On Monday, March 10, 12 major contributors to prep athletics in Alabama were inducted into the Alabama High School Sports Hall of Fame — and Trinity High School’s longtime coach and administrator Hadley Provience was one of the legendary dozen. 

Provience was among one of the most influential coaches and administrators in the Alabama Interscholastic Athletic Association before its merger with the Alabama High School Athletic Association in 1968.

A native of Holt, Provience graduated from Industrial High School in 1942 and Alabama State University in 1946. He also earned a master’s degree from Alabama A&M University before he began his teaching and coaching career at Morgan County Training School in Hartselle in 1946. A year later, Provience became head football coach at Trinity High School of Athens in Limestone County, where he remained through 1967.

Trinity opened in 1865 and was considered to be the first high school in the United States dedicated to educating black children. It was a private for more than 75 years. The tuition to attend the school was $2.50 a year.

Provience was a perfect fit for the school’s mission. An excellent classroom teacher, he was an even better coach. He led Trinity to two undefeated football seasons in 1951 and 1958. The 1951 team outscored opponents 120-6. In 22 years as football coach, he is credited with more than 150 wins and coached in seven North Alabama Athletic Association All-Star games. 

“He was a strict disciplinarian who knew the game, “ said Provience’s former player Ronnie Fletcher, who was one of the state’s premier prep basketball standouts scoring more than 50 points on several occasions.

Provience also coached track at Trinity for 16 years, basketball for 15 years and baseball for 12 years. He coached all sports alone, without assistant coaches. 

“He was a good coach, and he was all we had,” Louis Coger, a 100-yard and 200-yard dash champion for Provience, said. “He was also a great man.”

In the North Alabama Conference, prior to the athletic association’s merger in 1968, he was a mentor to many coaches. He encouraged and taught schools how to solve problems among themselves and how to manage routine items like schedules. He was described as a great motivator and disciplinarian.

 “Provience believed in graduating his players, many of whom were academically gifted,” Lt. Col. James Walker, a Trinity alumnus and historian, said. “His players went on to become accountants, doctors, lawyers, and military officers. Always believing he should set the example, Provience returned to school after 20 years of teaching and coaching to obtain his master’s degree in 1965.”

Province, who passed away in 1986, was posthumously selected by a committee of coaches and administrators assembled by the Alabama High School Athletic Directors and Coaches Association into the Class of 2025.  

The 11 other individuals inducted into the Alabama High School Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2025 included: football coach Brent Hubbert; volleyball coaches Melanie Donahoo and Tanya Broadway; basketball coaches Emanuel ‘Tubb’ Bell, now deceased; Robert Burdette; Renard Davis; and Floyd Mathews, Jr., deceased; baseball coach Matt Cimo; tennis coach Meridy Lyle Jones; administrator Steve Bailey; contributor Drew Ferguson, now deceased.