Sessions Peanut Company donates land to EHS for new tennis complex

As a part of its Capital Plan, Enterprise City Schools has been planning the construction of a new state-of-the-art tennis complex and track and field complex, but a number of issues put a damper on those plans until recently.

According to Enterprise City Schools Superintendent Greg Faught, there simply was not enough land owned by ECS for the proposed eight-court tennis complex, which is where Sessions Company stepped in.

Sessions Company owns the land adjacent to EHS and has agreed to donate and deed a parcel of land to ECS, so that the school can continue on with its plans.

“The word gracious does not do this justice,” Faught said of the gesture by the company.

Faught proposed to the board that the new complex be named in honor of Lewe H. Sessions, co-founder of Sessions Company and known as “Mr. Enterprise” during his life.

Sessions was the son of Sessions Peanut founder H.M. Sessions and at 19 years old L.H. Sessions began working in his father’s bank – Farmers and Merchants National Bank in Enterprise – as a cashier.

The Sessions family was also responsible for bringing Coffee County farmers to Virginia to purchase peanut seeds to become peanut farmers after the boll weevil destroyed cotton crops in the area.

L.H. Sessions worked his way all the way up to president of the bank before the bank failed during the Great Depression in the 1930s. He and his brother – John Sessions – founded Sessions Company, which still operates in Enterprise to this day.

During his life L.H. Sessions was a city councilman where he helped spearhead the project that brought the first paved roads to Enterprise, and he served on numerous boards over his life including 40 years on the Enterprise City Board of Education. L.H. Sessions also helped raise money for the Enterprise Community Center and another recreational area between Enterprise and Ozark, which later became a training camp during World War II.

Sessions also won a number of awards during his life including Most Outstanding Citizen of Enterprise Award, Enterprise’s Man of the Year and was recognized as one of the founders of the peanut industry in the southeastern United States by the National Peanut Festival.

Faught proposed that the board name the tennis complex the L.H. Sessions Tennis Complex in his honor and appreciation of the Sessions Company’s donation.

“We would like to honor someone who gave back so much to the community and the school, and now even years later he can still help the school system,” Faught said.

The board unanimously approved the move to accept the land donation and name the complex in honor of L.H. Sessions.

Faught said that a plaque honoring L.H. Sessions would also be placed at the complex and a dedication would be held after its completion.

The board also voted to accept the bid of Sports Turf Company Inc., for the construction of both the EHS track and field and tennis complexes on campus.

The original bid for the two complexes was more than $1.3 million but after some changes were made to plans Sports Turf Company returned with a bid of $1,254,334 total, which the board approved.

The track and field complex will be constructed around the existing freshman football practice field adjacent to Wildcat Stadium and will feature eight lanes and have all track and field events that the Alabama High School Athletic Association offers. Those events include the triple jump, high jump, long jump, pole vault and discus throw.

Enterprise Athletic Director Trent Trawick said that the school hopes that construction on the two complexes will begin in the next six weeks and will be completed by the beginning of the 2020 spring sports season.

“This is a big step in the goal that I have as an athletic director, which is getting all of our facilities here on campus,” Trawick said. “The city has been gracious enough to let us use the complex off campus but this is the first step in getting facilities here at EHS on campus.”

EHS track coach Chris Rodgers said that this step will be big for the school and the community.

“This a huge win for the school system and definitely a plus for our program,” Rodgers said. “Most other (Class) 7A schools we compete against have their own track, so this is a big win for our school and our community. We’re really excited about it.”

Trawick said with new state-of-the-art track and tennis complexes the hope is that the school will be able to host tournaments and meets for both sports at EHS.

“Track and field didn’t have a complex at all to practice at, so it will be huge for them to have facilities here to help train and better prepare them for competition, and hopefully bring some revenue to the school and the community as a whole by hosting tournaments and track meets, too,” Trawick said.

EHS still doesn’t have on-campus softball or baseball facilities, but Trawick said that is the next goal for the athletic program.