The AHSAA and the AHSADCA announced its 2020 Hall of Fame class and six of the inductees have spent much of their careers on the football sidelines.
The 2020 class will be inducted on March 16th at the Renaissance Hotel and Convention Center in Montgomery.
The six are:
CARROL COX: A 1968 Jackson High School graduate and member of Samford University’s 1971 National Championship team, Cox coached from 1973 to 2000 at Jess Lanier High School in Bessemer – serving as head football coach and athletic director the final 21 years compiling a 162-77-2 overall record with the Purple Tigers. His teams reached the state playoffs 14 times, including two trips to the state finals. His 1990 team was 12-3 and won the Class 6A state championship beating Murphy 22-0 at Legion Field. His teams had just two losing seasons but made the playoffs one of those years. After retiring in Alabama, he continued teaching and coaching in Georgia. Cox, an old-school coach who had some of the top rushing teams in AHSAA history thanks to his tenacious wishbone offensive scheme, is the winningest head football coach in Bessemer school history. He coached in the Alabama-Mississippi All-Star Classic in 1990, has been a clinician at football coaching clinics across the Southeast and sent a large number of his players to Division I and Division II college programs during his coaching tenure.
AARON GOODE: Goode, 66, graduated from Hazelwood High School as its salutatorian in 1971 where he was an outstanding football and track athlete – helping the Bears win the school’s first state football title as a senior in 1970. He was an outstanding two-sport athlete in college at Alabama State University. He began long tenure as high school teacher and coach at his alma mater, serving in numerous capacities including becoming a football and track coach. He helped the small Lawrence County School in Town Creek win 11 state football crowns before the school merged with Courtland in 2009 to form R.A. Hubbard High School. He laid the groundwork for Hazelwood’s track program that also won 13 boys’ outdoor state championships and 13 girls’ state titles. His hurdlers dominated the track scene. The Goode family, which included his nephews Clyde, Chris, Kerry, Pierre, Clyde III, and Antonio Langham, not only excelled in high school but at the college and NFL level. His brother Clyde also served on the AHSAA Central Board of Control. Goode, an assistant coach in various sports much of his career, was head football coach at Hazlewood from 2003-08 compiling a 48-23 record. He then led the merger with Courtland into R.A. Hubbard in 2000 leading the Chiefs to an 11-3 record and the state semifinals in 2009. Goode earned the NFHS Section 3 Track Coach of the year in 2004. He is currently serving as a volunteer track assistant coach at Lawrence County High School in Moulton. . Active in the Town Creek community, he is a member of First Baptist Church and has served as a city councilman. Dedicated to the sport of track, he served on the USA Track and Field Board of Directors from 1988-2004 with a stint as president from 1995-2000.
SAMUEL ‘HAMP’ LYON: Coach Hamp Lyon, now deceased, was selected for induction into the 2020 Class as an “old timer’. Born in 1911, he came to Alabama from Benjamin Bosse High School in Evansville (TN) in 1932 when he joined the University of Alabama athletic program. Upon graduation in 1937, he went straight to Alexander City High School where he served as head football coach from 1937-1941 – leaving to serve in the U.S. Army in Europe in World War II from 1941-45. He returned to Alex City in 1946 as head football coach remained as head coach through 1957 – compiling a 107-47-10 record. His 1953 team was the first in school history to go undefeated, compiling a 9-0-1 record. He served as athletic director from 1957-1972 until he retired. The football stadium in Alexander City was named in his honor in 1970. He passed away in 1974. Known for his humble leadership, he helped numerous students earn scholarships and attend college that otherwise would not have had that opportunity, said George W. Hardy, President retired for Russell Athletics. Coach Lyon was founder of the Alex City Quarterback Club, served in the Lions Club and Shriners Club and retired as a Colonel in the Army Reserve.
STEVE MASK: Mask, 62, who graduated from Muscle Shoals High School in 1976 and the University of North Alabama in 1980, has compiled a 187-94-0 record in 23 years as a head football coach. He has had head coaching stops at Bradshaw, Buckhorn, Colbert County and St. Paul’s Episcopal. His 87-21 record with the Saints over the last eight seasons makes him the school’s all-time winningest football coach. St. Paul’s won three Class 5A state titles (2014, 2015, 2017) and have reached the playoffs every year including 2018 and 2019 in Class 6A. Mask’s playoff record is 36-14 overall in 17 appearances. He began his coaching and teaching career at Colbert County in 1979, serving as an assistant coach for the Indians’ 1985 Class 5A state championship football team and for Colbert County’s 1981 Class 3A state basketball championship squad. He coached Bradshaw to its first-ever playoff victory in 1991, led Buckhorn to its highest state ranking ever in 1999, and was the Huntsville Times Coach of the Year in 199 and 1999. He returned to Colbert County as head coach in 2002 and led the Indians to the 3A state finals – earning the Florence Times Daily Coach of the Year honors. The Alabama Football Coaches Association and al.com named him the Class 5A Coach of the Year in 2014, and he received the John L. Finley Award for his service to coaching in 2015. He received the L’Arche of Mobile Lefty Anderson Award in 2018, also presented for his service to coaching. A founding member of the AFCA, he was inducted into the Colbert County Sports Hall of Fame in 2011.
TONEY PUGH: Pugh, 60, has worn a lot of different hats in his career in education. And he has worn them all well. He graduated from Auburn High School in 1976 and Auburn University in 1982. He earned his masters at UAB in 1994. He served as an assistant football coach and head wrestling coach at his first two stops – Auburn and Hewitt-Trussville high schools. He also served as offensive coordinator and assistant head coach at Hewitt. He was then tabbed to start the Clay-Chalkville program from scratch as head football coach and athletic director when the school opened in 1996. He left after 1999 to do the same at Oak Mountain in Shelby County, remaining in that capacity from 1999-2004. He then moved to Spain Park, which had opened two years prior, and returned to coaching wrestling while also serving as the Jags’ offensive line coach. He finished his coaching career with stops at Hoover and Lassiter (GA) and then became the Executive Director of the Birmingham Athletic Partnership in 2010 where he has remained ever since. His role with BAP is to provide support and professional development for the coaches and teams for all the schools in the Birmingham City School System. And while he has been busy with those jobs, he also has become one of the AHSAA’s most outstanding wrestling officials in the process. He has worked the AHSAA State Wrestling Championships as an official for the last decade. His wrestling teams at Hewitt won two state championships, had 10 straight playoff appearances and made one Class 6A trip to the state finals at Legion Field. He coached in the North-South All-Star Game in 1999 and was defensive coordinator in the Alabama-Mississippi Game in 2000. Pugh has served on the AHSAA Football Coaches Committee and on the Board of Directors of the Alabama Football Coaches Association.
FRED YANCEY: A native of Memphis, Yancey, 74, graduated from Messick High School in 1963 and began his teaching and coaching career in 1969 at Overton (TN) High School after earning his degree at Memphis State University that same year. He had coaching stints at private Christian schools in Tennessee and Georgia and then moved to Alabama in 1990 as the head football coach at Briarwood Christian Academy. He remained at Briarwood for the next 29 years – building a program that would compile a 278-95 record, win three state championships (1998, 1999, 2003) and finish runner-up three times (2007, 2010, 2017). His 278 wins at Briarwood rank third in the AHSAA for wins by a coach at the same school. His teams had 26 straight state playoff appearances, and the 62 playoff wins rank the Lions second all-time in Class 5A. He finished his coaching career compiling a 319-115-1 record. More importantly, his devotion to his faith and dedication to coaching excellence made him a role model for coaches and teachers across the state. Yancey was named the Varsity Football National Coach of the Year by the National Christian School Athletic Association in 2017 and was recognized by his school for his outstanding career during the 2019 season with more than 400 former students and players gathering on the field to honor him.
Thanks to Ron Ingram of the AHSAA for the biographical information on the inductees.