Alabama softball legend and so much more, Sir Paul Morrison
Haverkampf Photography and Video
Photography in Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Sometimes you meet someone and just know right away that you’re meeting someone special. That was the way I felt when I first met Paul Morrison. I’d never met him before that hot Alabama summer day when I was to take his picture on a softball field that was named in his honor. He shook my hand with the warmest smile you’ll ever see. The kind of smile that lets you know you’ve just made a friend. I truly enjoyed every story he told me. The closest thing to anything negative I heard come from him was when he joked that his son was a good one even if he was an Auburn fan.
Sir Paul, as he was introduced to me, is in the Alabama ASA Hall of Fame and The West Alabama Softball Hall of Fame. At the age of 11 he taught himself his famed windmill delivery by throwing at bushel baskets against garage doors. With that style he could throw the ball over 100 miles per hour and was taken into the professional ranks. Sir Paul led 11 teams to state championships. After all of his accomplishments, when another softball field was named in his honor Sir Paul said he was honored, but they could have named it after any of the boys who played with him because they deserved it just as much.
Sir Paul played his first softball game in the mid 40s and retired from playing in 1974. That’s when his greatest accomplishments came. He stayed active coaching softball and when girls softball changed to fast pitch in the 90s he was in demand. He worked with hundreds of girls and at least 41 went on to play at the collegiate level. He never charged a penny for any of this. He felt like he had help coming up and you pay back what is given you. I believe passing on that kind of character to the hundreds he was able to influence was his greatest accomplishment.
Sir Paul has passed away now, but his legacy lives on in those he taught softball and life lessons to. I feel blessed to have gotten to spend some time with him and I feel honored to have been able to capture these pictures that mean so much to the people who love him.
