Caleb Carpenter Story
Ashville basketball coach Caleb Carpenter was in a severe accident in August that almost cost him his life. He survived five surgeries and made it clear from the moment he woke up that he would coach his Bulldogs. Then Ashville boys basketball went on an inspiring run the state title game.
Rush Propst Story
When Rush Propst was named interim coach at Coosa Christian we knew we wanted to tell the story of why he was back coaching after a year off. I was able to sit down with him early in the year and got to the bottom of why he came back, and why at Coosa.
Mark O’Bryant Story
This story took over a year to write, edit, confirm and finally put out. We started after O’Bryant and Coosa Christian had to forfeit wins and were knocked out the playoffs and along the way the story took many different shapes before finishing as the definitive story of one of the most controversial coaches in Alabama HSFB.
Brett Yancey stories
The following two stories are the stories that saw me place in the APSE Sports Writing contest for long and short featuring writing. The first was written while coach Yancey was still alive and focused on his battle and how he still was showing for his youngest daughter’s basketball games and the support shown from the community.
The other story is after Yancey passed away from his battle with cancer. Instead of talking about his coaching career, everyone I talked to talked about how he always showed love for his wife and three daughters and it’s the angle I went with.
- How Southside girls basketball, community support has uplifted Brett Yancey during cancer fight
- Brett Yancey’s legacy goes beyond coaching and could been seen in love for his wife, daughters
Emily Needham story
We found out about this story ahead of Saint James’ softball title game, as we didn’t have a writer at this paper. With barely any time to prep I did the interviews with the player and her mom on the field postgame before calling the dad a couple of days later before writing the story.
