2021 INDUCTEES
2021 Inductee Highlights
Lori Breedlove Bailey’s career highlights
Danville’s Lori Breedlove Bailey was the Class 3A Player of the Year in the 1993 basketball season when the Hawks went 28-3 and advanced to the state tournament elite eight. While she was a four-year starter for head coach Karen Melson, Danville went 117-29 with two state tournament appearances. For her career, Bailey finished with 1,644 points, 671 assists, 460 rebounds and 517 steals. After high school, she played two years at Wallace-Hanceville for hall of fame coach Larry Slater. She then played two years at Jacksonville State.
Howard Jenkins’ Highlights
Howard Jenkins became famous as an athlete at Cotaco in the 1950s when he starred on the school’s basketball and baseball teams. From 1955-1957, he was a three-year starter for the Indians basketball team and scored 1,337 career points. He averaged 20.3 points in his senior season. Jenkins played outfield on Cotaco’s 1955 baseball team that won the school its first ever Morgan County Tournament. After a successful business career, Jenkins was elected to three terms as a Morgan County commissioner.
Nancy Keenum’s Highlights
She had a front-row seat for the explosion of growth in female athletics. After graduating from West Morgan in 1975, she became a member of the first girls basketball team at Calhoun Community College. After coaching at Alabama, North Alabama and Judson College, she returned to Calhoun in 1983 and has coached tennis, women’s basketball, slow-pitch softball and fast-pitch softball. In 2019, she became Calhoun’s full-time athletic director.
Clift Knight’s Highlights
Clift Knight arrived in Morgan County in 1961 to work for the Hartselle Enquirer on what he thought would be a step along the path of his journalism career. Instead, the Lineville native and University of Alabama graduate found a home and spent a career of over half a century covering life in and around Hartselle and Morgan County. Knight chronicled many of the great athletes, coaches and championships in Hartselle sports history. He was there for Hartselle state championships in football, basketball, baseball, softball, volleyball, golf and wrestling.
Charles Lee Martin’s Highlights
He led the Austin Black Bears basketball team to the school’s first state championship ever in 1969. The point guard for legendary coach Joe Jones scored 26 points and was named the Most Valuable Player in Austin’s 69-59 victory over Cherokee County for the Class 3A crown. Martin also excelled on the baseball field as a catcher. After starring in the Lions Club East-West All-Star game in Birmingham, he passed on an offer from the Pittsburgh Pirates to instead play college basketball at South Alabama and later Athens State.
Andrea Watkins-Orr’s Highlights
Andrea Watkins-Orr made her presence known on the basketball floor at Austin when she arrived as a freshman in 1990 and became a starter on the varsity for head coach Billy Miles. Despite being just 5-foot-7, Watkins-Orr was known as a great rebounder as well as scorer. The Black Bears won just eight games in her freshman season. In her senior season, Austin played in the Class 6A state championship game. Watkins-Orr was an All-State selection as a senior after averaging 17 points and 6.7 rebounds. She would play in college at Wallace-Hanceville, North Alabama and UAH.