[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 25 (Wednesday, March 11, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E349-E350]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               MR. ADD PENFIELD'S EULOGY TO LEE JAY STONE

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                           HON. HOWARD COBLE

                           of north carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 11, 1998

  Mr. COBLE. Mr. Speaker, a legendary broadcaster from the Sixth 
District of North Carolina, recently eulogized another legend from our 
district. His words were so moving, I wanted to share them with my 
colleagues.
  The broadcaster, Mr. Add Penfield, spoke so eloquently about Lee Jay 
Stone, a man who was more than just a football coach. Stone, the 
longtime head coach at Asheboro High School, was a football 
institution. Lee died on January 27, 1998, at the age of 91. Add 
Penfield spoke so movingly at Stone's funeral on January 29.
  His eulogy appeared in the February 4 edition of the Asheboro 
Courier-Tribune. I commend to my colleagues the words of one legend who 
spoke so glowingly about another legend.

           [From the Asheboro Courier-Tribune, Feb. 4, 1998]

               Lee Jay Stone, Not Only a Man of Football

                           (By Add Penfield)

       Lee Jay Stone.
       How to eulogize him . . . how best to celebrate the life of 
     a man whose stature among his fellow human beings literally 
     defies eulogy.
       I have been asked to try. I respond in all humility.
       I think maybe one of the Good Ole Boys with whom he often 
     met in downtown Asheboro had it about right not long ago.
       ``Lee Stone,'' this Good Ole Boy said, ``was something 
     else, he was one of a kind.''
       Tired, well-worn, hackneyed language, this. Some might say 
     so.
       But those of us here . . . those of us whose lives Lee 
     touched and made better--I think would agree that these 
     everyday words hardly tarnish the image of Lee Jay Stone. You 
     bet Lee was something else. Indeed, he was one of a kind.
       Lee Stone was something else as a football coach . . . nary 
     a losing season in a career that became legend. It may have 
     taken one of a kind to persuade Charlie Justice to go out for 
     the team at Lee Edwards High School in Asheville those many 
     years ago and to inspire Choo Choo to become arguably the 
     best and most famous of all North Carolina-bred football 
     players.
       He . . . Lee Stone . . . was something else, one of a kind, 
     when he coached players like Strawberry Wheless, bless his 
     soul, and Mark Leggett, and Dave Dalton, Bobby Burrows, Neal 
     Hughes, Carrell Moody, Sparky Johnson and Jimmy Dollyhigh.
       Because of Lee Stone, these men came to know what it meant 
     to win a football championship at Asheboro High.
       If you will, just ask the fine men who coached with and for 
     him . . . people like Max Morgan and Russ Murphy and Tony 
     Simeon . . . if Lee Stone was something else. They'll tell 
     you to the man . . . he was one of a kind.
       Lee Stone was a Hall of Famer as a football coach. And, I 
     submit, if there were Halls of Fame for classroom teachers 
     and school administrators, as there really ought to be, Lee 
     Stone would have been a shoo-in for induction. As he did on 
     the sidelines with his football teams, somehow he always got 
     the best from those students who encountered his considerable 
     skills in math and economics classes.
       For Lee Stone, you see, was first, last and always an 
     educator . . . in all departments. He was one who could 
     share, with great good humor and accompanying discipline the 
     infinite wisdom with which he was blessed. He shared with the 
     entire community; witness, his long and distinguished service 
     as a member of the Asheboro City Board of Education.
       Oh, my yes! Lee Stone was something else in his chosen 
     profession . . . educator and coach, coach and educator. He 
     was one of a kind as a molder of men and women.
       Just as an aside . . . Lee Stone was something else the 
     night he was inducted into the N.C. Sports Hall of Fame. The 
     induction took place fittingly . . . and at the instigation 
     of David Stedman . . . in the Asheboro High School gymnasium.
       It fell my lot to serve as Lee's presenter at the big 
     banquet which taxed the capacity of the old gym. Hall of Fame 
     officials organizing the event were quite specific and most 
     emphatic in telling the Coach and me just how much time we 
     were to have at the podium. . . . after all, others besides 
     Lee were being inducted.
       I think I was allotted four or five minutes for the 
     presentations. As I remember it, Lee was allotted something 
     like seven or eight minutes for his response.
       Some of you were there. You know what happened. My 
     broadcast training enabled me to meet the time requirement, 
     right on the money. Then, Lee . . . one of a kind, God bless 
     him . . . got up without a note and spoke for the better part 
     of half an hour.
       You be the judges. Only a man who was something else could 
     have gotten away with it. For the record, I know of no 
     complaint that was registered that memorable night.
       Lee Stone was something else when it came of family friends 
     . . . devoted husband to the good wife who went on ahead, 
     loving father and father-in-law, doting grandfather. With 
     Lee, the family came first.
       Also, with Lee, friendships were treasures to be enhanced 
     with fierce loyalty . . .
       I am proud to have benefited from one of Lee's countless 
     friendships, to have known how fierce his loyalty to a friend 
     could be. Lee Stone and I traveled many miles together, 
     climbed in and out of a lot of broadcast booths and press 
     boxes in stadiums across this state and across this country. 
     We

[[Page E350]]

     tooled down a lot-of-highways, often with Lee at the wheel, 
     to some memorable assignments where usually he'd run into a 
     friend or perhaps an unknown admirer. One or the other nearly 
     always surfaced.
       I suppose we had quite a bit in common, the Coach and I. In 
     many respects, football was the centerpiece of our respective 
     careers. We both believed mightily in a man named Wallace 
     Wade. We could both sing the praises of Wade's renowned 
     single wing and the wide-tackle Six. And it might be of some 
     small significance to note that we were both transplanted 
     Yankees who fell in love with and found a home in North 
     Carolina. Down at Clemson, where Randleman-born Bob Bradley 
     was ever the thoughtful host. . . . . they even taught us to 
     eat catfish.
       I suppose all of you, each in his or her own private 
     moment, will eulogize Lee Jay Stone far better than I . . . 
     in ways more meaningful to you. Perhaps you will come up with 
     something better to say that he was ``something else'' or 
     ``one of a kind.'' You must certainly know of Lee's love for 
     God and Country.
       Whatever the words you choose, whatever the memories you 
     have of Lee Stone, you are likely to conclude that this man 
     of monumental stature has had a profound influence on this 
     community and every player, coach, student, educator, fellow 
     citizen, friend . . . on anybody who enjoyed even the most 
     casual relationship with him. Those who were closest to him . 
     . . his beloved daughters, Frances and Susan, his son-in-law 
     Joe, his wonderful grandchildren . . . only they can 
     calculate fully the tremendous void left by his passing.
       We all know Lee Stone ran the race well . . . maybe 
     beginning in the Yale Bowl where he set prep school records 
     in track. We know Lee fought the good fight right down to the 
     end Tuesday morning.
       As for me . . . of all the moments I was privileged to 
     share with Lee, the one that lingers is that which occurred 
     the night he presented me for membership in a local civic 
     club.
       Coach Stone put his arm around me and told the Kiwanians: 
     ``I love him like a brother!!'' The feeling, Coach, was 
     mutual; the compliment, immeasurable.
       I know full well I was scarcely alone in this world as 
     somebody Lee Stone loved. I had plenty of company. Brotherly 
     love was something he bestowed generosity.
       We all are richer for it.
       Again, in the words of his admiring friend . . . one of the 
     Good Ole Boys who went on ahead . . . Lee Jay Stone was 
     ``something else.'' The man was one of a kind.
       And, oh, yes . . .
       I shall not soon forget the last real conversation I had 
     with Coach Stone in the final phases of his galiant fight.
       It was at Clapp's . . . where the attendants came to love 
     the Coach and give him such compassionate care.
       I had started away from his chair, heading for the parking 
     lot, when he sort of barked at me as only he could.
       ``Hey'', he said, with his best practice field emphasis.
       ``When I get out of there in a few days, we'll have to make 
     another of our trips.''
       This trip is one the Coach makes pretty much on his own.
       But I am convinced that there awaits a glorious journey's 
     end where, whenever legendary coaches gather in the larger 
     life, Lee Jay Stone will be joining the likes of Wade and 
     Neyland and Lee's fellow Hall of Famer, Bob Jamieson, in 
     extolling the virtues of the single wing and the wide tackle 
     Six. Their praises will be sung into eternity.
       Safe journey, Lee. Catch up with you later.

       

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