USM's 'Roost' celebrates 30 years

Fellowship. Food. Fun.

The Right Field Roost at Southern Miss' Pete Taylor Park has supplied ample amounts of all of the above — and then some.

The line of reserved parking spaces for the most dyed-in-the-wool Southern Miss baseball fans celebrated its 30th anniversary Friday when the Golden Eagles opened the 2015 season against Murray State.

Each game of each year, dozens of diehards assemble along the park's fence line, which begins behind first base and wraps around the right field fence, almost stretching to centerfield. Forty spaces in all make up the Roost.

"Tailgating for football is the most goodest, then (the Roost) became the most bestest," said Charles Burchell, who was one of the first occupants of the Roost in one of the original 11 spaces. "'The Mayor' (Jody Lott) swears he got the first spot, which is fine."

Former Southern Miss baseball coach Hill Denson — now the head coach at Belhaven — spearheaded the effort to institute the community atmosphere down the right field line. Besides an added element to the gameday environment at Pete Taylor Park, it served as a way to bring in added revenue.

In Denson's second season, he approached Southern Miss' then-athletic director Bill McLellan with the idea.

"Coach Mac would never admit it was a good thing," Denson said. "He never thought it would work, but he let us do it. If you ever knew him, he was a gruff old joker. So it was funny, the next fall he said, 'What if we move the batting cage so we can sell some more spots?' Those spots sold very quickly, and he was fired up about that. So the next year, he said, 'Why don't we go further down that hill and add some more spots?'"

So the Roost in its present incarnation was complete.

During the past 30 years, the collective's inhabitants have started, stopped, re-started and maintained certain rituals, routines and rites.

In the early days, when the Golden Eagles' opponent made an error, fans in the Roost would throw an actual boot over the fence. That practice ended when the footwear inadvertently hit a Florida State player during a game. Another of the group's original members, Brad Martin, became known for his dance number when the "Beverly Hillbillies" theme song was played over the public address system.

Burchell said they also used to tempt opposing players by leaving hamburgers or hot dogs on top of the fence during the game.

"Every once in a while, they'd come get one," he said Friday as he organized his designated turf just beyond the right field wall.

The community became such an engrained part of game days, the residents ended up much like family to many around the baseball program.

"I enjoyed going out there myself and getting a rib or two," Denson said. "I was usually starving to death after a game. There were a lot of times, too, those guys would stay until 2 in the morning. Some of them, we'd just tell them to lock the gate when they left."

Former Southern Miss assistant coach Doug Lambeth was also instrumental in the formation and development of the Roost.

"The people of the Roost made it the Roost," said Lambeth, who still has a spot with his name on it. "There's a lot of good memories out there."