I grew up in Montgomery and played in the 60's and 70's at various levels. I've been gone from the area for many years now, but I was just wondering why the drop off in the programs at RE Lee (mine) / Lanier/ Jeff Davis? Appreciate any detailed information or thoughts on this.:conf3:
What happened/history of the Montgomery HS's?
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I remember well when Lee & Lanier were both well-respected rivals of my alma mater, Tuscaloosa HS.
There is no easy answer, but there is a parallel with the dropoff of the B'ham City school programs. Declining enrollment, lack of funding and booster support, deteriorating training facilities (which Langford addressed this week), and stronger academic eligibilty requirements all factor into the decline.
You only have to look at the rise of such programs as Prattville and Hoover (not to mention the private schools) to see the effect.
Thanks - had good rivalries with B'ham schools - Woodlawn, Banks, etc. It looks like most of the talent and better programs are no longer with the city Hs's. Shame that the tradition of these once proud programs is no more.
Lack of support at Lee, JD etc, in terms of financial, boosters, facilities etc .
Couple that with Prattville hiring a coach who awoke a sleeping giant 7 years ago and with Stanhope Elmore and Wetumpka moving to 6A, the best school in Montgomery will only be the 4th best team in the region anymore. SEHS & WHS are making capital improvements to facilities and stadiums, Prattville's practice facilities may be the best in the country. Nothing is going on at the Montgomery schools that could come close to rivaling anything north of the city.
Every once in awhile, a montgomery school will give Pville a run for their money (Lanier in 2001, JD and Carver in 2004 & 2005), but their no consistency at any of the schools.
Also, the growth of private school enrollment, specifically Trinity & MA hurts too.
Couple that with Prattville hiring a coach who awoke a sleeping giant 7 years ago and with Stanhope Elmore and Wetumpka moving to 6A, the best school in Montgomery will only be the 4th best team in the region anymore. SEHS & WHS are making capital improvements to facilities and stadiums, Prattville's practice facilities may be the best in the country. Nothing is going on at the Montgomery schools that could come close to rivaling anything north of the city.
Every once in awhile, a montgomery school will give Pville a run for their money (Lanier in 2001, JD and Carver in 2004 & 2005), but their no consistency at any of the schools.
Also, the growth of private school enrollment, specifically Trinity & MA hurts too.
We have a winner !!! :smile: Excellent post ..... with one possible exception . Prattville has been fairly strong a bit longer than that . Not great but good .
Time flies . Used to broadcast some high school ball - mostly during the 90's . REL & JD were still quite strong then . Boy how they've regressed .
For a lack of a better politically correct term, white flight. Communities such as Prattville and Wetumpka have benefitted from this, along with the MANY private schools in the tri-county area. The starting D-line for Trinity 2 years ago would have all been starting for JD if they would have gone to the school they were zoned for.
I remember when I was right out of HS and would go to Cramton Bowl to see Lee & JD play - they place would be packed and you would see some good FB. Now, when the Montgomery teams play at the bowl, it is not unusual to see the bowl only about one-fifth full on both sides. Very sad.
I remember when I was right out of HS and would go to Cramton Bowl to see Lee & JD play - they place would be packed and you would see some good FB. Now, when the Montgomery teams play at the bowl, it is not unusual to see the bowl only about one-fifth full on both sides. Very sad.
3:16, you are right - the Montgomery schools are at a competivite disadvantage in that there is no room on their campuses to build a stadium. That is why they have to all share Cramton Bowl. The one good thing about that is that the bowl has been renovated over the last couple of years so that they are not playing on "painted dirt" over the last half of the season.
Thats the same thing thats going on with many of the big city schools.
Huntsville - Huntsville High School, J.O. Johnson High School, Lee High School, Sr Butler High School, and Virgil Grissom High School all play at Milton Frank Stadium.
Birmingham - Huffman High School, Woodlawn High School, and Hayes High School play at Lawson Field while West End High School, Wenonah High School, and Parker High School play at Fair Park Arena.
Mobile - Wp Davidson High School, John S Shaw High School, Le Flore High School, Lillie B Williamson High School, and Murphy High School all play at Ladd - Peebles Stadium.
This is the latest info I have. Hopefully it is all correct.
This past season Scottsoro played at Butler and ended up driving about three times as far as they would have when Butler held the game at Florence.
Lots of Thursday night games in Huntsville and it must have been completely booked that week.
I grew up in Mtgy also, went to Lee in the late 70's. My brother went to Lee in 70-71 when Lee won back to back state championships. The Bowl would be packed for rivals. I even introduced my wife to the Lee/JD rivalry in the mid
80's and she learned to dislike JD with the rest of us. We have been gone and out of touch since then. I hate to see what has happened to a once proud program and others in the city but it is understandable. Just like Bama moving all home games to BDS from B'ham...it was inevitable. So is the flight to the north and private schools. While the Bowl has its tradition and history, I wonder what it would have been like if we had been able to play Lanier and JD on campus. Most of the campuses are land locked the last I heard.
Sad...
80's and she learned to dislike JD with the rest of us. We have been gone and out of touch since then. I hate to see what has happened to a once proud program and others in the city but it is understandable. Just like Bama moving all home games to BDS from B'ham...it was inevitable. So is the flight to the north and private schools. While the Bowl has its tradition and history, I wonder what it would have been like if we had been able to play Lanier and JD on campus. Most of the campuses are land locked the last I heard.
Sad...
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