By Slade Gilmer

For The News Courier



THARPTOWN —Hazlewood, in Town Creek, is one of the most storied traditions in Alabama high school football. The Golden Bears have won 11 state championships and boast several college and NFL players.

One key to their success is Tharptown Elementary School assistant principal David Hogan, an All-State player for Athens High School during the 1960s.

Because of his success at Hazlewood from 1980-84, administrators Clyde Goode and Darin Liles nominated Hogan for the Alabama Coaches Hall of Fame.

“I guess you could say in the five years I was there, the kids won 54 games

and I lost seven,” Hogan said of his record with the Golden Bears.

After early stops at Hartselle, Austin and J.O. Johnson, Hogan took the

reins of the Golden Bears in 1980. After a 6-4 season in 1980, the Bears

exploded the next two years.

In 1981 Hazlewood went 13-1 — losing only to Colbert County 7-3 in Leighton

— to win the Class 1A state championship, thanks in large part to the

efforts of senior tailback Chris Goode and his younger brother Kerry.

The next season Hogan received permission from the Alabama High School

Athletic Association to move the Golden Bears up to Class 2A — even though the student population still put them in the 1A classification — in order to give his team more competition against schools such as Stevenson, which consolidated with Bridgeport to form North Jackson in 1988. Hogan referred to Stevenson as Hazlewood’s “biggest nemesis.”

Hazlewood did not disappoint, going 14-0 in 2A, including two wins over

Stevenson. They beat Dadeville 29-16 to win the 2A state championship.

After the season, The Birmingham News named Hogan its 2A Coach of the Year while The Decatur Daily named Hazlewood the best team in Lawrence, Morgan and Limestone County history.

The 1983 team went undefeated through the regular season, but was upset by

Oak Grove 22-21 in the state semifinals. The following season, the Golden

Bears went through the regular season undefeated, including a 41-0 thrashing

of Courtland — now R.A. Hubbard — in the season opener.

An injury to Pierre Goode — Chris and Kerry’s brother — before a

second-round rematch came back to haunt Hazlewood as Courtland avenged their

previous loss, 7-6.

Hogan left after that season to take over a downtrodden Haleyville program and remained there until 1992 when he worked as a volunteer with the Russellville High School staff.

In 1998 Hogan took his current position at Tharptown Elementary.

“It was a transition from high school athletes and going down to the little

ones,” says Hogan. “(But) I love these younger kids and dealing with them.”

In 2006 Hogan was an assistant on the first Tharptown Junior High

football team. The team won two games that year, beating Phil Campbell and

Lynn in its final two games.

“I’ve been at programs that have been down, but it’s another experience to

start a program,” Hogan said. “The kids have to learn how and what it takes

to win.”

The Alabama Coaches Hall of Fame is a very exclusive group, and Hogan says

it could take a year or two to be inducted. However, Hogan finds something else to be more satisfying than being inducted.

“The thing that means the most to me is that I’ve been gone since 1985 and

Mr. (Clyde) Goode and the other coaches (still) thought enough of me to

nominate me.”