Lee High School & Optimist Park: 

A Shared Legacy in Huntsville’s Mill‑Village Community

Tommy Towery

LHS '64

Lee High School and Optimist Park share a long, intertwined history rooted in the old Dallas Mill neighborhood of East Huntsville. Their connection is more than simple geography; it reflects decades of community identity, youth athletics, education, and the everyday life of families who lived and worked in the mill‑village district. Together, these two landmarks tell a story of how a neighborhood grew, adapted, and preserved its character even as Huntsville transformed around it.

Optimist Park began life in 1928 as Dallas Park, the official ballfield of Dallas Mill. Dallas Park was built in 1928, serving the Dallas Mill teams. There were robust athletic programs at the various mills, none more so than at Dallas Mill, where an ex-minor league pitcher named Hub Myhand was physical director and the manager of the mill’s baseball team.

At a time when the mill was one of Huntsville’s largest employers, the ballpark became the center of recreation for workers and their families. Crowds of several thousand gathered for semi‑pro mill‑league baseball games, women’s softball teams, and barnstorming exhibitions from traveling Negro League clubs. When Dallas Mill closed in 1949, the Huntsville Optimist Club purchased the ballpark, installed lights, and renamed it Optimist Park. It quickly became one of the few early parks in Huntsville open to all races, and throughout the 1950s and 1960s it remained a major athletic venue for the surrounding neighborhoods.

Many parks in the South remained resistant to integration, but Optimist Park was often the host for Negro League teams playing exhibition games or barnstorming their way through, such as the Black Barons and Monarchs.

Unsettling though it may read, one 1956 story about an exhibition between the Birmingham and Memphis Negro League teams indicated at least a bit of racial harmony, or maybe just irony, by noting, “A section of seats will be reserved for white fans.”

In October 1951, an All-Star team featuring Willie Mays, Monte Irvin, Roy Campanella, Don Newcombe, Luke Easter and Larry Doby, the first Black player in the American League, played a team of Negro League All-Stars at Optimist Park.

By the time Lee High School opened in 1958 as a junior high, Optimist Park was already the beating heart of youth athletics in East Huntsville. The school’s original campus on Forrest Circle sat only a short walk from the park, and the two became closely connected in daily life. Students used the park for practices, games, and physical‑education activities, and neighborhood children often moved seamlessly between school grounds and the ballfields. When Lee transitioned into a full high school in 1964, Optimist Park continued to serve as the primary athletic space for many of its programs. The park’s long tradition of baseball excellence overlapped with Lee’s emerging athletic identity, especially as the school began producing standout multi‑sport athletes.

In 1964, the year Lee High School graduated its first senior class, the baseball program was led by Coach Max Burleson. Max Burleson’s path to becoming Lee High School’s first baseball coach began with a standout athletic career that carried him into professional baseball. Before arriving in Huntsville, Burleson was a multi‑sport star at the University of North Alabama (then Florence State), excelling in football, basketball, and baseball. His performance on the diamond attracted the attention of professional scouts, and after college he signed a contract to play professional baseball.

Burleson played in the St. Louis Cardinals organization, beginning his career in the minor leagues during the late 1950s. Records show that he spent time with the Billings Mustangs, a Cardinals farm team, where he competed as a pitcher. His professional career was brief but formative, giving him firsthand experience in the discipline, strategy, and competitive mindset required at the higher levels of the sport. Those lessons later shaped his coaching philosophy and the way he developed young players.

After completing his time in professional baseball, Burleson returned to Alabama and began his coaching career. In 1963, he joined the staff at the newly established Lee High School in Huntsville, serving as assistant football coach and head baseball coach. When Lee graduated its first senior class in 1964, Burleson was the school’s inaugural baseball coach, laying the foundation for a program that would later produce college stars, professional athletes, and even future MLB players.

Burleson remained at Lee High School until 1972, becoming one of the most influential early figures in the school’s athletic history. His combination of professional playing experience and strong leadership made him a respected mentor to hundreds of students during the school’s formative years. 

Among later athletes was Craig Kimble, whose name remains familiar to many Lee alumni and longtime residents of the mill‑village district. Kimble grew up in the neighborhoods surrounding the school and the park, and like so many young people of his era, Optimist Park was where he first learned the fundamentals of teamwork, discipline, and competition. His involvement in youth sports at the park carried over into his years at Lee High School, where he became known not only for his athletic ability but also for his leadership and commitment to the community. Kimble’s presence at both Lee and Optimist Park reflected the close relationship between the two institutions — a connection built on shared fields, shared families, and shared traditions. For many who knew him, Kimble represents the generation of students whose lives were shaped by the unique environment of East Huntsville, where school pride and neighborhood identity were inseparable.

The connection between Lee High School and Optimist Park is also cultural. Both grew out of the same mill‑village environment — Dallas Mill families, Rison School students, and the east Huntsville neighborhoods that developed along Oakwood Avenue, Andrew Jackson Way, and the Five Points area. When Dallas Mill closed and the community transitioned into a modern residential district, Lee High School and Optimist Park remained as anchors of neighborhood identity. The park preserved the mill’s athletic heritage, while the school carried forward the educational legacy that began with Rison School and the mill‑supported junior high system. Families who lived in the mill houses sent their children to Rison, then to Lee, and spent evenings at Optimist Park watching ballgames under the lights. The rhythm of daily life in East Huntsville was shaped by these institutions working together.

Even after Lee High School moved to its newer Meridian Street campus, the historical link remains. Optimist Park still sits in the heart of the old mill district, and Lee’s alumni, traditions, and athletic history continue to reflect the same community roots that shaped the park nearly a century ago. The two places remain connected through shared memory — childhood games, school events, neighborhood gatherings, and the sense of belonging that defined the mill‑village era. Today, they stand as reminders of Huntsville’s industrial past and the enduring strength of the communities that grew around Dallas Mill.

LEE LUNCH BUNCH

For Classes of ’64, ’65, ‘66

Thursday, October 22, 2026

11:00 am

Logan’s Roadhouse

Balmoral Dr. Huntsville, AL

Lee High School classmates from ’64, ’65, ’66, please save the date for our fall luncheon. 

Also, please remember to send your RSVP to one of the two cell numbers listed below. 

Limited seating so reservations are a must!

Thanks!

Looking forward to seeing you then.

Patsy Hughes Oldroyd ’65 (256) 431-3396

Judy Fedrowisch Kincaid ’66 (256) 656-3667

Thanks for all the comments made this week.

The Wayback Machine

"Take Me Out to the Ballgame"

Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly

1949

Take Me Out to the Ball Game (released in the United Kingdom as Everybody's Cheering) is a 1949 American Technicolor musical romantic comedy film directed by Busby Berkeley and produced in the Arthur Freed unit of MGM. It stars Frank Sinatra, Esther Williams, Gene Kelly, Betty Garrett, Edward Arnold, and Jules Munshin. The title and nominal theme is taken from the unofficial anthem of American baseball, "Take Me Out to the Ball Game".

The film was announced in May 1948. It was based on a story by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, with a script by Harry Tugend.[2] The female lead of club owner K.C. Higgins was originally to be played by Ginger Rogers, but she withdrew a month before filming and Esther Williams replaced her.

Last Week's Questions, Answers, And Comments

Cecilia Levan Watsom, LHS ‘68, "I grew up on Mckinley Avenue and Russell Street. We had what we called the big ditch that flowed into the creek.  Some brave kids swung over the ditch on a rope; others wadded in its dirty water. I would walk down and catch a few tadpoles in a jar. We sure had fun!  That was our time and our Huntsville. Huntsville has grown and the ditch paved over but oh what sweet memories."

(Editor's Note: I think the place you are talking about was called Dallas Branch."

Sherman Banks, LHS ‘65, "You are doing a great job. I appreciate all your hard work. Thank You."

Martha Maddox, "I always heard that Pinhook creek got its name because kids wanted to go fishing there but had no hooks. They made a hook from a safety pin and thus the name Pinhook Creek."

Jimmy Bannister, LHS ‘66, "In my note last week, I entered Randy Johnson instead of Danny Johnson. The sad part is that I proofread it three times before I submitted it. My lack of memory is only surpassed by my lack of typing skills."

Buddy Miller, "Good morning, Tommy, I enjoyed reading your article on riding a bus. Mentioning your experience of trips on Diamond Bus tours prompted me to check them out. My wife and I just enjoyed a seven-day Diamond Tour to Mackinac Island.  Plans are presently being made to tour Maine in October on another Diamond trip. Your recommendation and our experience so far will add pleasure to our "older" age. Thank you for all the work you do to keep us Lee High Fami-Lee informed. Regards from Huntsville."

Skip Cook, LHS ‘64, "I read the article on Pinhook Creek with great interest since it flowed on the west side of Lakewood Subdivision.  After an early summer morning hunt for grasshoppers and crickets. a short bike ride down Barrywood would take one to "the creek".  If no bugs were found for bait a couple of slices of "white bread", or some pieces of bacon, or the primo bait "hot dogs" would be carried along.  Craig Bannecke, Terry Lee, or Jim Love were always in the fishing crew.  There was a fallen log across "the creek" that allowed access to "the pond" on the west side of "the creek".  Skinning dipping in the pond was observed. The pond was fed by a spring coming out of the hill side and it was cold water. I don't recall ever catching anything that was worthy of showing off to others. I did hook a big snapping turtle while fishing from "the log" one day,  but my Zebco 33 couldn't handle it.  

There was an extreme drought in the area and the creek went dry in 1961 or 1962.  The fish and snakes accumulated in the deeper pockets of the creek.  Great fun with a BB gun.  Craig had better eyes back then and was a much better shot than I was.

At the top of the hillside was an old cemetery.  A little research yielded that it was the Harris Cemetery named after Richard Harris (born 11-20-1758, died 1-23-1853).   He moved to Madison County in 1809 from Powahtan County, Va.  It was noted that he witnessed the surrender of General Cornwallis at Yorktown, Va.

His epitaph was printed in the 2/9/1853 edition of the Southern Advocate and read:  "We do not say that he was without fault but we do say that few men have lived as long as he did with as few censurers and with as few enemies".

I wonder if Mr. Richard Harris ever went fishing in Pinhook Creek?"

Delores McBride Kilgore, LHS '66,  "Thank you, Tommy for keeping this TRAVELLER going! You are so appreciated!"