By Johnny Sanders, Sports Editor
MOODY – It all started with a text message and a Spongebob GIF and now the masterminds behind “411 Day” look for year two to be bigger than the first one.
Last year, the day consisted of donuts and coffee for teachers, bouncy houses, food trucks, face painting and baseball and softball games; however, it was about more than just those things.
In March of last year, the city declared April 11th, “411 Day” in Moody. If you do not already know, Moody High School is located on Alabama Highway 411, which is where the name came from. Upon being hired at Moody, Jake Ganus had this “411” brand in mind when considering his new position. It started as just the football team referring to themselves as the “411 Boys” and has infected the rest of the athletic department as well as the three schools situated on the plot of land there in the heart of Moody, Alabama.
Now, you have “411 Hoops,” “411 Baseball,” “411 Softball,” and the list goes on and on throughout all of the sports and extra-curricular activities at all of the Moody schools.
So, how did this all come to be?
In Ganus’ second year at Moody, he received a text message from his strength and conditioning coach, Cam Willis. Willis was looking at a calendar in his office and he texted Coach Ganus, “We need to make April 11 ‘411 Day’ for our city.” The response was a GIF of Spongebob Squarepants’ best friend, Patrick the Starfish, with the top of his head popping off as if to say his mind was blown by the idea. So, “411 Day” became more than just a decree from the mayor. It became a community event.
Last year’s festivities brought out over 1,000 members of the city, where everyone enjoyed a day of fun, festivities and even caught a baseball and softball game if they wanted.
Cam Willis said, “In year two, I think people are expecting it. People are asking what we are doing for 411 Day. The mechanical bull is like my new thing or my next step to take it further. The whole thing just needs to be a family reunion. Like a homecoming in the spring. We have a community of proud people. I’m not really from here and neither is Jake, but we want to just get all Moody people together. That’s what the 411 culture is all about. It’s in the thick of soccer, softball and baseball and they need love too. I want it to be a homecoming. Eventually I want the kids to be out of school and shut it down for a day, but right now we just want everyone to have a day to get together and be proud of where they are from. There are a lot of people who take to heart what we are trying to do and we want to build here. We just want to celebrate not only the athletics and our schools. Continue to enrich the pride of Moody and who we are and what we are doing. When the blue maps come along, it will take it to a whole different level.”
This year, the 411 community look to build on a successful year one and make it even bigger and better.
The schedule of events is below:
7:30 – 8:00 am Coffee and donuts/biscuits for all teachers in the Moody School system from the football boosters.
Athletes will be at schools for elementary and middle school to open doors and greet younger students.
8:00 am – 9:00 am – Athletes will read to students
9:00 am – 2:00 pm – Turner Shaved Ice for the elementary and middle schools
10:30 am – 12:30 pm – Church of the Highlands will provide lunch for all teachers at all schools with catering for elementary and middle school. Food truck will be between jr. high and high schools for those teachers and faculty.
1:40 pm – 3:00 pm – Coaches vs students basketball with special guests for both teams.
3:00 pm – Festivities begin: Turner Shaved Ice, LuLu’s Dessert Truck, Carpinetti’s Pizza Truck, Frozen Rooster Food Truck; Inflatables; 411 Kids Foundation; Mechanical Bull; Police and Fire Department command station; Face Painting
4:30 – Varsity Baseball plays Leeds; JV Softball plays Mortimer Jordan with Varsity Softball to start after JV finishes.