By Lee Davis
David Beason hasn’t coached a basketball game in 35 years, but he still remembers his final victory at Homewood as if it were played last week.
“We were playing Shades Valley in the Region 7 finals at Mountain Brook,” he recalled when contacted recently. “They were a big favorite. At the end, our guy Rufus Hudson drew a charge and sank two free throws to win 40-39. I didn’t tell him to draw the charge. Rufus said he got the idea watching Oliver Robinson (former UAB All-American) draw a charge.”
Wins of that caliber were common for the Patriots in Beason’s 10-year run as Homewood’s first basketball coach. Sparked by great talents such as Ronnie Greathouse and Tony Ellis, the Patriots earned two consecutive area titles in 1977 and 1978, including a Final Four appearance in the latter season. Beason started the tradition for quality basketball at Homewood – primarily with home- grown talent – and it continues into the 21st century.
“We would get a good move-in every once in a while, but by and large we won with kids that grew up in Homewood,” Beason said. “That said a lot about the feeder programs and youth programs that we had then.”
Beason will be honored at a reunion of his former players and associates Saturday, Jan. 21, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Homewood Recreation Center at 1632 Oxmoor Road. All former basketball players, athletes from other sports, student supporters and volunteers who had an association with Beason are invited. Contact Mark Lucas at mjlucas1809@ aol.com to RSVP or for more information.
“When Mark called me, I was thrilled. I’ve had a pretty busy life and I haven’t had much contact with my former players over the years. I’m very excited about seeing everyone,” Beason, 72, said. “There are a few kids that I’ve seen and many I haven’t talked to since they were in high school. I really appreciate everyone who has worked to put this thing together. It’s going to be a real highlight for me.”
Beason has spent the past three decades living in the Smith Lake area, working in school administration. He never coached after leaving Homewood, but he stayed involved in high school athletics as a game official for football, basketball, baseball and softball.
“Being a game official gave me a totally different perspective from being a coach,” Beason said. “And I enjoyed it. But you don’t develop the relationships with the kids and others as an official or as an administrator as you do when you’re a coach.”
While Beason has been gone for many years, his Homewood roots are deep. His first teaching/coaching job out of college was at Homewood Junior High in 1966, where he coached basketball and assisted with football.
When Homewood High School launched in 1972-73, Beason was the logical choice to become the head basketball coach. He also worked as an assistant for Alvin Bresler’s Patriot football team, which would win a state championship in 1974.
“Homewood was blessed with a lot of good coaches at that time,” Beason said, “such as Alvin Bresler, David Jones, Riley Harmon and others I could name. The best thing was that we had a really good bunch of kids with which to work. Having worked in the system previously, I had a pretty good grasp of the talent we had and what they could do.”
Beason’s transition period was more than just starting a new basketball program at a new school. There were also the winds of social change.
“We went from a segregated system to an integrated one as the black kids from Rosedale came in,” he said. “It all went very smoothly.”
Beason looks back on his life with few regrets.
“I spent 41 years in education,” he said. “So I had a pretty full career. It was a nice ride.”
Beason’s former players and many friends will have the opportunity to tell him the same thing on Jan. 21.
