The rubber turtles float toward the finish line. (eParisExtra photo by Charles Richards)
Ruth Ann Stallings watches as the turtles float toward the finish line.
Kenneth Webb hands over a turtle so someone can look up the number and link it with whoever sponsored it in the race.
By CHARLES RICHARDS
eParisExtra!
Thousands of green rubber turtles were released Saturday during the Johnny Stallings Memorial Great Paris Turtle Float – an annual fund raiser benefitting the Boys & Girls Club of the Red River Valley.
Johnny Stallings
Each turtle had a number on its bottom, and club officials had a notebook with the names of the person who had bought that particular number.
Winner of the $3,000 first prize was Clay Ambach. Second place and $2,000 went to David Blanton, and third place and $1,000 went to Dick Amis.
Ten $50 “quick pick” winners – the next 10 turtles plucked out of the water at the finish line – were Jerry Bassett, Robbie Morrow, John Wright, Pinky Wilson, Billie Lou Duncan, Mason White, Bruce Hood, Gary Pirtle, Coleman Lewis and Gordon Hogue.
Turtles could be sponsored for $10 each, or a “herd” of 11 for $100, and many of the supporters of the Boys & Girls club bought several herds.
The race honors the memory of Johnny Stallings, who died on Aug. 2, 2008, at the age of 46, from congenital heart disease. He was the son of Gene and Ruth Ann Stallings of Paris.
Johnny was known for his smile and his positive outlook on life. He never forgot the name of anyone he was introduced to, and he showed everyone he met, and even those he didn’t, that someone with Down syndrome or a disability could make a difference.
Both Johnny and his father are members of the Hall of Fame of the Boys & Girls Club of the Red River Valley.
At noon Saturday, on the east side of the Red River Valley Fairgrounds, the turtles were dumped into the south end of a stretch of concrete culvert that was cordoned off for the race.
An air gun was used to help speed the turtles along their journey 200 feet to the north, where officials waited to pull out the first ones to arrive.
Each turtle had a number on its bottom side. At a table underneath a tent nearby, club officials waited with a book containing the names of the people who sponsored turtles in the race.
Henry Shaw, executive director of the Boys & Girls Club, announced the winners.
“We want to thank everyone for coming out to support this. See you again next year,” Shaw said.
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Charles Richards Charles Richards moved to Paris in 2004 after retiring from a 40-year career in journalism – the last 26 years as a news writer and sports writer with The Associated Press in Dallas and Washington, D.C. In mid-2004, The Paris News coaxed him out of retirement, and he began covering the police, court and regional beat for The Paris News. Then in early 2005, he was switched to coverage of a sharply divided Paris City Council. He was appointed by the City Council in 2006 to the 12-member City Charter Review Commission, which extensively rewrote the outmoded document. His writing awards include two first-place awards in statewide competition for feature writing. The most recent was his 2005 story on a Paris doctor’s startling use of leeches in a successful attempt to re-attach a man’s severed ear. Over his career, Richards’ interview subjects include Alabama Gov. George Wallace, President Bill Clinton, President George W. Bush, David Koresh, Arnold Palmer, Muhammad Ali and numerous other political and sports figures. He is an alumnus of Texas Tech, where he was editor of the school newspaper. He lives in Paris with his wife, Barbara, who is retired after 30 years as a teacher and high school counselor.
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