About Inductee

Issac Ike Rooks may have put it best. All these years later, he said, a lot of people and Im one of em - still talk about the 1965 Councill High School football team. On a cool, crisp fall night, if you go by the library and listen closely, you can still hear the Tigers coming out of the locker room. But thats just my imagination. Rooks, the longtime radio voice of Alabama A&M football and basketball, is a Councill alumnus and former faculty member. He was the PA announcer for the undefeated 65 Councill Tigers, the last football team in the schools 98-year history. Councill was Huntsvilles first public school for African-Americans. It closed after the 1965-66 school year with the end of segregation in the city schools. The teams football field, Tiger Stadium, was located on the site of the present Huntsville Public Library. Competing against all-black schools from throughout North Alabama, Coach Adam Kellams Tigers went 9-0 in their final season, outscoring their opposition 260-25. We were loaded and we knew it, said Michael Ford, a flanker-defensive back who later worked 43 years at The Huntsville Times. It wasnt a question of whether wed win. It was a question of how much. Tackle-linebacker Jim Bellmon said the Tigers were hailed as heroes and unifiers in the citys black community. Wed be walking home on Friday nights after games and people would run up to us and stuff a dollar or two in our pockets, said Bellmon, who retired in 2006 after 36 years with the Huntsville Parks and Recreation Department. By the time we got home, we might have $10 or $15, which was mighty big money in those days. Several undergraduates on Councills last football team went on to instant stardom in 1966 at Butler and Lee. The 1965 Councill roster included Leonard Rabbit Thomas, Tyrone Ragland, Arthur Battle, Edward Anderson, Hugh Bellmon, Jim Bellmon, Sammy Bone, Curtis Bradford, Taylor Burns, Alonzo Coolins, Paul Dillard, Michael Ford, Larry Gilliam, Anthony Jones, Walter Conley, William Jones, James Kelly, Earlest Leslie, Kenneth Leslie, Henry Malone, Thomas McCray, Willie Pope, Barry Powers, Charles Powers, Bobby Sledge, Bruce Taylor, Charles Tuck, Roosevelt Tuck, Ronnie Sales, Edmond White, Kenneth Gurley, Royce Martin, Harold Fitchard, Walter Love and Percy Anderson. Adam Kellam was head coach and Gene Clift and Jerry Davis were his assistants. The manager was Cornell Drake and Carl Blackburn was the statistician.