Jimmy Drake died at the age of 74 in September 2015, but he will never be forgotten among East Limestone faithful.

East Limestone’s gymnasium will be named after the legendary former coach tonight before the boys varsity basketball game against Elkmont. The Limestone County School board in January decided to rename the gym, which was completed in 2011, “Jimmy Drake Gymnasium.”

The two head coaches involved in tonight’s game couldn’t be more fitting. East is coached by Drake’s son, Chad, while Elkmont is coached by Dennis Black, a longtime principal at East Limestone, who led the charge in naming the gym after Drake.

The ceremony will immediately follow the varsity girls game, which will tip off at approximately 6:45 p.m.

“It’s been in the works for a while,” said East Limestone head coach Chad Drake. “Once they saw the turnout for his visitation, there was no doubt this had to be done. Coach Black wanted to be a part of it, so we tried to schedule them early in the season.”

In 2004, Drake was inducted into the Limestone County Sports Hall of Fame for his accomplishments on the court and his achievements with his own players. Drake earned two state Coach of the Year honors in his career and was named Coach of the Year in this region four times including a Coach of the Decade award and the head coach of two Teams of the Decade in the 1950s as a player and the 1970s as a coach.

In 1979 and 1990, he led East Limestone’s boys teams to the program’s only basketball state championships. His teams finished as state runner-up three times in the 1980s, made the Final Four twice and had two teams in the state’s Elite Eight. During Drake’s tenure as head coach, East won eight Limestone County championships with nine state tournament appearances including eight in a row from 1983-1990.

Drake especially loved his 1979 championship team, who were denied rings at the time because of the expense. Drake made it his mission to reward the boys, now men, for their hard work and personally bought and presented them with championship rings in February 2015.

During his coaching career, that ended in 2002 when he retired as the head coach at Athens High School, Drake’s teams had 13, 20-win seasons including 10 straight.

In the 21 years he coached, he compiled an overall 464-185 record with an overall .715 won-loss record. He’s had 25 players to play at the collegiate level.