By Lee Davis
Peter Braasch coached multiple sports at Vestavia Hills for 37 years and doesn’t have a single win on his official record.
That’s because Braasch never served as a head coach. But as the ultimate assistant coach, he literally changed lives.
Braasch was inducted into the Alabama High School Sports Hall of Fame on March 20, and anyone familiar with his record knows he deserves to be there.
For nearly four decades, Braasch worked with the Rebel football, basketball and track programs and made invaluable contributions to all of them.
“One might question why an assistant coach should qualify for the Hall of Fame,” Vestavia head football coach Buddy Anderson, for whom Braasch served as defensive coordinator for 36 years, said in a statement issued by the Hall of Fame.
“It’s because Peter is the epitome of who and what a high school coach should be to young people,” Anderson said in the statement. “He demands the best from his players and, at the same time, inspires them to stretch beyond their abilities. Most of all, he has a love and concern for young people that goes far beyond the years they played for him.”
In addition to coaching football, Braasch was an assistant head basketball coach under George Hatchett from 1990 to 2014, helping the Rebels claim two state championships.
Braasch also was assistant head coach in the Vestavia track program from 1978 to 1994 and directed the freshman Rebel runners to a state title in 1993.
Winning championships is fun, but Braasch said the real joy in coaching comes from the relationships built over the years.
“At one time, I didn’t think about it that much – I was just doing my job,” he recalled. “Later, when a former player comes back or calls and thanks me for what I did for him – there’s no better feeling. Making a positive difference in someone’s life is what it’s really all about.”
Braasch said he had opportunities to become a head coach, but he never felt called to accept one.
“Being a head coach just didn’t fit me,” he explained. “I wanted to stay at Vestavia. It fit me to be the defensive coordinator there and then help with basketball when football ended. It just never occurred to me to go somewhere else.”
Now Peter Braasch has gone to another place where he belongs – the Alabama High School Hall of Fame.
