By Lee Davis When Sara Chandler Mitchell meets someone for the first time, she has only one request. Please don’t call her Sara. “It’s Sara Chandler,” she said, when contacted last week. “I know it’s a little unique for a double name, but I like to use them both.” Mitchell’s first name combination may be unusual, but she and her teammates became household names in the … [Read more...]
Lightning Bolts: Rebel Offense, Defense Overwhelm Homewood
By Lee Davis Lightning was plentiful at Vestavia Hills’ football opener against Homewood on Aug. 28. Some of the bolts came from the sky, which resulted in a 62-minute delay at halftime. The other lightning strikes came on the field, as the Rebels overwhelmed the Patriots 41-7 at Waldrop Stadium. Vestavia exploded on the second play from scrimmage when quarterback Brett … [Read more...]
Green and Golden: Spartans Climb to Top in 1975
By Lee Davis More than 40 years later, Mat Whatley vividly remembers the first time he met Robert Higginbotham. Whatley, a rising sophomore tackle at Mountain Brook, was attending the initial team meeting with Higginbotham, who had just been named the Spartans’ new head coach. “I didn’t know what to expect,” Whatley recalled. “He was all business and didn’t smile a lot. We … [Read more...]
Going Forward: Spartans Looking Past Disappointments of ’14
By Lee Davis Mountain Brook coach Chris Yeager insists that he doesn’t dwell on the past, but nobody could blame him for still having nightmares about what happened to his team in 2014. The Spartans lost three times on – literally – the last play of the game on the way to a disappointing 3-7 season. They came within a few minutes of a couple of additional wins. “Last season … [Read more...]
Reddy, Set, Go: Former Spartan Star Wins Junior Pan Am Gold
By Lee Davis Rachael Reddy was no stranger to success in track and field when she took her mark in the 5,000-meter run at the Pan American Junior Championships in Alberta, Canada, earlier this month. As a star distance runner at Mountain Brook, Reddy helped the Lady Spartans to a Class 6A state championship and two runner-up finishes in four seasons. She closed her high … [Read more...]