MONTGOMERY — Twelve major contributors to prep athletics in Alabama were inducted into the Alabama High School Sports Hall of Fame on Monday, March 18, at a banquet held at the Montgomery Renaissance Hotel and Spa Convention Center.

The Class of 2024 was selected by a committee of coaches and administrators assembled by the Alabama High School Athletic Directors & Coaches Association from nominations submitted by member schools and other organizations. The class includes administrators, coaches and officials.

The first class was inducted in 1991. These 12 new inductees will run the total enshrined into the Alabama High School Sports Hall of Fame to 403.

Those individuals enshrined Monday night were: football coaches Rick Rhoades, Phillip Lolley and Perry Swindall; football and track coach Eddie Brundidge; basketball coaches Chucky Miller and Thomas “Mike” Boyd; baseball and football coach Ron Nelson; wrestling and football coach Dickey Wright; softball and baseball coach Chris Goodman; Alabama High School Athletic Association administrator Kimberly Vickers; and selected from the ‘Old-Timers’ Division were coach/administrators Frank “Swede” Kendall and Cornell “C.T.” Torrence, both deceased.

Vickers, AHSAA Associate Executive Director, spoke on behalf of the Class of 2024 thanking the selection committee for the recognition.

“On behalf of the 2024 Hall of Fame inductees, I want to say thank you,” she said. “What an honor it is for us to be immortalized with such a prestigious recognition. As I read the bios of each inductee and watched the videos, I’ve mentally calculated that among the 12 inductees, we have a combined total of 379 years dedicated to high school sports. Our coaching and leadership years have expanded from 1932 to present day. Over 92 years, this class has been actively involved in high school athletics. Even more outstanding is the fact that we have coached in a minimum of 14,000 sporting events. So, do you know what that means? It means we’re OLD.

“Seriously, as we stand before you tonight, we are reminded that this moment is not just about us,” Vickers continued. “It’s about the collective journey of countless individuals who contributed to our success. As a result, we express our gratitude to those who have been a part of our journeys to this point. First and foremost, we say thank you to any individual throughout our careers who was a part of our passage to get here. Whether it be our players, fellow coaches, teachers, administrators, community supporters, our families … we didn’t get to this point without having great people around us.”

She also thanked all those who assisted this class along the way, especially the assistant coaches and the students. “We can’t thank them enough,” she said.

The AHSADCA, the coaches’ wing of the AHSAA, oversees the Hall of Fame. Sponsors of the Hall of Fame program include the AHSADCA and the AHSAA. Corporate partners include the Alabama Department of Public Health, Alabama Power, ALFA Insurance, Coca-Cola, Encore Sports Medicine, Future 1s, Jack’s, TeamIP and Wilson Sporting Goods.