Coming up on Sports Spotlight with Steve Newsome, the inspirational impact of a groundbreaking organization creating opportunities for African-American golfers in Pensacola for over 50 years, and how pivoting from football to weightlifting is paying big dividends for Miltons Bryson Brown.

Plus, we go deep with Mike Bennett, the dean of Northwest Florida high school football coaches, and check in on Pace's Brandon Sproat, zooming his way to the big leagues on Alumni Avenue.

Welcome to Sports Spotlight.

I'm Steve Newsome.

For decades and still going strong.

We're going deep with Mike Bennett, the dean of football coaches in northwest Florida.

Plus the 100 mile an hour fastballs leading paces, Brandon Sproat to the verge of Major League Baseball and the power and determination that's fueling a remarkable rise in weightlifting for Milton's Bryson Brown.

But we start with the par four golf club.

The organization literally changed the game for African-Americans in Pensacola.

They recently celebrated a milestone that highlights over half a century of making a difference for generations of minority golfers.

Back after he returned from serving in Vietnam in 1968, Raymond Griffin and some of his friends took up the game of golf.

But as African Americans, their options on where to play in Pensacola were very limited.

Either the federally run course at Softly Field or at Osceola, the only city facility that would allow them in no where in the city.

You could walk in the gate unless you're a caddie.

It was first rate, but in my era, you learn to live the things, you learn how to take it.

Push the hard, take it, push the hard until you just by yourself that you have done all you can do to get where you should be.

Griff decided to reach out to eight of his golfing buddies with a new idea.

We just had a lot of fun, but I thought, why not have a golf club just for just us?

You know, and know that I know guys just want a golf club and all the other golfers and all the black with that didn't know about it.

They hey, y'all got a golf club I want to join.

The par four golf club was founded with the original 9 in 1968, but kept attracting new members like Walter Wallace joining them.

I gather a new atmosphere, a new way about golf.

And then we has evolved and how you can meet and greet people in a fellowship.

You can't beat it.

As the club continued to grow, it started to have a real impact on the golfing opportunities for Pensacola's African Americans.

Start opening up in Pensacola Golf course.

Say okay, come play with us.

Well, let's face it's all about money.

Okay, you give all your money, okay?

All give us all of this money.

Yeah.

So.

Okay, we're we're spread around you.

Welcome us.

Welcome.

What started as a social club became something more in 1976.

They created a nonprofit, the PA for charities, and started hosting an annual two day tournament, joining a circuit of African American led tournaments throughout the southeast.

The par four event thrived, bringing in as many as 200 players.

Very special pride, a big smile and our faith community really embraced us when we had the par four charities event, and you see all of these people participating in the event that looked like me.

When I look back at it, the was really significant and not just the economic impact of it, but the acceptance.

Pensacola, Pensacola's Adrian Stills won the first tournament in 1976 as an 18 year old and won it again in 77 and 79, the last one serving as a springboard.

I remember announcing that I was going to turn pro right after that event, with par four members stepping up to help sponsor him.

Stills would go on to reach the pinnacle of golf qualifying for the PGA tour in 1985.

Literally, they helped launch my professional career in the game of golf, along with developing me as a junior.

The par four tournament became an annual staple, creating a significant impact on the African-American community.

The organization donated money to worthy causes and hosted clinics for junior golfers every summer.

Every year we get a card back from 2 or 3 thanking us for showing me the love God had given during high school in the past.

Scholarships for a student that we identified those efforts for juniors were a precursor for the nationally respected First Tee organization.

Opening a local chapter in 2003, stills came home to run it with par for members as pivotal volunteers.

We never paid them.

They would be here, rain or shine.

Regardless.

They were all just gone hole in trying to get kids in the game of golf because they knew the stuff that you would learn from it.

In 2016, the tournament was renamed the Calvin Washington Memorial in honor of their longtime tournament chairman.

The event kept going strong until the pandemic in 2020 and would go dormant for four years.

But even with numbers greatly diminished since their heyday, the par four golf club found a way to bring the tournament back in 2024.

We just didn't know how many golf we going to have, but we knew one day that we had to make it happen.

We could not prolong it because once you pull on it, it dies out.

So we were happy that they they'd come back in June, par four celebrated their 50th anniversary tournament.

They know an influx of youth is needed to continue to persevere, and plans like a junior tournament next year are in place.

But regardless of what is to come, the lasting impact of the par four golf club is undeniable.

The club brought a sense of togetherness for African American golfers.

It also brought, credibility.

The game, par four charities are inseparable and the developing who I am.

It's a huge legacy.

What, par four has given us that time.

I think about what has happened, but just getting together just to go play golf.

I'm proud of it.

Very proud.

And I'm hoping that the young people can look at us and see if they did it back in 1960.

Why can't we keep it going?

Not too many athletes on the Gulf Coast earn college scholarships in weightlifting, but Miltons Bryson Brown is exceptional in many ways, remarkable talent and drive, along with the willingness to pivot, are lifting him to impressive heights.

Bryson Brown's dad played college football, and as he started excelling in the sport, the plan seemed clear.

And football was the first dream.

It was, the goal was to make it to the NFL.

But as a freshman at Milton High School, one of his football coaches recognized his natural ability as a weightlifter and sent him to Joey Palladino, owner and head coach at £0.03 weightlifting.

Immediately when I seen him, I knew that he had something going that nobody else had, and he was just going to be great with the sport.

I started just giving him little coaching tears and he was picking up so fast.

And you don't see that.

It's very rare for kids taking the bar from the floor to the overhead.

And one violent movement, the technique usually falls down, where, as with Bryson's case, he kind of just naturally had that bar path and he could just send the heavy weight up.

Bryson needed more convincing.

His main focus remained on the football field as an explosive wide receiver running back, but in limited time with weight lifting, he was finding incredible success as a freshman.

Newby.

He finished third at the state meet and as a sophomore, Bryson came home state runner up.

At the time, I didn't really think anything of it, but everybody around me was telling me how good I was, but at the time I really didn't see it as it went on.

I started loving more and more because it made me more competitive in everything I do.

He's loaded with natural ability, but his rise in the sport is due to so much more.

His work ethic is what sets him apart from everybody else.

He's able to to put in the work and put his head down.

He is a true definition of a quiet professional.

He's very humble with how he carries himself and how he talks when he comes in, you know he's on the floor because it's just work.

He's just going to put the work in.

As a junior in 2024, his progression reached the pinnacle in high school weightlifting, winning the three AA state championship and Olympic scoring.

It was a surreal feeling because the year before I had tied for first place and I lost because I weigh more, but I actually came back next year and I won it the right way.

And it is.

It made me feel good that since I lost, I put my mind to something and I actually achieved the accomplishments.

Kept getting better.

In the summer of 2024 at the USA Weightlifting Nationals in Pittsburgh, Bryson took home a junior national championship.

The moment was not too big.

I thought that I would do fine in the environment if I have like the potential, and I know in my mind that I could do something, it doesn't matter.

Like the environment that I'm in.

I just had to put it like at the forefront and just do it.

That led to a spot on team USA and an invite to the Pan Am Games in Ecuador.

In a heartbreaker, a clerical error and paperwork meant he wouldn't be allowed to compete, but Bryson was still allowed to travel with the team, and in a training session in Ecuador, he produced a lift that would have won the gold medal.

It was a mixed emotion type thing because like it didn't count, but at the same time it was good to know that I would have won and I didn't, like, just come here for no reason.

Mike gets home.

The head coach for team USA was like, hey, that, that is amazing.

Keep it up.

You'll be back on team USA.

Bryson consistently displays an incredible inner drive and there is no doubt about his motivation.

I don't want to let my parents down.

That's the main thing.

I just want to do what's best for me and to like, show them that they didn't like.

They did a good job raising me.

He's also quick to give a lot of credit to Coach Palladino and the shoes that he gives, and all the things that he tells me to do as I lift those, they stick with me through each and every time I lift.

No matter where I'm at school or here, I always remember those.

And they allow me to make improvement each and every time.

As a senior in 2025, he had to move up two weight classes and still finish second in the state in both Olympic and traditional scoring.

It's all led to a college scholarship with LSU Shreveport one of the top programs in the nation.

Those dreams of the NFL have been replaced by a new lofty goal.

I think with dedication and devotion, he could possibly make the 2028 Olympics as a weightlifter.

I think about it every time I live, really.

I really believe that I had the ability and opportunity to make it to the Olympics, and it's going to take me being coachable a lot and allow myself to continue to work and work and never give up, even if it gets hard, even if it gets to a point where I'm not hitting certain numbers I used to hit, I just can never give up, and I have to continue to push through it because I know I have the potential to be able to make it to.

In his last season of high school, Major League Baseball scouts were flocking to watch Brandon Sproat pitch.

He's been delivering on that potential ever since, and now sits on the verge of reaching the sport's highest level.

New York Mets president David Stern summed it up best when talking about Brandon Sproat this year.

Quote, it's tough not to be impressed and quote the Pace High grad is zooming up the Mets system since they made him a second round draft pick in 2024.

The starting pitcher jumped three levels in his first pro season after dominating for the Mets Single-A and affiliates.

Sproat earned the promotion to Triple-A one notch below the majors, all within four months.

It finally took him a little time to adjust to the notorious Triple-A transition, but he has clearly turned the corner this summer, producing a remarkable four game stretch in June and July without allowing a single earned run in 23 innings with a whopping 27 strikeouts.

Sproat brings a blazing fastball that tops out over 100 miles an hour, along with a continuously improving arsenal of effective pitches.

Currently ranked fifth best prospect in the entire Mets system, he's generating a lot of chatter in the media and from the team about the 24 year old earning a promotion to the bigs perhaps this season and considered highly likely by next season.

Originally a seventh round draft pick out of high school in 2019, Sproat chose to play college ball at the University of Florida.

The raw talent blossomed in his final two seasons for the Gators, and the bet on himself paid off, with the Mets notching him five rounds sooner in 2024.

Pace's Brandon Sproat is speeding his way to the major leagues, and it should be an Alumni Avenue journey to keep watching for many years to come.

Mike Bennett is the dean of high school football coaches in Northwest Florida.

He's been teaching the game for 40 years, 30 as a head coach, the last eight at Escambia.

You don't last that long without being a consistent winner, and that includes leading Pensacola High to a state championship in 2009.

We're thrilled to have Mike Bennett going deep with us.

Mike, thanks for being here.

I appreciate you having me.

You played a Tate in the, late 70s, under, you know, Carl Madison calling him a legend is not doing justice.

And he's super legend.

So what was it like playing under a guy like Carl Madison?

Well, I tell all the time, if, Coach Madison probably saved me, and, like, he saved a lot of kids because I did play it would him the first year, and I.

And I wasn't, you know, I didn't take anything very seriously.

And, but I got with Coach Madison and after I was on the straight path and, he he was just that guy that we all just wanted to do well for.

Coach Madison was unbelievable.

At what point did you realize that you wanted to be a coach?

Well, I was the assistant for Bobby Taylor, who was our defensive coordinator.

His class.

I just can't roll.

I said they taught me how to do all kinds of things, and I just knew.

Right then I, you know, I want to I want I want to teach PE, and I want to, I want to be a football coach.

Well, you played some college ball, Faulkner in North Alabama, and then you got your first coaching job, 1985, at Booker T Washington.

DB coach.

So what was the feeling when you landed your first job?

What was your feeling of getting in there?

Oh, was also, Blair Armstrong, Charlie Armstrong.

Man, it was.

You know, I owe a lot to them taking a chance on me and, Sherman Robinson, the principal, they were.

They were just awesome people.

And, you know, I learned a lot that first year.

And then, Coach Jimmy Nichols came in the next year and, kind of took off.

And, you know, I owe a lot to Coach Nichols also.

So was it.

And it was a natural right away when you started doing it, was there a learning curve for you to kind of get your feet under how you wanted to coach?

Oh no doubt.

I mean, and I'll be honest with it.

I went into girls basketball practice on a regular basis and watch Ronnie Bond, coach and I remember a coach asked me one time, hey, Mike, what do you do in there all time?

And I said, coach, I want to see how you really coach.

And I watched him and I watched he.

He coached the girls just like you costar football players.

I mean, so I learned so much from coaching how to treat kids.

You know, just how to coach from Coach Bond.

Yeah.

Another amazing legend.

Multiple state championships there at Washington with the girls lady cat program.

All right.

So you were there for several years at Washington.

Then you had an opportunity in 1992 to go to Puerto Rico as a head coach.

How did that materialize?

Yeah, I got the job over there and, and, stay for two years, and we were successful.

We were, you know, it wasn't it wasn't near as good as football as Pensacola, especially in the 80s and 80s and 90s.

And, that's that's where I was at for two years and loved it.

You just took a leap of faith, and I was going to Puerto Rico.

And when I got it, got to get it, got to get a head coaching job somewhere, you know, that's what I always say.

Yeah.

So you did.

But you came back, you know, after two years there, as an assistant first, at Pine Forest under another legend, Jerry.

Paula, that's a theme in this area.

So what was it like, coaching under Jerry Potter?

Jerry, you know, we stayed in contact all the time when I was over there.

And, you know, I love coach Jerry.

Jerry was, he was hard nosed, in my opinion.

He was the best defensive coordinator that I've ever had to coach against.

His defenses were, What I think I want.

Our defense is every year to be like, he's hard nosed, fair with everybody.

But he was, he was a good football coach.

You had some epic battles with him, especially defensively over the years.

But you know we'll get into that.

So you left there.

You only there for one year.

You got another head coach job at Northview right.

It's a brand new program.

So what was the feeling of getting that job and then and then starting a program?

I know it was a great job.

Great great people.

Great place for me.

You know, I was used to coaching, the bigger schools and it was hard to, to adjust to it.

But like I said, the kids, I'm, I'm still in I'm still in contact with Charles Lee today.

And I talked to him not too long ago.

And some of the other kids I see and, and they're grown men now, but, it was a lot of fun up there.

All right.

You only did that for one year because Pensacola High came calling the oldest football program in the state of Florida.

And you get that head coaching job.

I mean, what did that mean to you, to land that in 1996?

It was kind of kind of crazy.

Mr. Moore, call me in the in the summer and, he told me he moved me to and he said, he said, I want you to go on to be the head football coach.

And that's how that's how it happened.

And, and what I did then, and I'll be honest with you, not heard the kids were going to leave and they were going here and there, and myself and coach ran corner got and I got in the car.

We went to every seniors house there was on the on the roster.

And we started out with the Monterey Carter, of course, because we want to make sure we got kept in Monterey.

But we went to everybody's house and I talked to parents and I talked to kids and we didn't lose one.

And I'm pretty good.

We're 12 and two, and it got to the semifinal and I had a really good year.

Well you head coach there for 18 years and consistent success there including a state championship.

We'll get that to that in a minute.

But but what was the key you know to to be able to run that program and have consistent success at a place like, well, you know, the administration there were also the whole everyone that I had, you know, from Larry Hatley to Norm Rawls to Sarah Lewis.

I mean, Sarah Lewis was was one of the toughest but one of the fairest principles I've ever been around.

And, you know, I'd go in there sometimes and, you know, I'd be saying things and getting allowed.

And this Lewis Lewis would.

I was what it was.

It was a look.

And she'd give me that look.

And I knew it was time for me to be quiet.

And, I was just fortunate enough to stay for, for 18 years and two years A.D. and, you know, I had 20 great years at Pensacola High School.

2009.

You win the state championship, a huge accomplishment.

And I believe that's still the last large school.

Not a school, to win the state championship out of this right area.

That team was the defense was unbelievable on that team.

I remember coming, you give up less than six points a game.

I think in the playoffs, five playoff games, 13 total points a lot.

I mean, what comes back to you about that state championship run, how hard they work in the off season?

I want to tell you something.

The year before we get in the playoffs, we get to play Godby.

I think it's second round.

I think we got beat 40 to nothing at halftime.

My quarterback said he wasn't going back in and I couldn't blame him.

He was getting rocked the whole game and he told me they said coach, honestly, he said, my football career is open over.

He's now, a mechanic making a lot of money.

He made the right choice.

But I put that sign up and we made a signed 40 to nothing.

And our guys worked so hard in the off season.

And I tell people all the time, I could go to sleep in the weight room, and my guys would get every rep that went one, country best just, McLain I could go on and on about our guys, Jalen Spencer, who we didn't even know it was going to be the quarterback to our quarterback got hurt, before the season and Jalen takes over.

And he's a sophomore out and starting the first game against Pine Forest.

And we lost 6 to 3 in the last run.

You know the only game we lost.

And and we went in the second series and he threw darts.

And that coach Gary Coward is still my defensive coordinator.

Coach Brewer just guys that are goes missing at that time was our offensive line coach.

And, just has really great coaches.

And, Coach Bragg was still there with us, but I remember Hoskin and I, Hoskin, who just has just recently passed away and, you know, he goes to running backs and, you know, he was probably the best athlete I've ever seen ever come out of.

Let's go.

So it's, we're just a great staff, but we are great kids.

All right, so after the 2014 season, you leave coaching to take the ad job.

And I did that for two years.

So.

So why did you do that and how much did you miss coaching during that time?

Well, the first year I a little bit, but the second year Escambia and for playing for the tough and you know just excitement above the game and just just watching the kids and on both teams and man I knew I want to get back and coach.

In the end it was it was tough.

And I miss my coaches.

I miss not being around those guys.

I miss the coaches and I miss the kids.

And so I said, hey, it's time to give up this lady stuff, right?

So you come back, but you come back at the rival school.

When you come back at Escambia, what was the dynamic of coming back, you know, at Escambia?

Jay what I did, I and this is no lie, I call up my players.

In fact, Jalen Spencer is one.

And I told him about the job.

I've been offered the job.

And I said, because I'm not going to lie to you, ma'am.

We didn't even have orange coolers on the field.

There was no orange, no blue everything.

They had to be the yellow and red ones.

Yeah, we went drinking out of them.

Yeah.

We didn't.

We had no Gatorade.

Everything was Powerade.

It was just the way it was.

And, and it wasn't that we disliked the game, but that was the biggest ride.

We're playing for the tub.

And I talked to him.

I said, what are you thinking?

And Jenna said, coach, do you miss football?

I said, yeah, he said, take the job.

I said, you're good with it.

He said, yeah.

And a couple of them said, yes, I take the job coaching.

Yeah.

If you miss coaching and get back in it.

And so I took the job.

So you pick up there and have success right away.

At Escambia 2019, you made the state championship game.

Lost that.

You lost to a Miami school down there.

But but to do that at that program, how validating to take another program another team to the state championship game.

Well, father wanted I think it'd be a little bit better, but I think it validated it to this game.

The community that, hey, look, we're here and we're here to win and we're going to try to win a state championship also.

All right.

So you're still going strong.

You know eight seasons going on nine seasons.

They're 40 years in coaching.

You know it's the passion.

The same is is your love for it still the same.

Yeah I mean to be honest with you I mean I love slow down no doubt about it.

But you know, I still have the fire to do it.

It's just I just do it a little slower pace.

A few years back, you know, I had a stroke, and, And then I got a wreck.

It slowed me down a little bit, but, you know, I still want to coach.

I mean, I enjoy it.

I don't know how long I'll go.

I tell everybody, you know, I'm 3 to 5, but I've been saying 3 to 5 for, like, the last ten years, so I don't I don't know how long it'll be.

The landscape has changed a little bit.

I mean, you know, the game is still the game, but with the transferring being so rampant, it's always been transferring.

But right now kind of mirroring what's going on in college.

You know, it is the landscape right now.

Is this good for the game?

I was a big proponent of letting kids go where they want to go.

I mean, and I still am.

If you're not happy with me and you're not happy with that program.

In fact, I'll give you an example.

I coached his daddy, Miguel Brock.

He played for us in the ninth grade.

He was man enough, came in and, say, coach, I want to go to Pine Forest.

That's okay if you're not happy.

So now, coach, I'm not.

And I said, all right.

But I said, let me if you're not happy playing here, and I know I coach your daddy and I love your daddy.

Your daddy was one of my favorite players, and we still talk on a regular basis.

But I said, if you're not happy, then transfer it.

I'm okay with it because.

And it wasn't anything we did.

He just he grew up in Bellevue.

He wanted to go to Pine Forest.

I had no problem with it.

He goes over there beats was a couple times and, we got one last time, but but everybody thinks that, you know, you can just go where you want to go, and that's not the truth, that you have school choice.

And there's a there's some factors in there of attendance, of grades, referrals.

There's, you know, there's a lot more to it.

I had one come over and he lives in our district.

He's ready for our school.

And, he lasted a few days and said, what we do in the summer is too hard.

He's going someplace.

I said, okay, man, no problem, because what we do is hard.

Tom Ross kids other day and let them clear two calls, one and says, y'all better listen to Coach Bennett because when you get to college, he telling y'all the truth.

It is hard.

Our workouts are even harder than he is.

So, you know, trying to tell them yeah, it's proven out over the years.

Right?

God, it's been a joy covering you all these years and watching us.

And, thanks so much for spending some time.

Well, I hope you can give me a few more years, man.

I hope maybe when I look forward to it.

I appreciate you, man.

That's a wrap on another edition of Sports Spotlight.

But there are so many good stories.

So tell the next time.

One.