Senior Bowl switches course, invites Azalea Trail Maids

Future local funding came in jeopardy for the Reese’s Senior Bowl as one Mobile County commissioner believed the event’s leadership was snubbing the Mobile Azalea Trail Maids.

During a planning meeting on Thursday, Jan. 20, Commissioner Randall Dueitt brought the issue to the fore, saying the group has not been invited to attend this year despite it having been a part of the event at least since the late 1970s. He asked county officials if anyone knew how to get in contact with its Senior Bowl Executive Director Jim Nagy.

The Azalea Trail Maids is a 50-member court of high school senior girls who appear at civic events in colorful, custom-made antebellum dresses.

In the fallout over the issue, the event’s leadership reneged and invited the group to attend the game, issuing the following statement after Lagniappe’s print edition timeline:

“For decades, Azalea Trail Maids, the official ambassadors of Mobile since 1929, have welcomed fans to the Senior Bowl. As an important part of our Senior Bowl traditions, we have happily extended the invitation to the Trail Maids to march in the annual parade, join us for the welcome event, and greet our fans as they come into the stadium on game day. The Trail Maids have graciously accepted our invitation to join us at the welcome reception and we hope they will be able to join us for the parade and the game.”

Dueitt told Lagniappe he spoke with Nagy Thursday afternoon after bringing his name up in the open meeting. He said Nagy tried to justify not including the group, questioning the imagery of the Trail Maids’ iconic antebellum-style dresses. Nagy reportedly said the dresses can be offensive and inappropriate for a nationwide audience.

The term and usage of “antebellum” have been brought into more scrutiny in recent years. Notably, country music group Lady Antebellum dropped the term from their name to become “Lady A” in June 2020 in the midst of race riots sparked by the death of George Floyd.

Dueitt dismissed any notion the Azalea Trail Maids have anything to do with race. He said the group diversified in the early 1970s and regularly includes members of different races and ethnicities. He noted the queen of the 2020-21 Azalea Trail Maid Court was Black.

“I was elected to serve the people of Mobile County. This is a diverse group of young ladies. They reached out to me to represent them. They’re being discriminated against. It’s not right. I’m going to stand up for them,” Dueitt said.

Despite the antebellum appearance, Dueitt said, the dresses are meant to represent Mobile’s azaleas.

“Plain and simple, that’s what they are,” he said.

The Trail Maids’ website says the group has its origins in 1929 when the Mobile Junior Chamber of Commerce undertook a project to encourage citizens of the community to plant azaleas along the Port City’s thoroughfares. The Azalea Trail would later be marked with a pink line down the middle of the road.

Dueitt objected to Nagy’s concerns over a national audience being offended, noting the Trail Maids are included in a number of nationally recognized events, including the LendingTree Bowl, the 2009 presidential inauguration of President Barack Obama and recently, the McDonald’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in Chicago.

Dueitt pointed to comments made by former Mobile Mayor Sam Jones, the first African American to be elected mayor in Mobile’s history, after the Trail Maids’ appearance in Obama’s inauguration. In the wake of some controversy over their participation, Jones defended the group.

“The Azalea Trail girls represent the beauty of Mobile,” a statement issued by Jones at the time said. “After all, we are the Azalea City. We are extremely proud of their participation in President-elect Barack Obama’s inauguration and can think of no better group that represents the character and diversity of our city to showcase at this historic event. As it relates to diversity, we would compare Mobile with any city in the state of Alabama. We are a diverse city representing people from all segments and walks of life. These girls epitomize that, and they are excellent ambassadors for Mobile.”

The group has also appeared in the Rose Bowl Parade in Pasadena, California, the nationally televised Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City, Disney’s Easter Parade in Orlando, Florida, the Philadelphia Thanksgiving Day Parade, the Chicago Christmas Parade, the Indianapolis 500 Parade and the Fourth of July parade in Atlanta.

“I understand their position, but I disagree with it. It’s unacceptable,” Dueitt said.

The Senior Bowl left the Trail Maids out of the 2021 Senior Bowl as well, and members of the group and parents reached out to Dueitt with their concerns. He said when questioned about the decision last year, Senior Bowl officials cited pandemic protocols, though Dueitt was hearing conflicting reports of their true intent.

“I understood that, and out of respect for public health I accepted the COVID excuse,” Dueitt said. “I told the young ladies who approached me to let me know if it happened this year.”

Dueitt said it’s unclear to him at this point if Nagy has made this decision executively or if the NFL was involved.

The NFL did not respond to requests for comment by press time.

A spokesperson for the Azalea Trail Maids provided the following statement:

“The Mobile Azalea Trail and the Senior Bowl have a long history. We have participated in Senior Bowl activities for many years. Last year, concerns over COVID-19 prevented us from participating. We look forward to continuing our relationship with the Senior Bowl. We remain ready to serve our city whenever we are invited. The Mobile Azalea Trail loves the Senior Bowl and wishes them a successful 2022 game.”

Local funding on the line?

The Mobile County Commission provides the Senior Bowl with $165,000 each year to help make the event possible. 

“When we do our budget, this will be addressed,” Dueitt said.

 Dueitt is under the impression this is a significant portion of the event’s budget. He said local sponsorships fuel the event and the NFL itself isn’t a large contributor other than the media coverage involved.

The city of Mobile has progressively increased its support of the Senior Bowl in the last two years. The city set aside $152,000 for the bowl game in its FY20 budget, which was upped in FY21 to $225,000. The FY22 budget has a $500,000 allocation for the event.

Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson said following the Senior Bowl’s decision to reconsider, “We spoke with the leadership of the Senior Bowl today, and it’s our understanding the Azalea Trail Maids have been formally invited to participate in this year’s game. We look forward to seeing this accomplished group of young Mobilians there!”

We spoke with the leadership of the Senior Bowl today, and it’s our understanding the Azalea Trail Maids have been formally invited to participate in this year’s game. We look forward to seeing this accomplished group of young Mobilians there! https://t.co/Oc8HElwrTL

— Mayor Sandy Stimpson (@MayorStimpson) January 25, 2022

Dueitt said he believes reports of the Senior Bowl having a $40 million economic impact are exaggerated. He believes the number is closer to $7 million. He said it’s no secret the NFL would like to move the Senior Bowl out of Mobile. Dueitt thinks if they choose to do so in the future, they’ll point to him as the cause.

“I’ve heard people say I don’t get a say in who they invite to their party. Well, when I’m hosting the party, I think I have the right to call when someone hasn’t been invited who should have been,” Dueitt said.

The three-member commission may have a majority consensus on the issue as well, according to Dueitt. Dueitt said Commission President Merceria Ludgood did not weigh in on the issue, but Commissioner Connie Hudson shared his concerns.

Hudson told Lagniappe the Trail Maids are “very important participants in the time-honored Senior Bowl tradition” and she is appealing to the members of the Mobile Arts and Sports Association, the Senior Bowl Board of Directors and to Nagy to issue an invitation to the Azalea Trail Maids to attend and participate in the 2022 Reese’s Senior Bowl to “greet visitors and demonstrate the charm and warm Southern hospitality, which they so beautifully symbolize.”

Ludgood did not respond to a request for comment.

Sam Jones

Lagniappe called Jones, who is now a member of the Alabama House of Representatives, asking him if he still stood behind his statements in 2009.

Jones said his intention at the time was not to defend the antebellum appearance of the group, but rather to support their representation of the city of Mobile.

“I certainly was not saying they should be there to represent antebellum history,” Jones said. “My point was that we had an opportunity to get Mobile on the national stage and those young ladies were representing us. I hoped they were representing a new future for Mobile where we are all-inclusive in everything we do.”

Asked if he was concerned with the Senior Bowl’s apparent dismissal of the Trail Maids, Jones said, “2009 and 2022 are really different times.”

Jones said concerns of one-sided teaching on race have hit a significant level, claiming this is reflected in the current debate about teaching critical race theory. He said depicting the antebellum dress plays into ignoring the realities of racial injustice of the era.

Asked if the group should reconsider its use of antebellum-style dresses, Jones said it was “something to consider.” He said he doesn’t know what an alternative would be.

“They represent a time that is not so pleasing to some of our citizens in the state of Alabama,” Jones said.

Jones was careful to differentiate between the style and the girls themselves, who participate in the court.

“This is certainly not an indictment on the young women who participate and what they represent for the city,” Jones said. “When they went to the inauguration, they represented both Black and White in Mobile, but in real life, there were no Black Azalea Trail Maids [free Black women in antebellum times].”

Overall, Jones said, Alabamians need to become more aware of what things mean to others and how they make them feel.