THE GRAND DADDY

The sign of a champion

The subliminal origins of the Grand Daddy trophy. A tribute to our grandfathers who were real life Big Daddies
FIELDSTOWN - "Daddy Hand" was the name used for Otis Lee Hand (1895-1963) by his 23 grand children. A no-nonsense, primitive-Baptist, hard-scrabble, dirt farmer passed his toughness down to his 12 children. “The Old House” was the homestead for the Hand family. Almost half of the grand children grew up on Hand Lane and the others visited frequently for Sunday dinners, backyard football and spend-the-night parties. Frank Phillip Slovensky (1911-1976), called “Paw Paw” by his 12 grandchildren was a hard worker in Birmingham’s steel mills. He was a full-blooded Slovak, the son of immigrants from present-day Slovakia. He lived most of his life in Brookside and was a member of the Knights of Columbus, the Fraternal Order of Eagles and the United Steelworkers Workers. His 7-children inherited his work-ethic and moral center and both were passed on to his grand kids.