Perry named to AHSAA Hall of Fame

Longtime coach Jimmy Perry was named to the 31st class of the AHSAA Hall of Fame. (Staff Photo)

By TIM GAYLE

St. James coach Jimmy Perry got a little emotional when he heard on Thursday afternoon he had been selected for the Alabama High School Sports Hall of Fame. 

“I was moved, very moved and appreciative,” he said. “A lot of great players and a lot of great assistant coaches went into that.”

Perry was among the 12 honorees picked as part of the 31st class of the Hall of Fame that will be enshrined at a banquet held at the Montgomery Renaissance Hotel and Spa Convention Center in March. 

Perry, a 1975 graduate of Robert E. Lee, started his career at Trinity as an assistant in 1979 after earning a bachelor’s degree from Auburn months earlier. He accepted a job as an assistant coach at Robert E. Lee in 1982 and was elevated to offensive coordinator soon after Spence McCracken arrived in 1984. The pair coached the Generals into the state’s most dominant high school team for nearly a decade before McCracken left for Opelika in 1995, at which time Perry took over as head coach.

He coached the Generals to a 38-24 record, including a berth in the 1999 Class 6A finals before leaving the following summer to join Auburn University’s football staff as director of NFL relations. He stayed at Auburn through 2008 under Tommy Tuberville, shifting his job to director of football operations.

After Tuberville’s departure, Perry got back into high school coaching as the head coach at St. Paul’s Episcopal for four years, then took over at St. James in 2012, where he currently serves as head football coach and dean of students.

He is the winningest football coach in Saint James history (79-35) and owns a 144-67 record overall in 18 seasons. Perry has served as a coach in the Alabama-Mississippi All-Star Classic and North-South All-Star Classic and was inducted into the Lee High School Hall of Fame in 2002. He also serves on the National Kidney Foundation Board of Directors, is a member of the American Football Coaches Association, National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame and the Alabama High School Athletic Directors & Coaches Association.

Perry joins an impressive list of local Hall of Fame selections that include several coaches he knew from his days at Robert E. Lee, including Tom Jones (selected to the 1992 class), Jim Chafin (1992), McCracken (2004) and Jim Tuley (2013), the latter two while he was an assistant coach with the Generals.

“That is a special group,” Perry said. “(Coaching with) Spence and Tuley, that was a very special time at Lee. I’m just humbled to be included.”

Other local Hall of Fame inductees include Tallassee football coach J.E. “Hot” O’Brien (1991), Elmore County High football coach Terry Burt (1995), Montgomery Academy basketball and baseball coach Joe Mooty (1999), Jeff Davis football coach Charles Lee (2000), Stanhope Elmore football coach Jimmy Foshee (2000), Tallassee baseball coach Ronnie Baynes (2002), Alabama State Lab School coach Hubert Lockhart (2003), Wetumpka High coach Stokely Bazemore (2003), Sidney Lanier football coach Bobby Wilson (2004), Sidney Lanier basketball coach Bill Joiner (2004), G.W. Carver football coach John Fulgham (2004), Wetumpka native and AHSAA administrator Kennith Blankenship (2004), Jeff Davis baseball coach Bubba Lewis (2005), G.W. Carver basketball coach Dan Lewis (2006), Hooper Academy coach George Cochran (2006), Jeff Davis football coach Billy Livings (2007), Trinity baseball coach Ken Whittle (2012), Montgomery Academy volleyball coach Julie Gordon (2013), Alabama Christian softball coach Denise Ainsworth (2013), Montgomery native and AHSAA administrator Alan Mitchell (2015), Montgomery Academy football coach John Tatum (2015), Montgomery Academy tennis coach David Bethea (2017), G.W. Carver basketball coach Edward Wood (2018), Trinity football coach Randy Ragsdale (2018) and G.W. Carver girls basketball coach Michelle Simmons (2020),

The newest group of Hall of Fame inductees includes former Loachapoka coach Larry DiChiara, who made a name for himself over the last 20 years as an administrator; former Alabama High School Athletic Association director of officials Mark Jones, who capped a long career in officiating with his final five years as AHSAA director before his retirement in 2020; former Leroy coach Danny Powell; Sweet Water coach Stacy Luker; veteran basketball coach Ronnie Stapler; and Deshler girls’ basketball and volleyball coach Jana Killen.

Also selected were track and cross country coach David Dobbs, basketball coaches Johnny Shelwood and Tim Smith; track coach Donald Wayne Murphy and basketball coach Wade Robinson. 

The first class was inducted in 1991. The 12 new inductees will run the total enshrined into the Alabama High School Sports Hall of Fame to 377.