Nine major contributors to prep athletics in Alabama have been selected to the 19th class of the Alabama High School Sports Hall of Fame.
The 2009 class, which will be inducted at a March 23 banquet at the Renaissance Hotel at the Convention Center in Montgomery, includes coaches, administrators and contributors.
Selected were Larry Andrews, Tom Danner, Joe Frank Fowler, Clarence Marble, Simpson Pepper, Larry Simmons, Barbara Snider, George O. “Shorty” White and Bailey Yelding. Andrews, Danner, Marble and Pepper are deceased.
The 17-member Hall of Fame Committee made the selections from the 50 nominations on the Hall of Fame ballot. The Hall of Fame is located at the State Office of the Alabama High School Athletic Association in Montgomery.
Sponsors of the Hall of Fame program are the Alabama High School Athletic Directors & Coaches Association and the AHSAA. The corporate sponsors are al.com, Alfa Insurance, Coca-Cola, Encore Rehabilitation, ESP Screen Printing, Regions, Russell and Wilson.
To order tickets ($35 each), mail requests along with check or money order (payable to AHSAA) to: Alabama High School Athletic Association, P. O. Box 242367, Montgomery, AL 36124. Additional information is available at 334-263-6994.
A thumbnail sketch of each 2009 inductee:
LARRY ANDREWS — Andrews coached high school baseball for 34 seasons – all at Baker High School in Mobile. The Clarke County High School and University of Mobile graduate went to Baker in 1968 and remained as head baseball coach through 2002. He was 511-265 during that span, guiding the Hornets to AHSAA state titles in 1974 (Class 2A), 1976 (3A) and 1990 (6A). His teams won 15 area titles, reached the state playoffs 20 times and 115 of his former players played baseball in college or in the professional ranks. He was chosen eight times to coach the East-West All-Star Classic.
Described as the consummate professional as a teacher and coach, he is a member of the Alabama Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame. He is deceased.
HUGH THOMAS “TOM” DANNER — Born in Jackson, Miss., in 1933, Danner graduated from Tuscaloosa High School in 1951 and the University of Alabama in 1956. He became a teacher/coach in the Tuscaloosa City School System in 1956 where he served as head track coach for the next 15 years. His 1957 team won the state championship and his teams finished second in 1956, 1958, 1959, 1960 and 1962. He also served as an assistant football coach, helping the 1964 team claim a state title. The 1956 and 1957 teams also went undefeated. After a four-year absence, he returned to coaching in 1976 as a volunteer track coach at Tuscaloosa Junior High School, then became a volunteer assistant at Central High School from 1979-1982.
In high school he set the state record for the discus and shot put in 1951. Danner was a member of Alabama’s 1953 SEC Championship football team that played in the Cotton Bowl. A two-time All-SEC track honoree, he helped Alabama win the SEC title in 1952. He was a member of the Alabama “A” Club, served as a Boys State counselor and was a member of the Tuscaloosa Sports Hall of Fame. He passed away in 2005.
JOE FRANK FOWLER —Fowler, who turned 72 last summer, has served as a basketball official in the AHSAA for the past 51 years. A native of Florence and graduate of Rogers High School, he began officiating basketball in 1957 and is still active in training young officials.
He officiated football for 34 years (1966-99) and umpired baseball for 29 years (1956-85). Fowler also officiated college and junior college basketball for more than 20 years. He has set the standard for officiating in northwestern Alabama with his hustle, dedication to proper mechanics, fairness and professionalism. He has served in several leadership roles in local associations and statewide.
Fowler served as a member of the Lauderdale County Board of Education for 28 years.
CLARENCE MARBLE—Born near Memphis in 1936, Marble won over 500 games in his storied basketball coaching career at Talladega County Central High School in Howell’s Cove. Since he was a fixture in the small Talladega County community for more than 30 years, the school recently named the gymnasium in his honor. An outstanding athlete in high school at Booker T. Washington, he went on to Rust College where he was named the school’s most outstanding athlete in 1958. He was named to All Gulf Coast Conference in baseball two years and in football and basketball three years. He set the conference record for points in a game (44) in 1956. He signed a professional baseball contract with the St. Louis Cardinals and also played professionally with the Memphis Red Sox in the Negro American League.
He began his coaching career at Immaculatta High School in Birmingham in 1967, moved to Phyllis Wheatley High School in 1968, to Ophelia S. Hill High School in 1969, then settled at Talladega County Training (now TCC) in 1970 where he stayed until his retirement more than 35 years later. He took his basketball team to the state tournament three straight years in the 1980s and culminated the run with a 30-3 record and the 1A state championship in 1984.
Also an outstanding football, baseball and track coach, he served as the school’s athletic director. He is now deceased.
SIMPSON PEPPER—Known as the “Voice of Legion Field,” he attended Ensley High School in Birmingham and later the University of West Alabama (Livingston State). An outstanding football and baseball player in high school and college, he was the first batter in the first East-West Baseball Classic all-star game in 1944.
He spent six decades (1950-2008) in education. He began his teaching and coaching career in 1950, first at B.B. Comer High School and later at Hueytown and Ensley. An assistant coach in football, he also served as a baseball and basketball coach. He served as principal at Jones Valley Elementary School from 1969-78 and at Jones Valley High School from 1978-85. In 1986 he became a teacher and athletic director at Central Park Christian School where he remained until his death earlier this summer.
His second career as the public address announcer at Legion Field spanned 44 years. He also served as the University of Alabama’s public address announcer at Bryant-Denny Stadium and at Coleman Coliseum during much of that time.
His voice was heard by millions, from junior high track meets to numerous Iron Bowl clashes, and his professionalism is now the standard for public address announcers throughout Alabama and the Southeast. He received the Distinguished Service Award from the Birmingham Monday Morning Quarterback Club, was honored by the Birmingham City Board of Education and was also inducted into the Alabama Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame.
LARRY SIMMONS—The Hayden High School and Jacksonville State alumnus was head football coach and athletic director at Thompson High School in Alabaster from 1971-82, compiling a 100-29-1 record. He also coached at Hayden for two seasons before moving to Thompson, which had enjoyed just two winning seasons over the previous 15 years.
He turned things around quickly, leading his teams to the state playoffs six times from 1973 to 1982 and to the Class 3A state championship in 1982. The Thompson football stadium is named in his honor.
He was named Class 3A State Coach of the Year by the Birmingham Touchdown Club and Big Orange Club in 1982, coached in the North-South All-Star Classic in 1982 and returned to serve as head coach in 1983.
He moved into administration in 1983 and served as principal from 1985 to 1992. He served on the AHSAA Fifth District Board and president of the Shelby County Coaches Association. After retiring from education in 1992, he became a sporting goods sales representative.
Considered a pillar of the Alabaster community, Simmons serves as deacon at First Baptist Church.
BARBARA SNIDER— Currently the principal at Mortimer Jordan High School in Jefferson County, she served as a teacher/coach at Erwin High School from 1973-98. She coached the volleyball team for 17 seasons with a 409-233 record, seven region titles and one county title.
She started the Erwin tennis program and coached the boys and girls teams to a 166-63 record over a 23-year span. Her 1991 girls team won the Class 5A state championship and was crowned county champs 11 times.
Her 1980 gymnastics squad won the state junior high compulsory title and she was named State Coach of the Year in 1994-95. She also coached the bowling team for three years.
An outstanding physical education teacher, she was selected Jefferson County Teacher of the Year in 1995-96 and the ASAHPERD State Teacher of the Year in 1996-97. She moved into administration in 1998.
GEORGE O. “SHORTY” WHITE—In his 14 years as head coach at Banks High School in Birmingham, his football teams compiled a 100-37-5 record and went unbeaten in 1965, 1972 and 1973 with a 35-game winning streak over two straight state championship seasons (1972, 1973) and into 1974. His 1974 team defeated Woodlawn 19-6 at Legion Field before a state-record crowd of 42,000-plus.
With the Banks program rated one of the best nationally, many of White’s players went on to college and even professional stardom, including Johnny Musso, Larry Willingham, Jimmy Sidle, Bobby Johns, Mike Neel, Rick Neel, Ronnie Roddam, David Cutcliffe, Paige Cutcliffe, Billy Strickland, Jeff Rutledge and Gary Rutledge. Many of his former players and assistants went on to coach at the major college level, including Cutcliffe, Johns, Jeff Rutledge and Bill Burgess.
After joining the Alabama staff for seven years, White returned to the prep ranks at American Christian Academy and Pleasant Grove before retiring.
He earned All-State honors at Phillips High School in 1950 as a co-captain of the school’s only unbeaten team. He played in the 1951 North-South All-Star Game and later coached in the1968 classic. He was named National Coach of the Year in 1973.
BAILEY YELDING—Yelding was a standout athlete at Baldwin County Training School graduating in 1957. He then attended Alabama State University and returned home to Bay Minette to coach football from 1964-70 until he joined the staff at Fairhope. His football teams were 49-16-1.
He served as junior varsity basketball coach at Fairhope for five seasons, compiling a 72-28 record. He then coached the boys varsity basketball team for the next 16 seasons, racking up a 302-130 record. His teams went to the state tournament semifinals once, the quarterfinals three times and won the Baldwin County championship 10 times.
A coach in the 1980 North-South all-star game, he is a member of the Fairhope High School and Baldwin County Varsity Coaches halls of fame. Instrumental in helping guide Fairhope through the early years of integration, Yelding is currently a member of the Daphne City Council.