About Inductee

Without J. P. Pitts, the Huntsville-Madison County Athletic Hall of Fame might not even exist. Pitts was a member of the organizations Board of Directors from its inception in 1989 until his retirement for health reasons in 2003. He was the man in charge of advertising sales for the Hall of Fame from 1990 until 2003. Pitts, who was reared in the Big Cove Community of Madison County and has lived there all of his life, has always devoted himself to the physical, mental and spiritual development of the communitys young people. Through his lifetime of work in the home, workplace, church and school, he has long been recognized as one of the men in Big Cove dedicated to molding character and good citizenship in the lives of the youth of the area. In the 1960s, he acquired three acres of land adjoining the Big Cove School for a football field. The man who owned that land didnt want to sell, Pitts remembers, but we convinced him that itd be good for the school. A trustee for years at Big Cove Junior High, Pitts also served as the Big Cove PTA president for four years and the treasurer for four years. He was a Scoutmaster for eight years, receiving the National Camping Award, and is largely responsible for the growth and development of the troop. District scout executive Spence Ball referred to Pitts as one of the really good Scoutmasters in the Chichasaw District, and added: He has run a good program without seeking any self-glory. Pitts has also served as chairman of Big Coves annual Fourth of July barbecue and is active in Masonic Lodge activities. He was also president of the Madison County High School Booster Club for four years. From 1949 until his retirement in 1984, Pitts worked as a machinist at Rohm & Haas Co., concentrating for the first 20 years on rocket research and development under an Army contract at Redstone Arsenal. He also happened to be the horseshoe-pitching champion at Rohm & Haas. Athletics has been one of his life-long interests, although he says, I wasnt much of an athlete myself, but I tried. J.P. and his wife, Lillian, have two sons, Gary and Troy, and a daughter, Brenda. Brenda Pitts was inducted into the Huntsville-Madison County Athletic Hall of Fame in 1994. Brenda was the real athlete in our family, says her proud father.