Larry "Pod" Patterson

When he was small, they said he wasn’t any bigger than a pepper pod, so he eventually was given the nickname “Pod”.  But to the communities and the football players at Susan Moore and Arab High Schools, Larry “Pod” Patterson was much, much bigger than that.  

By the time he was in the 7^th grade he was playing football, baseball and basketball at Cleveland High School. In 1961 he quarterbacked the Cleveland team to a record of 8-0-2, with both ties to rival Oneonta.  The second tie was 12-12 in Blount County’s famous Tomato Bowl contest. He won 2A All State Honorable Mention and Co-MVP of the Tomato Bowl. He went to school at Jacksonville State where he was suddenly offered the head football and basketball job at Blanche High School in Lincoln County, Tennessee. Pod packed up and decided to give coaching a try. In August of 1965, Coach Patterson went across the Alabama state line to play Clements High School. Because Blanche had two black players, it is believed to be the first integrated football contest ever in the state of Alabama. 

In 1967, Susan Moore High School hired Pod to be their new head football coach at age 22, at a salary of $3700 per year. The Bulldogs only won one game Pod’s first season, but in 1968 the team went 8-2.

In 1969, Susan Moore went undefeated and was ranked #1. The Bulldogs made it to the four team AHSAA 2A playoffs.  The semifinal game against Aliceville was played in Gadsden to accommodate the crowd. Both teams had great defenses and neither squad scored until the fourth quarter. After Aliceville took a 7-0 lead.  Susan Moore then drove the length of the field as star player Lee Long scored on a 16 yard run. The 2 point conversion failed. Susan Moore never got the ball back as Aliceville scored just as the game ended to make the final 15-6.  The 1970 season also brought great success. Susan Moore made the eight-team playoff field, led by back Randal Gilliland, and made it to the 2A championship game. But they lost a close game in the finals to Addison ending the season with a record of 10-2-1.

Coach Patterson would stay at Susan Moore for 22 seasons, compiling a record of 164-78-3.  His 1977 and 1982 teams would also have undefeated regular seasons Always a believer in strong defense, Pod’s 1977 team had 7 shutouts during the regular season. Susan Moore had a school record 11 wins in 1975 and 12 wins in 1977. He coached in the AHSAA North-South All Star game in 1970, was Blount County Coach of the Year 10 times, and the state’s 2A Coach of the Year in 1977. 

Pod was also well respected throughout the state. In 1984 and 1985, he served the state as the president of the AHSAA Coaches Association. 

In July of 1989, Arab would convince Coach Larry Patterson to leave Susan Moore and take over their struggling football program. In his first season the Knights finished 7-3 and accomplished their first winning campaign in 8 years.  He would coach at Arab for six seasons, achieve a record of 41-22 and qualify his Knight squad for the playoffs 3 times. Before his arrival Arab had never been in the playoffs. His 1992 team would achieve a record of 9-2, losing only once in the regular season by a single point. They won the region championship and were ranked #8 in the final 6A poll.

Coach Patterson won his 200^th game in 1993 and at age 48, was believed to be one of the youngest coaches to ever achieve that feat. He would retire after the 1994 season with a record of 209-93-3 in 30 years of coaching.

He decided to enter the sporting goods business and would work for 25 years as a salesman for Sports Gear, Inc. and BSN Sports. It was his mission to make sure that his customer service to coaches was unmatched.

Coach Larry Patterson was elected to the AHSAA Coaches Hall of Fame in 1997. He is also a member of the Blount County and Marshall County Sports Hall of Fame.

In 2004, Susan Moore High School named their stadium the “Larry Pod Patterson Field.” “People will never know how much this school and community mean to me and my family,” he said at the time. “Having my name put on the stadium is really something special.”

As was his time at Susan Moore. “A lot of our success was due to continuity,” Coach Patterson says. “The tradition and the closeness of the community was important. Every time we lost a good group of seniors, the next group would somehow step in and lead, and in most cases, we didn’t miss a beat.”

Today, Pod and his wife Becky of 53 years enjoy their four grandchildren, and the coaching legacy lives on. Pod often goes to see the teams of his sons play on Friday nights. Matt is currently the head coach at Buckhorn and Wes is head coach at Susan Moore. And there are always grandchildren at the games, ready for snacks and pictures. It has been a true lifetime in sports and football.

The Alabama Coaches Association is proud to present its Lifetime Achievement Award to Coach Larry “Pod” Patterson.