Century’s Showalter, Molino’s Sutton Honored At Pensacola’s City Of Champions Event

February 6, 2015

The City of Champions event in Pensacola Thursday night honored two special guests — both from the North Escambia area.

The event top guests were Baltimore Orioles manager Buck Showalter and Hall of Fame pitcher Don Sutton.

Showalter, the 2014 AL Manager of the Year, is former resident of Century. Showalter’s family moved to Century in the late 1950’s. His father served as a teacher, coach and principal at Century High School for 23 years. Buck Showalter played Little League ball in a thriving program in Century, and he graduated from Century High School. Century’s modern day Showalter Park is named after him.

Sutton, also known for his broadcasting skills, is a former resident of Molino. He attended Tate High School where played several sports and led the Aggies baseball teams to two state championship games, one ending with a win. He was the Tate High Class of 1963’s “Most Likely to Succeed”. During his career as a right-handed pitcher, he won 324 games, including 58 shutouts and earned the seventh place spot on baseball’s all-time strikeout list with 3,574. Sutton played over a decade with the LA Dodgers, and also played for the Houston Astros, Milwaukee Brewers, Oakland A’s and California Angels before returning for one last season with the Dodgers. The Don Sutton Ballpark in Molino is named in his honor.

During the event, local businessman Quint Studer announced a $5,000 donation to Tate High School in Sutton’s name and a $5,000 donation in Showalter’s named to be used toward GED education in Century.

About 20 other area baseball players and others with close ties to the sport were also honored Thursday night, including Tate gradate Travis Fryman of Molino who played for Detroit and Cleveland;  Tate’s Scotti Madison who played for Cincinnati, the Kansas City Royals and Detroit; and Brad Salmon of Tate who played for Cincinnatti.

The annual City of Champions events raises funds for a local non-profit committed to opening the Pensacola Sports Museum.

Pictured: Former Century resident Buck Showalter was among the honorees Thursday night at the City of Champions dinner in Pensacola. Photo by Brent Lane for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.

Comments

3 Responses to “Century’s Showalter, Molino’s Sutton Honored At Pensacola’s City Of Champions Event”

  1. Audrey on February 7th, 2015 12:42 am

    Congratulations Nat! I’m so proud of you. I feel like i’m on top of the world just knowing that I went to school with you. I wish you the best.

  2. haley on February 6th, 2015 7:12 am

    WOW//////….This is really amazing. And to think, I am also a Tate Graduate…..Congrats to all those honored…….

  3. Gman on February 6th, 2015 5:04 am

    For a small town like Pensacola we sure have put out some first class athletes.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News, Sports, TOP sports