Palatka sports icons honored with facility renamings – Palatka Daily News

December 27, 2024
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The family of Johnson Session Sr. gathers in front of the new field dedicated in their late relative’s honor on Dec. 21 at the John Henry “Pop” Lloyd Sports Complex. (Photo submitted by Terrill Hill)
Families and other loved ones gathered at Booker Park-Lefty Turner Field in Palatka earlier this month to celebrate the legacies of three local sports and community heroes. 
On Dec. 21, the complex’s basketball courts were named the Jarvis Eric Williams Sr. Basketball Courts. The softball fields were designated the John L. Williams North Softball Field and Johnson Session Sr. South Softball Field.  
All three honorees have played integral parts in the community. 
“Thanks to the city of Palatka for allowing me, Jarvis and Johnson to be part of this community the way I feel like it’s necessary to be a part of and continue success from this point on,” John L. Williams said during the renaming ceremony.
Former Mayor Terrill Hill hosted the renaming ceremony as part of a project to revamp Booker Park he had been working on since 2022. The city received a brownfields grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to clean up the park, but Hill said there is still more work to be done. 
 
 
The naming ceremony at Booker Park, 701 N. 10th St. in Palatka, added three more local sports legends’ names to the facility to accompany Lefty Turner, a Negro League baseball player who has a field at the park named after him.
Earlier this year, the sports complex section of the park was dedicated as the John Henry “Pop” Lloyd Sports Complex in honor of the Palatka native and shortstop who broke color barriers during his 27-year career, according to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1977. 
The renaming ceremony focused on celebrating the impacts of honorees, three sports titans whose roots go back to Palatka. 
“Those guys were intricate parts of the fabric of Palatka,” Hill said. 
Turner, Lloyd, Jarvis Williams, John L. Williams and Session all had humble beginnings, Hill said. And when they left Palatka and made it big, they gave back to the place they called home. 
“The naming of the fields … it all goes back to the same concepts,” Hill said. 
 
Lasting legacies
Families of Jarvis Williams, John L. Williams and Johnson Session Sr. attended the renaming ceremony to represent their loved ones, Hill said. 
The Central Academy class of 1964 joined Session’s family to celebrate their classmate, who passed away at age 75 in 2021. 
Session was a coach and umpire in Palatka. He started coaching in the 1960s during segregation and didn’t stop until 2016. 
Hill said Session raised and coached many kids from Palatka and nearby. When the youth sports teams were underfunded, Session took money out of his own pocket to help, Hill added. 
“For 50 years, he had a hand in every aspect of youth life,” Hill said. 
 
 
Not only did Session coach baseball, football and basketball, but he helped families who were struggling and mentored the youth to make sure they stayed in school and kept up their grades, Hill said. 
The complex will also keep alive the memory of another Palatka sports icon,  Jarvis Williams, who grew up on Seventh Street in Palatka, just one block away from Turner, Hill said. In 1983, Jarvis Williams graduated from Palatka High School, where he played varsity football, contributing to the team winning the state championship in 1981. 
He played for the University of Florida Gators from 1984 to 1987, winning an All-American award in 1987. He later moved on to the NFL, playing for the Miami Dolphins from 1988 to 1993 and the New York Giants in 1994. 
At 46, Jarvis Williams died in May 2010 after football practice at Interlachen High School. When the Palatka City Commission voted in May 2024 to name the fields after the three honorees, Hill said Jarvis Williams accomplished so much for Palatka.  
“Jarvis died doing what he loved, and that was coaching football,” Hill said in May. “On the day he died, he’d just left practice before he passed and he left us with so many memories.”
While most of the people whose names grace facilities at the park are deceased, John L. Williams was able to celebrate the renaming in person. He thanked city officials for the honor and expressed his appreciation for his fellow sports legends.
“I love you,” John L. Williams said. “Thank you, and continue the support that we have been doing.”
He also played for the Gators from 1982 to 1985 after graduating from Palatka High School in 1982, also contributing to the 1981 championship win. 
He was a first-round NFL draft pick by the Seattle Seahawks in 1986 and played for them from until 1993. His pro football career came to an end after his stint with the Pittsburgh Steelers from 1994 to 1995.   
The men whose names were added to Booker Park were athletes, but their dedication goes beyond any sports arena, which is why they deserved this honor, Hill said. 
“The common theme with all of them is they put God first,” he said. “They were all servant leaders, and they were all committed to their community.”
 
 
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