By Ashley Hargrove
It’s been a little over 50 years since Ronny Magnusson and his teammates on the 1958 Ardmore High state championship team stepped off the playing surface of what is now Cooper Field.
For members of the 1961 and 1963 teams, it’s been a little less than that. But tonight, members of all three championship teams, along with cheerleaders, coaches and managers will reunite at a 5 p.m. reception being held in the school cafeteria. They will also be recognized for their accomplishments prior to the Tigers’ homecoming home opener against Central-Florence.
“It’s real special to me,” Magnusson said. “All of my kids are coming here from out of state and all of my grandkids are going to get to see my name on that plaque. Winning a state championship was a big moment of triumph and I’ve used that concept to try and prove to my own kids and everybody else’s that you get what you work for.”
Magnusson hasn’t known current head coach Shannon Brown very long. But since meeting the first year Ardmore coach, he’s been reminded a lot of his former coach— the late Eugene Cooper, whom the Tigers field is now named for.
Magnusson and other former players will get a chance to share their stories of Cooper and their championship seasons with Brown during tonight’s reception, something the Tiger coach said he is looking forward to.
“It’s going to be very humbling,” Brown said. “I’m excited to meet them. These guys are truly champions and look forward to getting them back on campus and hearing their stories.”
Ardmore closed out the ’58 season with an undefeated 8-0 record, beating teams such as Cornersville, Tenn, Petersburg, Tenn and rival West Limestone for the county championship. Because there was no postseason during those days, a poll put out by the Birmingham News was how state champions were declared. That year, the Birmingham News chose Ardmore as the Class 1A, Region 4 state champions.
That was the case for the ’61 and ’63 seasons as well. In ’61, the Tigers finished the season 9-0, outscoring opponents 40 plus points in every game. The only team to put points on the board against them that season was Lynchburg, Tenn. Ardmore was also county champions and Wheeler Basin champions that year, and later named state champions by the Birmingham Post Herald.
In ’63, Ardmore ended the season with a 7-0-1 record. Because of a 7-7 tie with Tanner during the third game of the season, it forced the two teams to met at the end of the year at the current Athens Middle School field to play for the county championship. Ardmore came out on top 20-0.
“We had a real good year that season,” Jimmy McGuire, a member of the ’61 and ’63 teams said. “We were able to get things together and pull out some games people didn’t think we could win. It was a privilege for me to be able to be apart of both teams.”
According to Raymond McLemore, a member of the ’58 and ’61 team, the idea of putting up plaques to honor the teams came about after seeing a photo a published in The News Courier of the plaques that honor the state championship teams at Athens High School.
“I thought if Athens could have something to honor their state championship teams than Ardmore could too,” McLemore said.
The plaques were recently finished and now sit beside a memorial that was made in honor of coach Cooper which sits in the north end zone.
