Long before she became an alderman of Crawford, Sabrina Washington was a basketball player for the Crawford Jaguars, the local elementary school basketball team, in the 1980s.
And she was a good one, recalled Washington, who played in the old Crawford Elementary School gym where the then burgandy-and-white floor matched the color of her school mascot.
Washington’s best friend, now-Crawford City Clerk Beverly Hairston, described herself as too shy to play on the team. But when Washington played, Hairston would cheer for her from the balcony, singing, “We are the mighty, mighty Jaguars!”
Even after the school was torn down, the gym remained as a way for her to relish the good old days, Washington said. That’s why she was thrilled to finally see the gym undergo renovation as Lowndes County supervisors gathered with city officials to tour the site on Tuesday morning.
County District 4 Supervisor Jeff Smith, a longtime advocate for the project located in his district, told The Dispatch last week that he looks forward to the completion of the renovation. Smith said he hopes that the revamped gym would turn out to be a “real wholesome, quality public facility for the community.”
The gym will not only be for Crawford, but also for communities in Artesia and Plum Grove.
“We’re in this together,” Smith said Tuesday.
The county received $350,000 in early January as part of a bond package approved by the state Legislature last year, said Parks and Recreation Department Director Roger Short. The renovation should cost about $300,000 and is expected to be finished by May, he said.
The process will be divided into five phases, Short said. The first step will revamp the outside walls and roofs, which will be followed by renovations of the lobby, front entrance, restrooms and the basketball court. A new hardwood-like gym floor will be installed as the last step, he said Tuesday.
Wooden bleachers within the gym will be replaced with aluminum ones, Short said, and the four lights above the balcony will be replaced to match the others that were put in place two years ago.
The interior structure will be largely left the same, Short said, but the balcony will be torn down. Air conditioners, which the gym never had, will also be put in place, he said.
The money left after the renovation, if any, could be used to build a new pavilion and renovate the playground area outside the gym, Short said. However, the surplus is not guaranteed.
“What we really want is a top-notch renovated facility,” District 5 Supervisor Leroy Brooks said.
Crawford Mayor Deane Parson said the new gym will give children from Crawford and nearby towns a venue to hold tournaments and other events. The renovation would be completed just in time for the summer day camp program in town, she said.
“By the summertime when this opens up,” Parson said, “we are gonna be blooming in the town of Crawford.”
Sammy White, a pastor at the Oakland Missionary Baptist Church, shares Parson’s high hopes. White, a Crawford Elementary alum, used to play basketball on the “dirt court” outside the school before the gym was even built.
“When I was growing up, we didn’t have this,” White said. “All of this right now is improving the quality of life (in the community).”
Washington, now 50, passed her passion for basketball — and the gym — on to her family. Not only did her son play in the gym during the summer, she said, her 7-year-old grandson, Akeem Brown, just won a free throw tournament at the gym last October.
“I think he’s awesome,” Washington whispered with a smile. “I want my grandkids to enjoy the thing that I enjoy.”
Yue Stella Yu was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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