Like Bo Jackson knows football and baseball, City of Andalusia director of parks and cemeteries Alan Bracewell knows how to run ball tournaments.

Bracewell started working under former Andalusia director of leisure services Dwight Mikel in 1993, and since then, he said the city has hosted several district, state and regional tournaments, along with two Babe Ruth World Series.

Mikel has since retired and the 2012 8 and under Cal Ripken Southeast Regional Baseball Tournament was the first tournament Bracewell said he wasn’t “under” Mikel’s tutelage.

“This is the first time that I haven’t had Mr. Dwight around,” he said.

Bracewell said one important thing he learned from Mikel is to always “be prepared.”

“You have to plan ahead,” he said. “You have to know how you treat others, whether it’s your umpires, press box crew and your coaches, your staff.

“You have to have a good facility to play on,” he added. “You can’t control how the games go, or the weather, but you try to control everything else that’s going on.”

With that large of a task, Bracewell said it’s the City of Andalusia, the community and the volunteers who deserve all the credit.

“You can call people and they’ll come (and help),” he said. “You ask them to come up and it’s taken care of.

“It’s always been like that throughout the years,” he said.

When asked what was his hardest tournament to co-direct and or direct, Bracewell said each one is similar.

“They are all the same,” Bracewell said. “You have some glitches, but you work through those glitches — and you follow the rules.”

Bracewell and his wife, Judy, have two sons, Michael and Chad; and a daughter, Stephanie.