By Rubin E. Grant
Vestavia Hills senior Bruce Littleton didn’t have to think twice about where he gets his athleticism. “It 100 percent comes from my mom,” Littleton says without hesitation. “My mentality comes from my dad, but my athletic ability comes from my mom. In every sport she played, she was the best.”
Littleton’s mother is Brigid Meadow, Vestavia Hills’ girls soccer coach. In high school in the early 1990s, Meadow was a star athlete in soccer and basketball at Berry (now Hoover). She went on to play both sports at Wofford College in South Carolina and was the first women’s soccer representative in the Wofford Hall of Fame.
Undoubtedly, Meadow passed on the athletic genes to her sons. Bruce Littleton’s older brother, Bryce Littleton, played baseball, football and wrestled at Vestavia Hills, winning an individual and team state championship in wrestling before going on to play football at UAB. “My brother was a great athlete,” Bruce Littleton says proudly.
Bruce Littleton has followed in his brother’s footsteps, playing baseball, football and wrestling for the Rebels. Last fall, Littleton, a versatile H-back, was voted to the 2024 All-OTM football team after amassing more than 1,000 yards of total offense with 46 catches for 578 yards and four touchdowns and 86 carries for 492 yards and 11 rushing touchdowns.
He injured his knee as the season neared its end and didn’t wrestle this winter. But he said, the injury wasn’t the reason. “I didn’t wrestle cause my mom wouldn’t let me,” he says with a laugh. “I wanted to because I wanted to win an individual title like my brother.”
Littleton considers his mother an excellent athletic advisor. “She definitely gives good advice, mostly on the mental side rather than the on-field athletic side,” he saiys. “She knows what athletes go through.”
Neither football nor wrestling are in Bruce Littleton’s future. A 6-foot-3, 220-pound left-handed pitcher, he has signed to play baseball in college at the University of Southern Mississippi. “I’ve always known baseball was going to be my sport since I started playing with my summer travel team Excel,” he says. “I truly like being on the mound and striking guys out.”
Littleton is one of two Vestavia Hills baseball players headed to Southern. Outfielder William Tonsmeire is the other.
Littleton says continuing to play with Tonsmeire wasn’t why he chose Southern. “Basically, it’s because of coach (Christian) Ostrander,” he says, referring to the Golden Eagles’ head coach. “He really stood out to me. I also thought it was the best fit for me. It’s a great town, and I’ll have great teammates, so it was easy for me to decide that’s where I wanted to go.”
Littleton’s senior season with the Rebels has gotten off to a slow start. He failed to notch a win in his first two outings. He is searching for a reason for his early struggles. “That’s a question I’ve been wondering,” he says. “I don’t have an answer for it, yet.”
When Littleton is on top of his game, he combines a low 90-mile-per-hour fastball with a slurve, a combination of a slider and curveball. “I’m basically a two-pitch guy, and sometimes I might work in a changeup,” he says. “My best pitch is my fastball. I try to get strikeouts.”
Last year as a junior, Littleton recorded 29 strikeouts in 21 innings pitched but also issued 24 walks.
Vestavia Hills coach Jamie Harris believes once Littleton has more control and consistently finds the strike zone, the sky is the limit. “Bruce has the talent level to play baseball a long time,” Harris says. “He’s got the kind of size college and professional teams look for, and he’s a left-hander who throws hard and his ball moves. He’s got all the tools he needs, but he needs to throw more strikes. Once he gets more consistent and his mechanics become more repeatable, he has a chance to be really good.”
Harris hopes Littleton can harness his immense talents this spring. He believes if he can, the Rebels have the pitching depth to make another run at the Class 7A state championship, which they won in 2023. “We’ve got a pretty good chance now, but if he comes around, we have a chance to be really special,” Harris says.
Littleton also believes the Rebels can contend for the 7A crown. They entered the second weekend of March with a 7-3 record. “Our lineup is stacked, and we have good pitching, too,” Littleton says. “We have a lot of potential, and I think we will go far.”
Whatever happens for him the rest of the season, Littleton can thank his mom for it.
