The Alabama High School Sports Hall of Fame inducted twelve important contributions to prep athletics in Alabama on Monday night at a ceremony hosted at the Montgomery Renaissance Hotel and Spa Convention Centre.
The Alabama High School Athletic Directors & Coaches Association appointed a committee of coaches and administrators to pick the Class of 2024 from nominations received by member schools and other organizations. Administrators, coaches, and officials make up the Class of 2024.
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; AHSAA administrator Kimberly Vickers; and selected from the “Old-Timers’ Division along with coach/administrators Frank “Swede” Kendall
Brundidge, 60, graduated from Dozier High School in 1982 and Troy University in 1987, and in 1989, he began teaching and coaching at Jackson High. He is currently the head football and track coach at Houston Academy in Dothan, where he has been teaching for 35 years. His long career has been impressive at every stop, including two stints at Jackson and T.R. Miller High Schools.
He is most known for directing T.R. Miller’s track program to seven state titles and six state runner-up victories. He was also a significant assistant coach for T.R. Miller’s renowned football club, which finished second in the state in 1995 and 1996.
He worked at Jackson High School from 1989 to 1994, guiding the girls’ softball team to a state runner-up finish in 1992. After his first stop at T.R. Miller, he returned to Jackson in 1997 and stayed until 2004. During his tenure, he worked as a teacher, assistant principal, athletic director, and head football coach for six seasons, bringing the Aggies to the state playoffs three times.
He returned to Brewton and T.R. Miller in 2004, where he remained until 2017. During that period, he was a crucial assistant football coach and led the Tigers’ track program to seven state championships and 13 runner-up finishes in the next 14 years.
He left T.R. Miller in 2018 and relocated to Houston Academy in Dothan, where he coached the indoor and outdoor track teams and has been the head football coach since 2021, compiling a 26-7 record through the first round of the 2023 state playoffs, including back-to-back 10-win seasons.
He is a well-known member of Alabama’s high school coaching community, having been named the Alabama Assistant Football Coach of the Year for Class 3A by the AFCA in 2018; the AHSADCA Boys’ Outdoor Track Coach of the Year in 2010, 2011, and 2014, and 2016 for Class 3A, as well as the Girls’ Outdoor Track Coach of the Year in 2009 and 2010; South Alabama Track Coach of the Year in 2010, and NFHS State Track Coach of the Year in 2009.
Swindall graduated from Ashville High School in St. Clair County in 1978, having played for 8-2 and 9-1 teams during his prep career. He went on to attend Davidson College, where he graduated four years later in 1982.
He began his high school coaching career at Oneonta High School in 1984, serving as defensive coordinator for Robert Herring, who was inducted into the Alabama High School Sports Hall of Fame in 2001, and Marice Carkuff for four more years as the Redskins went 58-8 and reached the state finals twice.
Swindall subsequently took over as head coach at Daleville High School in the Wiregrass, where he finished 2-8 in his first season. By the time he left nine years later, the Warhawks had earned the school’s first state football title, going 15-0 in 1992 to capture the 4A state championship. The following year, Daleville went 12-2 and finished second place. He left after seven years with a 75-33 record, becoming the school’s all-time victories leader, a title he still retains.
Swindall relocated to Russellville in northwest Alabama for nine years, where he compiled a 99-21 record, including three straight Class 5A state runner-up performances and six semifinal appearances. His 99 wins rank second in Russellville High School history, trailing only Don Cox, who won 130 games and was inducted into the HOF in 2008.
He relocated to Spain Park High School for one year in 2007 to serve as defensive coordinator for the Jaguars, who finished 13-2 and advanced to the Class 6A state title game, losing 14-0 to Prattville at Legion Field in the final.
He spent two seasons as the head coach at LaFayette High School in Georgia. He was a head coach for 18 years and had an overall record of 185–63. In 48 AHSAA championship games, he went 34–14. He was named Class 4A State Coach of the Year in 1994 and inducted into the St. Clair County Sports Hall of Fame. Since 1999, he has been in charge of the North Alabama Team Camp.