76 High Schools set to be recognized at AHSAA’s Sportsmanship Luncheon
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (ahsaa.com) – The Alabama High School Athletic Association will recognize 76 member schools Friday at the eighth annual Star Sportsmanship Luncheon held in conjunction with the AHSAA’s 20th annual Summer Conference and All-Star Week.
The noon luncheon at the Montgomery Renaissance Hotel and Convention Center will recognize the member high schools that were fine and ejection free in the 2015-16 school year just completed.
“We are very proud of the effort our member schools place on good sportsmanship practices,” AHSAA Executive Director Steve Savarese said. “Being ejection and fine free is a reachable goal as these schools have shown us.”
Of the schools 76 schools accomplishing this goal, 23 were from Class 1A, 19 from Class 2A, 10 from Class 3A, 7 from Class 4A, 12 from Class 5A, 4 from Class 6A, one from Class 7A. District 3 had the most schools – 12. District 2 had 11, District 1, District 5 and District 7 had 10 each, District 6 had nine, District 8 had eight and District 4, the smallest district by number of schools, had six.
Among the total were four that reached this goal for the first time since the Star Sportsmanship program developed by AHSAA partner Learning Through Sports was introduced to the member schools in 2007-08. Each school received a sportsmanship banner to hang in their schools. Congratulations to those four schools: Colbert County, Cornerstone, Houston Academy and Northview. Both Houston Academy and Northview are from the city of Dothan in District 2.
While the number shows a decrease from 2014-15, 105 of our member schools had just one fine or ejection during the school year. Of that total, 26 were cited for a coach failing to take a rules test, 19 for a single administrative infraction, one for failing to report a playoff score and 59 schools that had just one ejection all year.
Since its inception in 2007-08, fines and ejections have seen a significant reduction for our member schools and 352 schools have been fine and eject free at least once and with as grand total of 943 fine and ejection-free years. Of the 76 in 2015-16, these schools have totaled 276 of those years – an average of 3.6 years per school over the nine-year period. The breakdown for the 2015-16 recipients included 14 that have been fine and ejection free for two years, 22 for three years, 17 for four years, six for five years, eight for six years, two for seven years and one — Covenant Christian of Tuscumbia in District 7 was fine and ejection free for the eighth time in nine years.
Those with six years being fine and ejection-free are Alabama School for the Deaf, Boaz, Florala, Horseshoe Bend, Hubbertville, Maplesville, T.R. Miller of Brewton and Booker T. Washington Magnet School in Montgomery. Among those with five years is W.S. Neal of East Brewton. W.S. Neal and T.R. Miller are two of the state’s fiercest rivals on the field and they are prime examples of how rivalries can be intense and spirited and played with excellent sportsmanship.
Alabama School for the Blind in Talladega and Linden have accomplished this feat seven times.
Ten schools currently have been fine free for the past four years, and one of them, Florala, has been fine free for five consecutive years. That is no fine or ejection for the Covington County school since the 2010-11 school year.
Alabama Media Group (al.com) will present $1,000 checks to eight of the honored schools, one from each district, as a show of support for the AHSAA sportsmanship efforts: Clarke County; Houston Academy; Maplesville; Booker T. Washington, Tuskegee; Oakman; Saks; Lexington; and Brewer.
Since 2008, the contributions by al.com have reached $72,000.
Dale County High School band director Sherri Miller, who received the NFHS National “Heart of the Arts” Award along with her 60-member band at the 97th NFHS Summer Meeting in Reno last month, was the featured speaker at the luncheon.
The complete list of schools that were fine and ejection free are listed.
| Alabama School for the Blind | 1A |
| Alabama School for the Deaf | 1A |
| Autaugaville High School | 1A |
| Billingsley High School | 1A |
| Brantley High School | 1A |
| Coosa Christian High School | 1A |
| Cornerstone Christian School | 1A |
| Covenant Christian School | 1A |
| Florala High School | 1A |
| Fruitdale High School | 1A |
| Gaylesville High School | 1A |
| Hubbard, R.A. High School | 1A |
| Hubbertville High School | 1A |
| Jefferson Christian Academy | 1A |
| Linden High School | 1A |
| Lynn High School | 1A |
| Maplesville High School | 1A |
| McKenzie High School | 1A |
| Notasulga High School | 1A |
| Pickens County High School | 1A |
| Saint Luke’s Episcopal High School | 1A |
| Skyline High School | 1A |
| Waterloo High School | 1A |
| Addison High School | 2A |
| Altamont School | 2A |
| Choctaw County High School | 2A |
| Cleveland High School | 2A |
| Flomaton High School | 2A |
| Goshen High School | 2A |
| Horseshoe Bend High School | 2A |
| Houston Academy | 2A |
| Ider High School | 2A |
| Isabella High School | 2A |
| Leroy High School | 2A |
| Lexington High School | 2A |
| Oakman High School | 2A |
| Phil Campbell High School | 2A |
| Red Bay High School | 2A |
| Reeltown High School | 2A |
| Victory Christian School | 2A |
| Woodland High School | 2A |
| Zion Chapel High School | 2A |
| Abbeville High School | 3A |
| Barbour County High School | 3A |
| Colbert County High School | 3A |
| Geneva High School | 3A |
| Greensboro Public High School | 3A |
| Indian Springs High School | 3A |
| Miller, T.R. High School | 3A |
| Saks High School | 3A |
| Walter Wellborn High School | 3A |
| Winston County High School | 3A |
| Bibb County High School | 4A |
| Clarke County High School | 4A |
| Monroe County High School | 4A |
| Neal, W.S. High School | 4A |
| Oneonta High School | 4A |
| Trinity Presbyterian School | 4A |
| Washington, B.T. Magnet High School | 4A |
| Arab High School | 5A |
| Beauregard High School | 5A |
| Boaz High School | 5A |
| Carver-B’ham High School | 5A |
| Douglas High School | 5A |
| Mortimer Jordan High School | 5A |
| Ramsay High School | 5A |
| Rehobeth High School | 5A |
| Tallassee High School | 5A |
| Washington, B.T. High School | 5A |
| Wenonah High School | 5A |
| Willliamson High School | 5A |
| Brewer High School | 6A |
| Jackson-Olin High School | 6A |
| Northview High School | 6A |
| Oxford High School | 6A |
| Lee-Montgomery High School | 7A |
