Photo by Michael Wade
Vestavia Hills head coach Buddy Anderson will coach his final game this Friday.
This Friday, Vestavia Hills High School will host Shades Valley in the finale of the high school football regular season. The Rebels were unable to qualify for the playoffs, meaning the game will serve as the final one with head coach Buddy Anderson leading the program.
The following was written by Laura Casey, a Vestavia Hills High alum, former girls basketball coach and current assistant athletic director at the high school:
I never played for Coach Anderson. However, as a Vestavia athlete in the late 1990s, I can still quote his first day of school drug and alcohol speech. I can recite his stories behind our athletic awards named for the three revered coaches who perished in a car accident in the 1970s. Ask a former football player about “game axioms” and they will tell you Coach’s pregame speech verbatim, inflections and mannerisms included. I remember being able to hear a pin drop as he came to the microphone on Pep Rally Fridays. And I still know a nugget of wisdom is coming after he says the phrase, “Now listen up young people.”
I never envisioned that I would come back to Vestavia Hills to begin my career as a teacher and coach. Sitting in his office as a wide-eyed 23-year-old, I remember our conversation about coaching. After asking some questions, he would tell me that coaching was about teaching and, that, far more important than the wins and losses, were the lessons we taught our players about life. Throughout my career, I have referred back to that conversation often — trying to remember that in both victory and defeat there is always a lesson to learn.
Many years after that initial conversation, I sat in his office yet again. This time, I sought his advice of my own accord, needing to hear the insight of a coach who had been in the business of teaching kids for decades. What I really wanted was for him to tell me what to do, what decision was best and how to go about making that decision. What I got was the wisdom of an old coach who knew when and how to listen. In the end, he didn’t give me any answers, but he helped me find my way. Looking back on that conversation now, I am so thankful for it — for his willingness to listen and to interject some of his own life’s lessons along the way. I imagine that he’s had countless conversations like this throughout his career. Young people who turned to Coach for guidance. His door has always been open and I know it will continue to be long after he hangs up his whistle this fall.
I am so grateful that he chose to follow God and become a coach. I’m even more grateful that he continued as one in the years when he had opportunities to move on. No, I didn’t play on a team coached by Buddy Anderson...but then again, I guess I did.
Friday's game will be played at Thompson Reynolds Stadium, with tickets set to go on sale Monday at 8 p.m. on gofan.co.
