Ladd-Peebles Stadium Message on Tailgating Brings Anger
By Dale Hines
Blue RAM Media/Gulf Coast News
October 16, 2025
MOBILE, Ala.
A Friday night high school football game between Williamson and Vigor High Schools will not have any tailgating in the parking lot.
A notice sent out by Ladd-Peebles Stadium stating that there is absolutely no tailgating and anyone involved in such activity would be removed from the property has upset students, parents and even some teachers.
The message from the stadium, which the school system owns, was blunt: “THERE IS NO TAILGATING FOR THIS GAME! Anyone trying to tailgate will be removed from the property immediately, you’ve been warned.
Who authorized the Facebook page and why is in question, especially since there has never been tailgating allowed at the stadium.
Some are calling it a racial insult since both schools are predominantly black. Others have said that it was disrespectful and insulting.
Wednesday afternoon, an edited version listing game day security rules has replaced the original post. School system spokeswoman Rena Philips said the district had not approved the original message.
Shootings in Leland Mississippi over the weekend may have prompted the message stated one social media commenter.
Five people have now been arrested in that mass shooting that left six dead and others injured.
But Sherry Dillihay-McDade, the school board member who represents the area that includes Ladd, said this was a decision made by the administration at Williamson because it is standardized testing week. She said normally, people buy tailgating passes, which requires teachers to go to the stadium early to set up and then clean up afterward. She said that it would be too much of a distraction during test week.
Shootings have occurred in Mobile during high school football games in the past.
In 2019, gunfire erupted inside Ladd-Peebles Stadium during a game between LeFlore and Williamson High Schools.
Ten teenagers, all between the ages of 15 and 18, were injured. Six were shot, and others were hurt in the ensuing chaos.
A 17-year-old was arrested and charged with nine counts of attempted murder. The shooting was believed to stem from neighborhood disputes being brought to the public event.
On October 15, 2021, there was another shooting that occurred at Ladd-Peebles Stadium, this time on an exit ramp outside the venue as a game between Williamson and Vigor high schools was ending.
Five people were shot, including three juveniles. Four victims were taken to the hospital by ambulance, and one was transported privately.
One person was arrested and charged with five counts of attempted murder. Prosecutors later stated that the shooting was the result of a dispute that had begun weeks earlier.
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