By Rubin E. Grant In the book “Tales from Alabama Prep Football,” Buddy Anderson described his introduction to the Vestavia Hills-Berry football rivalry. “Vestavia opened in 1970 and most of the kids who came to Vestavia had been going to Berry,” Anderson recalled. “We opened the ’72 season against Berry and they had a good team. We had some players who had a choice that … [Read more...]
Back For More: Volleyball Coach Returns to Re-Establish Her Legacy
By Blake Ells Mandy Burgess returned to Vestavia Hills for her second stint as the head coach of the girls volleyball team last year. She led the team from 1999 to 2012 before hanging up her whistle to focus on her family. When the position opened back up in 2016, she couldn't fight off the itch to return. "The opportunity came back up and I was approached,” she said. “There … [Read more...]
OTM Students Named National Merit Semifinalists
On Sept. 13, 16,000 students were named semifinalists in the 2018 National Merit Scholarship Corp. competition, which awards approximately 7,500 scholarships each year. The list included a number of Over the Mountain students, each recognized as being among the highest-scoring students out of the 1.6 million high school juniors who took the 2017 Preliminary SAT/National Merit … [Read more...]
A Lifetime of Football: Patriots’ Wilkins Racking Up Tackles and Making an Impression
By Rubin E. Grant Whenever Homewood senior strong safety Kris Wilkins steps on the football field this fall, he craves two things: accomplishing a win and making a good impression. So far he’s getting both. The Patriots opened the season with four consecutive wins, beating Pelham 29-22, Vestavia Hills 6-0, Parker 20-14 and Jackson-Olin 28-6. The victory over Vestavia Hills … [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...]