“Four-six keeper” was the call that Sand Rock’s Lance Mackey delivered to his Wildcat teammates in the fourth quarter of the 1985 Class 1A state championship game against Repton. For Mackey the memory is still fresh. 

“I knew if we could get up by two scores it was over,” Mackey said recently. “I got to the outside and headed for the pylon. I made it to the end zone and that was it.”

Mackey’s scoring run put an exclamation mark a perfect 15-0 season for the Wildcats.   

When Mackey steps to the podium June 9 to deliver his Hall of Fame acceptance speech, don’t expect to hear much about the man himself from the man himself.

 “I’ve never felt like I stood above anyone else,” Mackey said. “To me this is really a team honor.”

 Mackey’s head coach, Russell Jacoway, understands his former quarterback’s frame of mind.

 “Lance was always about the team first and that is what made him great.  We really had a number of leaders on this team,” Jacoway said. “Lance was the vocal leader and the type of player and the type of person who made everyone around him better.”

 Jacoway and Mackey’s disappointments and successes are chronicled in the book “Fire On The Mountain: The Undefeated 1985 Sand Rock Wildcats.” Here’s one story from the book: Before reaching the pinnacle of Alabama high school football success, Mackey experienced the pangs of defeat as the Wildcats suffered a winless season during his sophomore campaign. Those lows drove Mackey and his teammates as they built their confidence through a breakout season in 1984.

 The team’s only humbling loss that year was to eventual state champ Valley Head, 48-7. Sand Rock then rebounded to win six of their next seven games to set up a rematch with the Tigers.

 Mackey still thinks about the playoff game with Valley Head.

 “That is one memory that stays with me,” he said. “They beat us 17-16 in the playoffs. On the extra point I had the option to pass or run.  The run was there, but I passed. Valley Head went on to win the state championship. But, that made us start to realize how good we could be.” 

 Then came 1985, when “we just felt we had a lot to prove,” Mackey said.    

Mackey remembered that even in the state final, “no one gave us a chance against [Repton].” Perhaps it was only fitting that Mackey, who also named the Class 1A Most Valuable Player in Alabama, would score the final touchdown of the historic season. 

“We had done something as a team that meant so much to so many people,” he said. “No one could ever take that away.”    

Tucker brothers and the Notre Dame box

Cedar Bluff’s Harry Tucker also redirects the spotlight to his teammates and coaches when he thinks about the achievements that landed him in the Hall of Fame’s Class of 2012.  

“My coach, L.D. Bruce, is in the Hall of Fame and he was one of the finest men I have ever known,” Tucker said. “He really got the winning tradition started at Cedar Bluff.” 

Tucker and his twin brother Larry were part of the Tiger football team voted best in Class 1A by the Birmingham News in 1959. 

“It was a big deal when they came up carrying that huge trophy,” Tucker said. “We were really proud of that.” 

Larry played quarterback and was a Second Team All-State that season, while Harry garnered a First Team selection as an end.  Tucker remembers Bruce employing the Notre Dame Box offense. 

“We were probably one of only two schools running that offense in any class at the time and no one could stop us,” he said. “Of course, we really had a great defense, too. We went 10-0 that year and shut out seven teams. We only gave up two or three touchdowns total.”    

Tucker recalls the game against Gaston as being one of his better memories. 

“It was our ninth game of the season and we knew it was going to be tough,” Tucker said. “We couldn’t afford a bus so we had to pile into cars and drive there. When we got there and started taking our equipment out of the cars they were laughing at us.” 

But when the final whistle blew, the Bulldogs didn’t have a single point on the scoreboard. 

“We beat them 49-0,” Tucker said. “I think we got the last laugh.” 

Tucker’s skills weren’t limited to the gridiron. He averaged 28 points per game his final season on the hard court, earning another First Team All-State honor. In the district tournament that year, he averaged over 24 points per game and led Cedar Bluff to Cherokee County’s first-ever entry into the state basketball tournament. 

Rooks representing two schools in HOF

Ronald Rooks will represent both Cherokee County and Hatcher High School in the Hall of Fame, as he joined the Warriors during a time of social change and political unrest. 

Rooks played three years of varsity football and two years of varsity basketball at Hatcher before the school merged with Cherokee County. 

“We kept hearing each year that it (integration) was going to happen,” Rooks recalled. “Then, my senior year, it did.”  At Hatcher, Rooks received direction from Eugene Weatherly. 

“We just called him coach because he coached everything,” Rooks said. “He did it all.” 

For Rooks, sports were always something to look forward to. Mainly that was because his father, whose main line of work was on the railroad, also did some sharecropping. 

“I knew that if I wasn’t doing sports I was expected to work in the fields,” Rooks said. “So, if we had a chance to be on a team we always tried to get on that team.” 

Rooks’ remembered that his first basketball hoop was an old bicycle rim. 

“It worked for us,” he said. “I was able to play with two of my brothers in high school. We were pretty good.  Our goal was always to make state.”    

Social change intervened in Rooks’ senior year and brought the talented forward onto the Cherokee County campus. Saturday night, Rooks will join other former Warriors Shorty Trammell, Michael Stimpson and B.T. Law in the Hall of Fame. 

“At first we (from Hatcher) just thought we’ve got to get through nine months, just get to graduation,” Rooks said. “But, playing sports was the nucleus for us. It brought us together. We all knew our roles and we wanted to win.” 

Rooks’ on-court achievements earned him a spot on the 1969 All-State basketball team. The 1968-69 Warrior team ran off 29 straight wins before falling to Austin in the Class 3A state final.    

Rooks’ athletic ability would earn him an athletic scholarship to St. Bernard’s College. His play that year got him a mention in Don W. Laney’s book, “Charley’s Boys”, about the school’s legendary coach, Charles Richard. 

“Ronald Rooks (our first black basketball player at St. Bernard) really came on towards the end of that year,” reads on passage. “I think he had like 26 points in that final game.”  

Rooks enjoyed his time in Cullman; he still proudly displays his degree from St. Bernard’s. 

“I had an offer to go to Gadsden State but that was only two years,” Rooks said. “St. Bernard’s was four years and it was for everything. I had never been there but I couldn’t turn it down. Pickin’ cotton won’t get you a scholarship.” 

Reservations to Saturday night’s ceremony must be made in advance (by June 6) by calling Tommy Moon at 256-927-3577. Tickets will not be available at the door. Tickets are also available at the Chamber of Commerce and the County Historical Museum. 

A luncheon and three-person golf scramble begins Friday, June 8 at 11:30 a.m. at the Cherokee County Country Club.  The golf scramble tees off at 1 p.m. For sign-up information call 256-927-5070.