Light fixtures on the USTA courts in Flushing Meadows are designed to cut light pollution. The stadium complex is the only professional sports venue certified by DarkSky International, a group trying to preserve the night sky across the globe.
JON JOHNSON Former Northview pitching great Barry Hightower, who also coached in the area on the high school and junior college level, passed away Wednesday night following a bout with esophagael cancer.
Hightower was a 1984 graduate of Northview and was drafted in the eighth round out of high school by the New York Mets. He played four years in the Mets’ organization and two more years in the San Diego Padres’ organization. Hightower made his biggest impact coaching on the high level for 24 years, his first two being at Headland and later spent one year at Rehobeth in 2018. He spent the last six years at Mary G. Montgomery near Mobile. Other stops included 12 years at Opelika and three at Jackson High School. Wes Whitfield, now the baseball coach at Headland, was the catcher when Hightower pitched for Northview. People are also reading… “I think Barry threw about 92-93 in high school,” Whitfield said. “That was back where everyone else was throwing 78-80. He had a really good curveball. Those were really the only two pitches he thew. He was just competitive … he just knew he was good.” As a senior, Hightower led Northview to the semifinals of the Class 4A playoffs, where the Cougars faced Fairhope in a best-of-three series in Dothan. “He threw 13 innings the first day ,” Whitfield said. “We won the first game and we were up 5-0 the second game. We took him out for the seventh inning and we lost, and then we lost the next day and Fairhope ended up winning the state. “We had a very good ball club back then at Northview, but when Barry was on the mound, we knew we were good.” Whitfield, a longtime friend who stayed in touch with Hightower throughout the years, also played in the youth leagues against Hightower. “He was special the whole time,” Whitfield said. “He didn’t really like to hit at all, but he knew he was really good on the mound.” Bernard Nomberg was a sophomore starter for Northview when Hightower was a senior and recalls how dominant of a player he was. “I played third base and he was left-handed, so I didn’t get a whole lot of chances hit at me a third base because nobody could pull it,” Nomberg said. “I think he had about two strikeouts per inning on average. I want to say he went like 12-2 with about 170-something strikeouts. “He was the best pitcher in the state of Alabama for two years in high school in 1983 and 1984. The ball just exploded into the catcher’s mitt.”“Barry was a gracious teammate, especially to the younger guys,” Nomberg said. “He was not above the rest of us as a star could be. “I remember everybody celebrating when Barry got drafted. He always was just such a positive teammate and friend.” After Hightower injured his pitching arm in the minor league ranks, he went into coaching, first starting as an assistant at Wallace-Dothan in 1989. He was head coach of the Govs in 1995-96, then was a pitching coach at Troy University before his long tenure in the high school ranks. Sammy Frichter was the head coach at Wallace when Hightower first gave coaching a try. Hightower had also played American Legion baseball for Frichter. “When he got released by the Mets he came home and put him to work right away,” Frichter said. “He played American Legion baseball for me and he was one of the best pitchers in the state by far. Besides being a great pitcher, he was from a great family. “I could see it in him when he was playing for me. He had the characteristics to be a good coach. He understood the game.”
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