By Blake Ells Mandy Burgess returned to Vestavia Hills for her second stint as the head coach of the girls volleyball team last year. She led the team from 1999 to 2012 before hanging up her whistle to focus on her family. When the position opened back up in 2016, she couldn't fight off the itch to return. "The opportunity came back up and I was approached,” she said. “There … [Read more...]
West Coast-Bound: Spartans Headed to Compete Against Runners from Around the Country
By Blake Ells Mountain Brook’s cross-country teams will travel to Portland, Oregon, on Sept. 30 to compete in the Nike Portland XC Invite. A trip to a far-away meet has become a tradition over the past two decades, with the team rotating years flying and bussing. This time they’ll be in a field of about 60 teams at one of the premier events in the country. “Mountain Brook … [Read more...]
A Lifetime of Football: Patriots’ Wilkins Racking Up Tackles and Making an Impression
By Rubin E. Grant Whenever Homewood senior strong safety Kris Wilkins steps on the football field this fall, he craves two things: accomplishing a win and making a good impression. So far he’s getting both. The Patriots opened the season with four consecutive wins, beating Pelham 29-22, Vestavia Hills 6-0, Parker 20-14 and Jackson-Olin 28-6. The victory over Vestavia Hills … [Read more...]
Harvard Men: Spain Park’s Henze Joins Two Other OTM Players on the Crimson Team
By Blake EllsThree players for the 2017 Harvard Crimson football team have roots Over the Mountain: freshmen Doug Henze from Spain Park and Ben Abercrombie from Hoover, who had a bit of a rivalry going, and senior Tristan Tahmaseb from Vestavia Hills.For Henze, recruitment escalated quickly following the Alabama- Mississippi All-Star Game, and he knew that the … [Read more...]
The Forty Year Plan: Vestavia’s Buddy Anderson Reflects on the Past But Looks to the Future
By Blake Ells Buddy Anderson still remembers the night his life’s path became clear to him. It was Jan. 12, 1968, and he was sitting in his father’s old pickup that he had driven to play in a high school basketball game. “It wasn’t completely overcast, but there were clouds,” he recalls, as if the date nearly 50 years ago were yesterday. “I had been struggling with … [Read more...]