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...]
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...]
Hit the Ground Running: Ronald Steele Took Reins as John Carrol Athletics Director During Time of Turmoil
By Blake Ells Ronald Steele hadn’t had time to finish unpacking his office before there was work to do. Within his first two months as the new athletics director at John Carroll Catholic High School, Steele hired a new girls basketball coach, Destiny Frazier, and a new baseball coach, Jared Bonvillain. He oversaw great turnover among the assistants on his football staff, and … [Read more...]
Never Give Up: Former Patriot Browning Gets His Chance After Missing out in the Draft
By Blake Ells The 2013 Homewood Patriots baseball team finished its season at 32-9, falling in the quarterfinals to eventual state champion Hartselle. Six players from that team continued their careers in college, Brian Browning among them. Though he got in some time in college ball, he had not emerged as a star and had just about given up on his dream to go pro. Then, on … [Read more...]