There was a recurring sentiment echoed by the newest inductees into the Andalusia High School Football Hall of Fame Friday night.

And that is that football is a team sport.

Inductees alternately called attention to team members who blocked and tacked for them, and community and school leaders who made great teams possible.

The AHS Football Hall of Fame inducted its third class, including Byron McDougald, Larry Moulton, Albert Weeden, Shelby Searcy and the 1960 Ralph Johnson Bunche High School Wildcats

McDougald, a four-year (1970-73) letterman as a defensive lineman at AHS, went on to sign with Alabama State and later transfer to Livingston. He currently lives in Miami.

McDougald’s daughter is marrying today, and he was unable to attend. However, his parents, Archie and Pearl McDougald, accepted on his behalf, and he pre-recorded his thoughts during a recent trip to Andalusia.

McDougald expressed his appreciation to the coaches who influenced him, by “constantly talking to us about things we should do to be able to show leadership in the school.”

“A lot of people filled in and helped me, showed me the way I should go,” he said. “I would like to thank them wholeheartedly.”

He said to be successful, players need to, “Be the best you can. Set your mark high, and don’t just go for a basic. Every year, get you a goal to be better.”

Weeden, a four-year letterman, amassed more than 2,000 yards rushing in 1973 alone. He signed at Livingston, where he started at running back.

“The records and achievement I did, I didn’t do them by myself,” Weeden said, adding that he had good linemen and a good backfield.

Take, for example, a huge game against T.R. Miller.

“Coach Sharpe called me to the office on Monday and said, ‘Albert, I got something to show you. Looka here what T.R. Miller sent you in the mail. It’s two pictures of their linebackers and it says we gone break your neck.’

Weeden said he ran the ball 42 times for 256 yards that night.

“I don’t think I say (the linebackers) one time,” he said.

Recounting game after game in which he excelled on the field, he said, “I didn’t do it alone.”

Searcy was a three-year letterman at AHS (1944-1946; Andalusia didn’t field a team in 1943 because of World War II) who went on to play football for Troy State College.

He returned to Andalusia as a coach, working as an assistant in 1958, when AHS fielded a state championship team, and later serving as head coach (1960-64).

Searcy said he could spend hours thanking people who helped make his honor possible, including his parents, teachers and coaches.

“I would like to thank my team mates for their outstanding skills and abilities,” he said. “Football is a team effort and individuals do not succeed alone.”

Moulton, who is deceased, was also a four-year (1962-65) AHS letterman, averaged 6.4 yards per carry as a running back, and later played at the University of Southern Mississippi. He is already a member of the University of Southern Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame.

Doug Barfield, who coached Moulton at AHS and at Southern Miss, and hired him as an assistant coach in Opelika, accepted with Moulton’s widow, Joan.

Barfield said he once heard a football player described as “a rolling ball of butcher knives.”

“That’s kind of what Larry was,” he recalled. “He was explosive, hard working and dedicated.”

Barfield said Moulton was not only a good player, but he was a good person.

“He was willing to work for it,” Barfield said. “He was a tough, fierce competitor.”

John Daniel made acceptance remarks for the undefeated 1960 Ralph Bunche Wildcats. Team members were (* denotes deceased)

* Ray Barber
* James Barnes
* David Crittenden
Fred Crittenden
John Henry Daniels
James Roger Hartley
Colon James
Anderson Jones Jr.
Warren Owens
Richard A. Robertson
James Ray Stone
Jake Upshaw
* Steve Washington
* Neal J. Whitley
* Leroy Belcher
Dewitt Daniels
Bennie Martin Davis
* Charles Gantt
Jenkins Logan
Burney J. Hall
Bobby Ray Harrell
Freddie Jackson
Willie B. Mullins
James Osby
* Willie C. Robertson
* Calvin Smith
Willie Stephenson
Fred Toles
Hayward Whitley
* Chester Bradley
Charles Grace
Rufus HJawkins
Charles Reed
* Eddie Paul Wilson
Carl Wilson
Samuel Carter

 

 

Coach Brian Seymore made closing remarks and thanked the inductees for making a difference in Andalusia.

“Seeing how much the football program still means to each of you is an inspiration to our players,” Seymore said.

The 2012 Hall of Fame Committee included: Bob Bush; Paul Armstorng; Bill Catrett; Lucky Cope; Lucky Robert Cremer; David Moore; Ted Watson; Paul Godwin; John Jones; Joe Nix; Ab Powell; Jimmy Wilson; Dodd Riley; Richard Robertson; Will Sconiers; Lex Short; Jackie Woods Jr. and Daniel Shakespeare