Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

NORTH SHELBY – It was a night full of laughs, tears and reflection as Oak Mountain High School welcomed the third class of inductees into the Oak Mountain Hall of Fame Class of 2025 at a special banquet at Our Lady of the Valley Catholic Church on Saturday, Jan. 18.

The school inducted Nealy Martin, Kevin Patterson, Katie and Jessica Cooley, Chandler Stroupe, Mills Sproull, Chris Love and the 2005 football team into the Hall of Fame.

After a social hour which included a catered dinner, bar and silent auction to help raise money for the next generation of Eagles athletes, each inductee was introduced by a coach or influential figure in their lives, and five of the eight were present to give an acceptance speech.

OMHS athletic director Chris Blight emceed the evening and remarked on the decades of history present in the room. He said the night was as much about honoring those who supported each athlete as it was for the athletes themselves.

“It really is just us reflecting on the legacy and the excellence that people have done at Oak Mountain, in their futures after Oak Mountain and it’s just a chance for us all to come back together and celebrate each other,” Blight said.

Martin was the night’s first inductee, but the former state champion girls soccer player could not attend since the U.S. Women’s National Team called her up to camp for the first time. She sent in a video to be played in her absence, but it could not run due to audio issues.

Before presenting her parents with her trophy, Martin’s former coach David DiPiazza recounted her journey from Oak Mountain to the University of Alabama to the NWSL, where she currently plays defensive midfielder for NJ/NY Gotham FC.

Through her long soccer journey, DiPiazza said she has always remained a kind, hard-working person who prioritizes her faith and is determined to be the best she can be.

He even recalled how Martin once took a notorious fitness test and got the second-highest score of any player he ever coached, male, female, high school or college behind only a future U.S. Naval Academy student.

“Obviously, she’s an incredible soccer player. She’s also an incredibly human being,” DiPiazza said. “Her love for God, her faith in God, her work ethic, her commitment to her fitness and to her teammates is really the how that she got where she is in her career.”

Next was Kevin Patterson, an All-State baseball standout who batted .392 for his high school career and finished runner-up in the National High School Home Run Derby in 2007. He went on to play for four years at Auburn ahead of a five-year minor league career in the Toronto Blue Jays organization.

To his former Oak Mountain coach Tommy Youngblood, Patterson’s biggest accomplishment was serving as team captain for three seasons, a feat that then-Tigers assistant coach Butch Thompson said was unheard of.

Youngblood credited that to Patterson’s discipline and leadership, two traits that made him an ideal role model for younger athletes. In his eyes, “We need a lot more Kevin Patterson’s in the world.”

“His Auburn University profile said ‘Kevin was one of the hardest working players in the program with recent memory,’” Youngblood said. “’Even when he was not an everyday player, he could always be found around the field, working to improve his game while also setting a solid example for his teammates who were older and younger than him.’

That right there makes it a joy for me as a former coach because I always knew Kevin was going to be very successful in whatever he did. Kevin is an example of, in my opinion, for parents who have young kids today, that’s the role model that our younger kids need to be looking up to.”

Patterson said he was honored to return to OMHS after years away and thanked his family for their support during the hard years as a minor leaguer.

“I would not have been able to have the career that I had without their support,” Patterson said. “Professional baseball is a little bit of a grind. If anyone knows anything about minor league baseball, it’s a lot of long bus rides and a lot of misery, playing 158 games in about 160 days and, we were all just kind of chasing our dream, trying to get to the major leagues, so we’re not going to be able to pursue that dream through all of the minor leagues without the loving support of my family.”

Sticking to the diamond, sisters Katie and Jessica Cooley shared a special moment as they were inducted into the Hall of Fame on the same night. Both were introduced by their former softball coach Danny DuBose.

The sisters shared much in common as they played both softball and volleyball at OMHS, were four-year starters in high school due to their ability to play any position, went to Mississippi State for softball and even met their husbands through softball.

DuBose said Katie was a trailblazing player as she brought home run power to an era where that wasn’t prevalent in softball yet and led Oak Mountain to its first softball state title. He said she always focused on making both herself and her teams the best they could be.

“(Katie was) the multisport athlete that didn’t have to focus on just one sport, focused on just being the best secretly and making her teams the best she could be,” DuBose said. “And in reality, I hope that our athletes today could see more people like her. She’d be the perfect role model.”

Katie thanked her parents for their sacrifices to make her and Jessica’s softball careers as well as coach DuBose, who she complimented for how he taught each individual athlete and didn’t try to force his system on them.

“He really wanted dedication and hard work and demanded it, but he also found that line to make sure we had the joy in what we were doing,” Katie said to DuBose. “And he was also a teacher, and he did the same thing in the classroom. So, I hope you know the eternal effect that you have on your students and your athletes.”

As for Jessica, she stepped into the shortstop role as a freshman with the Eagles and eventually won Shelby County Hitter of the Year.

DuBose credited her with helping return the program to prominence ahead of earning All-SEC honors with Mississippi State and starting her college coaching career at Palm Beach Atlantic and Taylor University. He said much of who she is can be traced back to her parents and what they taught her.

“Katie spoke of her parents, they’ve done a great job with their kids,” DuBose said. “Jessica, you did a great job as a player in taking what they taught to you into what you became and what you are to this day.”

Jessica was grateful to her coaches for sacrificing to make her better and said playing shortstop from an early age prepared her for embracing new challenges.

“(DuBose) putting me as a shortstop as a freshman was the start of learning, ‘It’s not about you, and it’s not about what you want, it’s about what’s best for the team,’ and learning how to be comfortable being uncomfortable,” Jessica said. “And many times playing softball and even going out into the real world, that’s something I can always draw on and him empowering me to do that.”

The next two athletes both came from Oak Mountain’s run of three straight boys soccer state championship appearances from 2011-2013: defender Chandler Stroupe and midfielder Mills Sproull, both of whom were introduced by their former coach Ryan Patridge.

Stroupe was part of a lockdown defense which earned 47 clean sheets over three years and surrendered just 11 goals in 2013. He also assisted on the game-winning goal in the 2012 state title game and won the 2013 Alabama Gatorade Player of the Year before playing four years at UAB.

Patridge praised Stroupe’s on-field achievements and said that the defender was in his all-time starting lineup at Oak Mountain, but he believes Stroupe’s selfless and supportive nature made him truly special.

“I offered him to be captain his senior year and he turned it down,” Patridge said. “He said, ‘Coach, there are other kids in the team that need to be captain that lead be better than me.’ So that’s just shows you how selfless he was as a player. We had long conversations, and he was just a great kid.”

Stroupe couldn’t attend because of illness, but he thanked his team, coaches, fans and Oak Mountain in a statement.

The night then took an emotional turn as Patridge introduced Sproull, who was tragically killed in a car accident in 2015 while fulfilling his dream of playing Division I soccer at USC-Upstate.

Patridge struggled to make it through his introduction, describing Sproull as a fun, unpredictable problem solver on the offense who brought a competitive streak on the field, where he frequently made unbelievable passes to set up goals.

However, he was first and foremost remembered for the positive energy he brought to his team and those he loved. For that reason, Patridge called him a role model that he sorely misses.

“The world is a darker place now that he’s gone,” Patridge said. “We were all robbed of watching him mature, become an adult and just the life that he would’ve lived. There’s a saying that we come back to, ‘Love like Mills. Live like Mills.’ And if we can all do that, and have that outlook and positivity, the world would be a better place.”

Sproull’s family was present to accept his award, and his father Miller said that Mills “would’ve gotten a kick out of being inducted” since he deeply loved Oak Mountain. He was grateful that Oak Mountain thought highly enough of him to not only name the alumni association in his honor but induct him into the Hall of Fame.

Miller went on to say that Mills played a key role in how unified the team was when he played, a unity that came from the coaches and administration down to the players.

“It was told to us at his memorial that when he gathered with the soccer team, he would break the huddle with the chant, ‘We are one,’” Miller said. “And as I think about it and as coach (Patridge) alluded to it, I think that’s what his soccer team was all about.”

Afterwards, former basketball assistant coach and player Donald McMahon had the honor of introducing one of the night’s most anticipated inductees: former boys basketball coach Chris Love.

Over the course of his 23 seasons at OMHS, McMahon said Love led the Eagles with integrity, excellence, grit and humility. He said that thanks to his 231 wins, seven area titles, three Elite Eight appearances, a Final Four and the 2021 state championship, Oak Mountain is considered a basketball school, something that wouldn’t be possible without him.

“His dedication to the program is unmatched,” McMahon said. “You talk about building a legacy and building a program, Oak Mountain basketball is nowhere close to what it would be without coach Love. And I know there are several faces in here that I’ve seen that can appreciate that, and we’re forever grateful to you, coach Love, for what you’ve given to the basketball program.”

Love received a standing ovation at the beginning and end of his induction speech which was filled with all kinds of emotions. He thanked the coaches who took a chance on him, including Curtis Coleman, Jerry North and Jerry Hood.

Love also recognized his family for their support as his wife taught AP English at OMHS and both of their sons played basketball for him.

However, near the beginning of his speech, Love thanked his mother, who he revealed passed away just two days before his induction. He said that she and her father had servant hearts from their careers in ministry, hearts that he hoped to model to his players.

“Y’all are we do this,” Love said. “The opportunity to serve you guys is my honor. It is not what I did for you, it’s what you did for me. And I know I probably said a few cuss words and a few things I shouldn’t say over the years, but man, I wanted to serve you as well as I could, and I know I failed sometimes, but I hope maybe I served you more often in the positive than I did in the negative.”

Finally, the night ended on a high note with the 2005 football team’s induction. The team went 10-4 while reaching the Class 6A semifinals, which still remains the deepest run in program history. That 10-win feat was only matched during 2014’s 10-2 season.

Former public address announcer Jim Brotherton introduced the team with a lighthearted run through his favorite memories and signature catchphrases before giving the microphone to Hood, the head coach of that team and now the head football coach at Leeds.

Hood drew a comparison between the 2005 team and his 2024 Greenwave team which reached the Class 5A semifinals. Both came into the year with no expectations but as they grew closer together, they kept winning and would only bow out after facing a regional rival in the semifinals, Hoover for Oak Mountain and Moody for Leeds.

“This team, much like the team I had this year, at my school, kind of unheralded, probably picked to be competitive and those kinds of things, just kept winning and winning and winning, and the key to that whole thing was they believed in the character of each other, and they got that character from their parents,” Hood said.

Hood mentioned that after losing the first three games in 2004, he implemented the Coaching to Change Lives program that he learned from another experienced coach. The Eagles posted a winning record of 4-3 from then on and set the stage for a historic 2005 season.

He credited the turnaround to the buy-in from the players and support from the community, who he said had a huge impact on getting the football program off the ground because of all of the extra work that they put in.

In addition to thanking his players, he also thanked his assistants, including Love, his offensive coordinator for the season. Hood called the now two-time Hall of Fame inductee “the embodiment of Oak Mountain,” and he said he couldn’t be prouder for Love’s success.

“I’ll tell you, he is the finest man I’ve ever known,” Hood said of Love. “He has been a great friend to my family, to us, a heck of an offensive coordinator. He did a great job for us using the talent we had to maximize that. It was just super incredible. And I was so proud of him when he won the state championship that finally, everybody could see the greatness…but I was so proud that everybody could see what a great human being (he is).”

Former All-County offensive lineman Mark Melichar then accepted the award on behalf of the players. He was grateful for how the coaching staff believed in them and how simpler times without technology brought the players closer together.

He also put their success into context as it came during a flurry of coaching changes and a time when some people in the school and community didn’t think they could be successful. However, through hard work and perseverance, they did.

“We had guys every year that would say, ‘I’m either going to focus on other sports,’ or ‘I’m just quitting,’ or ‘I’m moving away,’” Melichar said. “But the guys who stayed together, we won in the end and we experienced success, and I’m glad we did.”

It proved to be a fitting capper on a night which honored the hard work and sacrifices of each inductee and their loved ones and represented decades of history at Oak Mountain High School.