch.

* * * BIRTHDAYS: Jan. 5 – M. L. “Red” Allen; Jan. 11 – Mylane Wigley; Jan. 14 – Dasheen Burton; Jan. 17 – Roland Perry; Jan. 23 – Gene Smith and Frazier Burton; Jan. 24 – Holley Woosley and Horace Youngblood; Jan. 25 – Jan. 25 – Dorothy McKinney; Irene Kirk; Jan. 26 – Dorothy Cook.

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SPECIAL PEOPLE: Dot Minshew reached her 90th birthday Jan. 15. A longtime member of Blue Mountain Baptist Church, Dot made it all the way from Birmingham for a little fellowshipping after Sunday services.

Irene Kirk ticks off her 91st birthday Friday, Jan. 25. She, too, is a member at Blue Mountain, but health problems have kept her from church recently.

Both are lovely, lovely ladies.

* * * TOP TEEN: The spotlight this week swings to Oxford High School where Adlih “Addy” Raven Kimbrell ranks fourth in a class of 255 seniors and will graduate in May with an Honors Diploma.

She has 31 ACT composite score and over 4.2 for a GPA.

A member of the National Honor Society, she has ranked in the top teen in her class since 9th grade, holds academic awards in English and biology, and is captain of the OHS writing team.

Addy is editor of the school yearbook and that means she is the boss in all aspects of getting the book put together.

At the moment she holds scholarship offers from Belmont University in Nashville and Berry College in Rome, Ga., among others.

“Abby is a natural leader and an exceptional student in all aspects of school,” says Principal Trey Holladay. “She will be very successful in her life.”

Proud parents are Gary and Lynn Kimbrell, Dogwood Drive, Oxford.

Take a bow, young lady.

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George Smith may be reached at 256-239-5286 or email: gsmith731@gmail.com.