‘I’ll miss this’: UNA community reflects on parting with Braly Stadium
FLORENCE, Ala. (WAFF) - A bittersweet goodbye for most community members in Florence, especially for those who grew up donning the purple and gold.
“Braly was home for 77 seasons,” Mike Ezekiel said. “It’s a special place. It’s a pillar of the community, has a lot of stories, and if these walls could talk, they would tell a lot of great stories.”
Walls may not be able to talk, but people can. Employees, fans, players, coaches, they’re closing the chapter on Tom Braly Stadium.
“I will miss this, just because of the memories of the things that have happened here,” Donnie McBrayer, who worked for UNA for 49 years as a professor, added. “I won’t have time to tell you all the great memories. I’ve had so many wonderful memories of this.”
He’s been here through all the championship games, wins, losses, and everything in between.
Other employees who grew up in Florence and loved UNA so much that they decided to stick around, like Ezekiel, who works in the athletics department now, but he used to be a kid coming to these games, and then a student doing the same thing.
“It just carries so much history and tradition, so when I think of Braly Stadium and I’m driving down Royal Avenue and I see the back of Braly, I think tradition,” Ezekiel went on to say. “I think of three national championships.”
As you walk into the stands on Saturday, take a seat in the bleachers and watch the game, both Ezekiel and McBrayer advise you to take it in.
The history that built the legacy and the turf that housed three championship wins.
“When you come into Alabama, you know this, people ask you Alabama or Auburn, so I’ve had that question asked to me several times,” McBrayer said. I’m a die hard UNA fan. Diehard UNA person. UNA has been good to me.”
28 straight national championship games hosted right there, three UNA championship wins, and all the celebrations and huge moments from fans and employees alike.
UNA wishes you farewell, Braly.
Florence City Schools will still remain at Braly.
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