By Sue Murphy I started my Christmas decorating early this year. I think if I could have gotten away with it, I would have put up my tree shortly after the Fourth of July. It’s not that I think Santa is going to bring me a pony or an air fryer. It’s just that I’ve been ready (more than ready) to “be there,” to be smack dab in the middle of Christmas. I spent last … [Read more...]
Tenacious: Goldfarb Recounts His Life in Newly Released Memoir
By Rubin E. Grant When Birmingham- Southern made the decision to move from NCAA Division I to Division III in 2006, Preston Goldfarb was so disenchanted, he decided to write a book. Goldfarb started the Panthers’ soccer program in 1983 and turned it into a national powerhouse in NAIA. He relished the opportunity to compete in Division I, but six years after BSC … [Read more...]
‘I’m Honored’: Mountain Brook’s Surprising Football Season Earns Yeager Coaching Honor
By Rubin E. Grant Coming into the 2021 high school football season, Mountain Brook head coach Chris Yeager wasn’t sure what kind of team the Spartans would field. Mountain Brook had graduated 40-plus seniors off its 2020 team that reached the Class 6A semifinals. “We’re going to have some guys who have to step up,” Yeager said before the season. Well, those new guys stepped … [Read more...]
Playmaker: Spartans’ Opportunistic McMillan Voted OTM Defensive Player of the Year
By Rubin E. Grant The first time John McMillan played in a varsity football game for Mountain Brook he didn’t exactly know what to do. The Spartans’ starting linebacker had gotten injured and McMillan, an untested sophomore, replaced him against Vestavia Hills, Mountain Brook’s biggest rival. “He didn’t know up from down,” Mountain Brook head coach Chris Yeager said. “He … [Read more...]
‘Best Athlete’: Oak Mountain’s Smith Voted OTM Offensive Player of the Year Again
By Rubin E. Grant When Tyler Crane was named Oak Mountain’s new head football coach in the spring, no one had to tell him what kind of quarterback he was inheriting. Crane was an Eagles assistant coach in 2016 and 2017 and was aware of Evan Smith, a dynamic, dual-threat quarterback. “He was an incoming freshman the year I left, so I knew who he was,” said Crane, who was an … [Read more...]