By Lee Davis
Journal Sports Writer
There was a time when some folks just couldn’t take athletics at Mountain Brook High School very seriously.
After all, they asked, how could a bunch of rich kids from one of America’s wealthiest communities compete effectively in the rough-and-tumble world of high school sports in Alabama?
That question has been answered at least 136 times. That’s how many state championships Spartan teams have won since the school first opened its doors in the fall of 1966.
Mountain Brook added six more blue trophies to its already crowded glass case in 2010-11, as Spartan teams brought home championships in boys’ and girls’ cross country, boys’ and girls’ golf, girls’ tennis and girls’ track and field. The program also qualified for post-season play in a whopping 14 of the 17 varsity sports in which it participates.
Not a bad record for a student body that a few people still insist is populated by “spoiled, rich kids.”
To be fair to the critics, a number of Mountain Brook’s championships have come in the traditional “country club” sports of golf and tennis, where athletes with regular access to tennis courts and golf courses have a decided advantage.
But it takes just as much discipline, focus and hard work to excel at the top level in golf and tennis as in any other sport. So there’s no reason why Mountain Brook – or for any school from a prosperous area – to put an asterisk by its name when it wins a championship in a “country club” sport.
And while Mountain Brook has only won two titles combined in the so-called “big three” sports of football, baseball and boys’ basketball, those two championships were pretty impressive. There were the Major Ogilvie/Richard Berg-led football champs who posted a 27-0 record in 1975-76. The Spartans had their share of gridiron ups and downs in the decades that followed but have been consistent winners ever since Joey Jones took over the program in the mid-1990s.
Mountain Brook hasn’t claimed a basketball or baseball title yet, but both teams are competitive almost every season. The Spartan basketball team has a Class 6A Final Four appearance under its belt.
And while all sports have had their moments in the sun at Mountain Brook, there has been one in particular that has shined brightest of all: the girls’ track and field program.
Since former coach John Jarmon started the girls’ program in 1972, the Lady Spartans have won a mind-boggling 48 total championships in cross country, outdoor track and indoor track, making it arguably the most successful athletic dynasty in Alabama high school history.
“A group of girls came to me and said they wanted a track team,” Jarmon recalled. “It was obvious that they were serious and willing to work. So from that point forward, we gave the girls’ program as much of a priority as we did the boys’ program.”
“The kids in Mountain Brook come from an environment where they are expected to work hard and achieve,” said Jarmon. “It doesn’t matter if it’s school, sports or anything else. They are brought up to do what’s necessary to be successful.”
Jarmon retired in the mid-1990s, turning the reins of the program over to Greg Echols, an assistant coach at the time who himself ran for Jarmon on the boys’ track squad in the early 1970s. The program hasn’t missed a beat.
“I really don’t have that much to do with it (the success),” Echols modestly insists. “Girls come in here understanding that they are supposed to work hard and win championships. I think our tradition has a lot to do with that attitude.”
Mountain Brook’s philosophy that track and field is a team sport – as opposed to an individual sport — also contributes to the strength of the program, said Echols.
“What people don’t understand is that winning state championships in track doesn’t completely depend on who finishes first or second in an event,” he said. “It also depends on who finishes seventh or eighth. Everyone who runs is important to our team.”
Of course, Mountain Brook has turned out its share of individual stars. Debbie Alley set school records in the 1970s that still stand today. Lady Spartan sprinter Marie Demedicis was recently named 2010-11 Over the Mountain Girl Athlete of the Year.
Despite the great athletes who have been staples of the program, Echols said that someone doesn’t necessarily need a high level of athletic ability to contribute in track and field.
“You don’t need to be large physically or have great coordination like what is needed in most sports,” he said. “All a kid needs is the willingness to work extremely hard and accept that if he or she is running track, they are going to be hurting physically at some point. Our kids understand that concept when they come into the program.”
For that and a myriad of other reasons, people are going to have to take Mountain Brook athletics seriously for many years to come.
