By By LYDIA GRIMES Feature Reporter
There are football fans everywhere, but some of them a little bit more devoted than others. The University of Alabama and Auburn University will meet Saturday for their annual clash on the field, and fans of both teams will tell you that this is the important game for bragging rights.
J.B. Brazil will root for Alabama. He is an avid fan who has a large collection of Alabama football memorabilia. His latest acquisition is a drawing of Paul "Bear" Bryant by Jane McMillan. It was offered as an incentive to fans to join the Alabama Alumni and Friends Association. Last June the drawing was on display at the Blueberry Festival, and Brazil joined the organization.
Brazil's love of Alabama football began many years ago and continues today with season tickets to home games.
He really got hooked, and in 1989 he started getting season tickets. He went to see the first game that Alabama and Auburn played in Auburn and found that his tickets were in the Auburn section.
He has attended some out-of-town games also and remembers some of them very well, especially the 1992 Sugar Bowl. He met Coach Bryant while he was in high school.
Brazil was born in Washington while his father was in the Air Force. The family moved around a lot, and he attended several schools. His mother was from Brewton, and when her father became ill, the family transferred to Maxwell Air Force Base at Montgomery to be close to him. After his death they were transferred to Turkey where Brazil's father died unexpectedly at the age of 36. The family came to Brewton for a while and then moved to California for about a year before returning to Brewton when Brazil was in the fourth grade. He graduated from W.S. Neal in 1971 and attended Jefferson Davis Junior College (JDJC) for two years. At that time he transferred to Troy University and played trombone in the band.
He was so homesick at Troy that he came home after about a year and took some classes at JDJC. He later left school and began working at Brewton Iron Works. He enrolled at Reid State Technical College in Evergreen and trained in electrical and engineering. He took a job with the City of East Brewton as a dispatcher for a while and then worked for the East Brewton Police Department as a policeman and then on the Utilities Board for seven years. He then went to work for the City of Brewton in 1984 and has been there ever since.
He reads water and gas meters and turns the services off when people don't pay their bills.
He is one of 16 workers with the utility department and works as collector. He gives those who have not paid their utility bills one more chance to get to city hall to pay up before they are disconnected.
The city has four waters tanks and were lucky enough after Hurricane Ivan came through to have generators to keep the city in water. The city also furnishes gas to much of the county, reaching all the way to the outskirts of Atmore. It also takes care of the sewer system in the city.
He married Tina Grant in 1990 and they have an adopted son, Jimmy, who is 15. Jimmy was a foster child to begin with. The Brazils have been foster parents for several years and have kept several children until they were placed in permanent homes.
Brazil is also an active member of Promise Keepers and a member of Ridge Road Baptist Church. His family sings in the choir, and they are very active in the church.