About Inductee

Danny Petty, who coached basketball at Hazel Green High School, and Stanley Stafford, who once played for the Trojans, share a common honor. Theyre the only men in Madison County and the whole state, probably who ever won state high school basketball championships as both players and coaches. Petty played for a state winner at Lee and later coached Johnson High to a championship; Stafford was a sophomore at Hazel Green in 1967 when Coach Jerry Dugans Trojans won a state championship. In 1991 as the interim coach, Stafford directed Buckhorn to a state championship. Both were special thrills, said Stafford, now a Huntsville realtor. Different, but special. Staffordwas just 15 years old when he hit the winning basket, a jump shot from the corner, when Hazel Green beat Curry 61-59 at Tuscaloosa to win a state title in 1967. I remember it like it was yesterday, Stafford said. Everybody expected Curry to win, but we made a good comeback in the last few minutes and caught up. We froze the ball for the last minute and called timeout to set up the last play. I wanted the shot. I guess Coach Dugan saw it in my eyes because he called the play for me to shoot. I wasnt nervous about it because we had so many great players Ricky Clark, Billy Beegle, Tony Pitts, Gary Solberg... Stafford ran the baseline, took the pass and drilled his shot from the corner. Everybody went crazy, Stafford said. I remember waking up every day for months and saying to myself, Youre a state champion. Stafford later coached Sparkman High School to a series of memorable seasons before retiring from education and going into the realty business. He was called out of retirement early in 1991 to take over the Buckhorn program at midseason. It was big decision to take that team, Stafford said, because there was a lot of pressure to win. It was the most pressure Ive ever been under in my life. Yet I took it because I felt they needed somebody with experience and because I felt I was the best available person for the job. I couldnt have lived with myself if I hadnt done it. A lifelong resident of Madison County, Stafford lettered in four sports basketball, football, baseball at track at Hazel Green High School in the mid-1960s. He was a two-year all-county player and a three-year all-district performer. He was named the most valuable player in the county tournament in 1969, played in the state all-star game the same year, and later played at Athens College. Stafford became an ultra-successful coach at Sparkman, where he was county coach of the year five times and state coach of the year in 1977, 1981 and 1982. In 7 years as a head coach, including the half-season as interim coach at Buckhorn, Staffords teams averaged 25 wins a year. He took Sparkman to the Final Four of the state tournament in 1977 and 1981, and coached Buckhorn to the state championship in 1991. In eight seasons, five of Staffords teams played in the state tournament and 15 of his players received college scholarships. In his coaching career, Staffords teams won 193 games and lost only 33. His teams won 75 percent of their games against city competition, and in 1981 his Senators became the only county team to win the old city-county tournament. Stafford and his wife Jennifer have two children, Robin and Ty.