Oxford, AL – Battles”induction to the Calhoun County Sports Hall of Fame confirms a time of Wellborn High School football, the old-fashioned way of playing
OXFORD -“ There’s no High School football head coach or community that is more well-matched that Mike Battles and Wellborn.
It doesn’t need to be mentioned. It could not have been more obvious as Wellborn faces gathered to celebrate Battles Induction ceremony at an 18th Calhoun County Sports Hall of Fame class on Saturday.
Battles were part of the Class of ’23 that also included the following:
June Evans was a former Wellborn High softball, track and volleyball coach.
Chris Garmon –Chris Garmon, former White Plains High athlete, Jacksonville State baseball player and high school football coach.
Jason Jack –Jason Jack, former Oxford as well as Alabama quarterback.
Terry McCord, former Anniston High and Troy University basketball player.
Barney Wilson Former Oxford football and baseball player, and JSU athlete in baseball.
Each community was represented to honor its inductees, and enough to cover the tables that lined all of the Oxford Civic Center gymnasium floor. Jack’s admirers were Larry as well as Connie Davidson, the long-time Oxford athletics director as well as his wife.
McCord’s team comprised of the members of his Anniston Coach, Brenard Howard, and recently ex- Anniston basketball star Miajah Bullock. The only person who was there in spirit was McCord’s mom, most memorable of the many thanks which slowed his voice enough to swell his emotions.
Just before Father’s Day, McCord told the story of his late single parent who took care of his son, who working “several tasks” to keep him engaged in the sport and also took taxis to go to his games.
“Without her, I would not be here,” he said. “That’s the fact.”
Induction in itself is a reflection of the mark that inductees leave behind on the trail of their achievements, the fact that everyone who is there to celebrate their achievements is a testimony to their accomplishments.
Take a look at the image of Battles standing with Chucky Miller David “Wormy” Haynes, Jeff Smith and his son, Judd.
Miller was a coach at Wellborn before he was awarded the basketball court that bears his name in it at Talladega.
The current Wellborn director of football Jeff Smith stands ready to begin his 15th season in the job. He was a member of Battles and his son Judd played for his dad as well as coaches on his father’s Wellborn team.
Haynes was a player for Wellborn in the years when John F. Kennedy was president and Ed Deupree was coach. He was transformed into Wellborn’s long-time statistician and has watched all Wellborn match since the year 1962.
In later pictures, posing with his father is Mike Battles Jr., who played with his dad at Wellborn and was named Alabama Class 5A player of the year in his senior year in 1989.
The group was there and spoke of an individual who was the epitomize Wellborn.
Evans who was the first to introduce girls’ soccer at Wellborn and created the fanbase of her school and it merged with Battles her fan base. She explained the reason with uninhibited praise for Battles who was a coach with she at Wellborn.
“I would like to say how much I appreciate you, and how much the girls loved and how much you loved the girls,” Evans said to Battles as she stood at the podium. “He always inquired regarding our results. He would make sure that our volleyball nets were in good shape. It was all the small things.”
File it under a group that Haynes refers to as “family.’
The rest of the story is under the old-fashioned toughness of a coach who was a state champion and played 287 games in three states over his 44 year of teaching. He won 97 games in just 15 years during two years at Wellborn.
“He took the whole thing and put it back together I think you could call it that,” Haynes said. “He put the item on a plane and did his best to make it. Then, we began winning and that’s the nature for the sport.
“He simply did a number of things, typically with a small number of children, but he managed to get all he could out of his kids. People who are out there have always been tough. They were like him and Jeff followed his example with the best, tough, and physically demanding football. Old school football back to the days of good old times.”
The older Smith thinks of himself as “totally dependent” for Battles for the lessons he learned in life.
“He taught me how to be an adult,” he said. “Not just as a soccer coach and player and a teacher, but also as an individual man of the family. It’s a pleasure to be with him.”
Battles was the coach of his state’s final champion at Handley in the year 2011. He resigned in 2018 after the last three seasons at B.B. Comer. Retired for five years, he humorously describes his work as “making the bogeys, while hunting deer.”
He claimed he doesn’t miss football. There’s no secret about it However, he may have stayed coaching if it weren’t for the daily commute across Roanoke as well as Sylacauga.
He talks about the tens of thousands of players he worked with who quit football when they reached the age of 18. A lot of players were wearing Wellborn in white and black.
“I enjoy football and I was on scholarship for almost fifty years,” he said. “It was a struggle for me to leave football since if you are passionate about something similar to football, it’s going to do it. I thought, “This was amazing””
