12 Selected To The Alabama High School Sports Hall Of Fame


     Twelve major contributors to prep athletics in Alabama have been selected to the 21^th class of the Alabama High School Sports Hall of Fame.

     The 2011 class, which will be inducted at a March 21 banquet at the Renaissance Hotel at the Convention Center in Montgomery, includes coaches, an official, a contributor and an oldtimer.

     Selected were game official Tony Baggiano; basketball coaches Joe Belyeu, Johnny Patrick, George Hatchett and Gerald "Jerry" Weems; former basketball coach and current AHSAA Assistant Director Wanda Gilliland; baseball and cross country coach William "Bill" Murrell; track and cross country coach Jim Tate; football coaches Lester Smith, Waldon Tucker and Lyle Underwood; former football coach and contributor Doug Barfield; and Underwood, selected in the "oldtimer" category.

    The 17-member Hall of Fame Committee made the selections from the 69 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, SouthPoint Bank, Coca-Cola, Encore Rehabilitation, ESP Screen Printing, Russel Athletic and Wilson Sporting Goods.

     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. 

     LESTER SMITH  -- Smith is a life-long resident of Foley where he was an outstanding quarterback who helped his prep teams go 19-1 and be declared state champs in 1961. He began his coaching career at Foley in 1969 where remained until moving into administration in 1986 as assistant principal and then principal. He served as Baldwin County Athletic Director from 1995 until he returned to Foley to rejuvenate the football program in 2001. He returned to administration in 2004. His overall coaching record was 119-53-2, including a stretch of 10 years where the teams went 84-20, the best in the Mobile area. Five of his teams won Baldwin County championships and four reached the state playoffs. Voted one of the state's top high school coaches by his peers, he was named the 1993 Rotary "Citizen of the Year." He is a member of four halls of fame, Baldwin County Coaches, Baldwin County Middle School Athletic, Foley High School and East Mississippi Athletic.