Former Cotton Row Club owner and operator Stacy L. Ragland Jr. was remembered Saturday as a gentle giant.
“He was just a big old teddy bear. A big old guy but a super nice guy,” recalled longtime friend Chris Cascio.
Mr. Ragland, 80, of Greenwood, died of heart failure Friday at Greenwood Leflore Hospital.
Memorial services for Mr. Ragland will be at 11 a.m. Monday at Williams & Lord Funeral Home with the Rev. Dennis McKay officiating.
Cascio, who bought the Cotton Row Club from Bubba Buford, said Mr. Ragland was a fixture at the club even after he sold it.
“I’d been coming around there since I was a teenager,” he recalled.
Mr. Ragland ran the fabled club for more than 30 years. After selling it to Buford in 2008, Cascio said, Mr. Ragland continued to operate the club for another year.
Greenwood attorney Donnie Brock said Mr. Ragland was a down-to-earth, one-of-a-kind individual.
“He would do anything in the world for you,” Brock said. “I never asked him to, but he would have.”
Friendly wagering was part and parcel of the Cotton Row Club in its heyday, and Mr. Ragland was a meticulous bookie.
“He conducted card games. He took care of baseball, if anyone wanted to bet on a baseball game. He really kept the books,” Brock said.
Dale Persons said he remembers meeting Mr. Ragland on New Year’s Day in 1990 soon after starting his job with Viking Range Corp.
He said Mr. Ragland did a good job running the club and making it a good place to gather after work.
Persons said Mr. Ragland, a former boxer, had a rather rough exterior and “looked like he could take a punch and throw a punch if need be.” But at the same time, he added, Mr. Ragland was also a gentleman with a great sense of humor who was willing to help others.
“Deep down inside, he was just a really classy guy, a nice guy,” Persons said.
Mr. Ragland was born Feb. 14, 1931 — Valentine’s Day — in Bolivar County, the son of the late Stacy L. and Creola Dykes Ragland Sr.
A veteran of the U.S. Army, he resided in Greenwood for more than 40 years. He was a Baptist.
Mr. Ragland is survived by his wife of 37 years, Barbara K. Ragland of Greenwood; two sons; two daughters; two stepdaughters; eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
Visitation will be held from 10 a.m. until the time of services Monday at the funeral home.
City Editor David Monroe contributed to this article.
