Alabama High School Hall of Fame Selects 11 for Class of 2018 Induction
MONTGOMERY – Eleven major contributors to prep athletics in Alabama have been selected from a field 51 nominations for induction into the 28th class of the Alabama High School Sports Hall of Fame next March.
The 2018 class, which includes coaches, administrators, officials and an “oldtimer,” will be inducted at a banquet at the Renaissance Hotel and Convention Center in Montgomery, March 19, 2017, at 6:30 p.m. Selected for induction are football coaches John Mothershed, Randy Ragsdale and Jerome Tate; basketball coaches Ricky Allen and Obadiah Threadgill III; baseball coach William Booth; softball coach Alvin Rauls; volleyball coach Ann Schilling; soccer official and rules interpreter Joe Manjone; former AHSAA assistant director Greg Brewer, selected in the contributor category; and basketball coach Edward Wood, now deceased, who was chosen in the ‘old-timer’ category. Since the inaugural class induction in 1991, these 11 new inductees will run the total enshrined into the Alabama High School Sports Hall of Fame to 343.
JEROME TATE
Tate, 58, has spent almost his entire high school coaching career in East Central Alabama. After a one-year stint as head football coach at Keith High School in 1982-83, Tate moved to Lanett after two years as a college coach,and served the Panthers as head track coach and assistant football coach at Lanett through 1995. He became head football coach and athletic director at Loachapoka in 1997and remained in that capacity until he stepped down in 2017. His teams compiled a 152-98 record with four regional titles and played in the state playoffs in 17 of his 22 seasons, including 14 appearances in a row. Tate coached in the North-South All-Star Game in 1997 and 2010 and in the Alabama-Mississippi Game in 2005. He has been selected Opelika-Auburn News Coach of the Year, Montgomery Advertiser Coach of the Year, Alabama Football Coaches Association Coach of the Year and was inducted into the Alabama A&M Sports Hall of Fame in 2006. He received a Certificate of Commendation from the City of Lanett in 1995 and a Certificate of Commendation from the City of Huntsville in 2006. He coached numerous players who went on to excel in college and three (Josh Evans, Kenny Sanders and Tracy Brooks) that played professionally. Tate graduated from Selma High School in 1977 and Alabama A&M University in 1982, where he was an outstanding collegiate player.
Congratulations to Coach Jerome Tate and his impact he had on Loachapoka and the community !