MOUNTAIN BROOK REMEMBERS INAUGURAL SEASON

When Mountain Brook High School first opened its doors in the fall of 1966, it looked like anything but the site of what would become one of the state’s perennial athletic powers. There was no football stadium. The baseball field was at the bottom of a steep hill with an outfield that had more rocks than grass. Makeshift tennis courts backed up to a cesspool. And the gymnasium was used for everything from classrooms to band practice to school plays. Not only that, but the school had a bad reputation for athletics before a single team ever took the field. “Nobody took us seriously,” Carl Tayloe, who entered Mountain Brook that fall, remembered. “Everyone dismissed us as a bunch of rich kids who couldn’t play sports. I remember the jokes. People called us the Mountain Brook Trouts and everything else. It kind of made us mad.” In fact, the nickname – chosen by a vote of the student body – was Spartans, which proved an accurate description of the school’s athletic facilities at the time. “We didn’t have a lot,” said Tayloe, one of the school’s first multi-sport stars. “But we had everything we needed.” One thing Mountain Brook did need was a quality coaching staff, and the Board of Education brought one in. Darrell Fitts, who had worked under legendary coaches Red Drew and Paul Bryant at the University of Alabama, was hired as head football coach. Assistants included Gene Beard, who would also coach the basketball team, Ray Collins and Omar Faucett. “Coach Fitts was a great coach and is a wonderful man,” Tayloe said. “We were blessed to have really great coaches.” So all they needed was a schedule and a place to play. “We didn’t have a home stadium, but John Carroll and Shades Valley let us use their stadiums when they weren’t playing,” Tayloe recalled. “We appreciated having a place to play but every game seemed like a road game.” Although there were no seniors in the student body, the Spartans were blessed with good athletes. In addition to Tayloe, who played running back, Pat Hardy, Joe Sherrill, Cliff Moon and Beetle Yielding were among Mountain Brook’s standouts that first year. “Those were fun times,” Tayloe said. “I really think about those days a lot. We had some great guys on our team and we all loved playing football.” The Spartans’ football debut came on the night of Sept. 10 with a 20-6 loss to West Blocton at Shades Valley. Mountain Brook rebounded in its second game with a 41-7 rout of Glenn at Fair Park. The young program’s winning streak died quickly, as the Spartans ran afoul of a future football legend in their third game. “We played John Carroll and they had Pat Sullivan,” Tayloe said, chuckling. “You can guess what happened.” The future Auburn University All-American and Heisman Trophy winner was too much for Mountain Brook, and the Cavaliers rolled to a 43-0 victory. As much as the loss to John Carroll hurt, the Spartans bounced back. They won four of their final six games to finish with a respectable 5-4 record. “We felt pretty good about what we had accomplished,” Tayloe said. “We showed that we could play football and compete. And we had everybody coming back for the next season.” Despite the early success, gaining respect was difficult. “We’d go places and tell people we played football at somewhere like Ensley,” Tayloe recalled. “If we said we played at Mountain Brook, people would still make fun of us.” Mountain Brook began the 1967 season with a new wrinkle. The on-campus playing field – christened Spartan Stadium – was ready for play. City fathers took pride in having completed their stadium more quickly than their Birmingham counterparts could complete a new high school stadium near Eastwood Mall. Fitts returned as head coach, a sign of stability and continuity. Tayloe led the Spartans to a solid 7-3 record. The season’s highlight may have been a 26-19 upset of John Carroll, avenging the humbling defeat of the previous year. “It was another fun year,” Tayloe said. “We were older and more experienced. Beating Sullivan in his senior season was definitely a good one.” With two impressive seasons under their belts, Mountain Brook had high expectations in 1968. The Spartans were heavily favored in their season opener against Berry. Directed by first-year coach Bob Finley, the Bucs scored a 7-6 upset. Mountain Brook rallied to win seven consecutive games, including a rout of Hewitt-Trussville in which Tayloe scored seven touchdowns – a school record that still stands 50 years later. “My mother recently sent me some old newspaper clippings from that game,” said Tayloe, who owns a pair of restaurants in North Carolina. “We were firing on all guns that night. We jumped on Hewitt in a big way.”

MOUNTAIN BROOK REMEMBERS INAUGURAL SEASON

Photo Credit: Mountain Brook High School Athletics