They were elected in November of 2019. Finally, the Alabama High School Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2020 was officially inducted Monday night. Among the 12 inductees were five head football coaches who distinguished themselves with success and hard work throughout their careers and were a credit to the coaching profession.
Carrol Cox- Coach Cox arrived in Birmingham in the early 70's on a Samford University football scholarship and stayed to work at Jess Lanier High School in Birmingham. He would spend 27 years as assistant and then head coach, becoming the school's winningest coach. Coach Cox's overall record was 162-77-2 and he had only one losing season in 21 years as head coach of the Purple Tigers. A strong believer in fundamentals, his 1990 team went 12-3 and won the 6A State Championship, beating Murphy 22-0 at Legion Field.
Hamp Lyon - Coach Lyon graduated from the University of Alabama in 1937. He played tackle on the 1935 Rose Bowl team and on the 10-0 1936 squad. After graduation he accepted the head coaching job at Alexander City High School. His '38 and '39 squads lost only one game. He entered the military with the start of World War II and served in Europe. Coach Lyon returned to Alexander City to coach after the war for 12 years. He had 10 winning seasons and his 1953 squad went 9-0-1. Retiring from coaching after the 1957 season, he served as athletic director at Benjamin Russell until 1971.
Steve Mask- A native of Sheffield, Coach Mask spent the 90's as head coach at Bradshaw and Buckhorn High School. In 2002, he returned to Colbert County High School where he helped that school to success as an assistant in the 1980's. His 2002 team was 3A State runner up and he went 52-15 there. Becoming head coach at St. Paul's in 2012, his Saint teams have gone 102-21, winning four state championships.
Toney Pugh- A fixture around the Birmingham area as a football and wrestling coach, Coach Pugh started his coaching career at Auburn High School as an assistant and then joined Jack Wood at Hewitt Trussville as assistant football coach and wrestling coach. He accepted the challenge of starting up a brand new program at Clay Chalkville and in his second year the Cougars went 8-2 and in his third season they were in the playoffs. Coach Pugh did the same thing at Oak Mountain in 1999, going 0-9 in his first season. By the third season his team went 8-4 and had its first playoff win. He coached as an assistant at Spain Park and Hoover and later became athletic director for Birmingham City Schools and one of the state's best wrestling officials.
Fred Yancey- Coach Yancey came to Briarwood Christian in Birmingham in 1990. Retiring in 2018, he led the Lions with class and hard work. His overall record in Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee was 319-115-1. His Lion squad won the 3A State Championship in 1998 and 1999, the 5A Championship in 2003. His Briarwood teams were runner up in 2007 and 2010. A native of Memphis, Coach Yancey served as head coach of the Alabama-Mississippi All Star Game in 2010.