About Inductee

The father-son/coach-player relationship is probably more commonplace in basketball than any other sport. Examples like Press and Pete Maravich, Bobby and Pat Knight, Wade and Allan Houston, and Tubby and G. G. Smith quickly come to mind. Closer to home, former UAH coach Kayo Willis and his son, Dean Willis, have both been honored by the Huntsville-Madison County Athletic Hall of Fame, and this year former Grissom High School basketball star Scott Stapler joins his father, former Grissom basketball coach Ronnie Stapler, in the same Hall of Fame. Ronnie was inducted in 1997; Scott goes in tonight, 18 years later. The career paths of the Staplers have been remarkably similar. Both were All-City basketball players in high school, Ronnie in the early 1960s at Butler and Scott in the late 1980s at Grissom, where he was the point guard on three of his fathers best teams. Both played at Walker College in Jasper for legendary coach Glenn Clem before transferring to schools in Louisiana, Ronnie to Centenary in Shreveport and Scott to Northwestern State in Natchitoches. Both transferred back to schools in Alabama to complete their college degrees, Ronnie to Florence State and Scott to Auburn. After college, both committed their livelihoods to basketball, Ronnie becoming one of the most successful coaches in the history of the Alabama High School Athletic Association and Scott serving as an assistant coach at UAH, Centenary, Birmingham-Southern and Coastal Carolina before eventually becoming the President and CEO of the Alabama Basketball Academy in Huntsville, a company Ronnie started in 2008. Growing up the son of a famous father can be difficult, especially if the son chooses the same profession as the father, because the world at large is always measuring the accomplishments of the younger against those of the elder. Sometimes it doesnt work. For the Staplers, it worked. My dad has been the greatest influence in my life as a player or a coach, Scott said. Playing for him was never an issue for either of us. He made it clear early-on that more was expected of me and that Id never get any favoritism. If anything, it was the other way around. But I understood it was because he knew I had ability and wanted me to excel. Looking back at our time at Grissom and contrasting it with coaching my eldest son, Eli, in Rec League now, I think its tougher on the father than the son. Scott never had a basketball disagreement with his father. He does remember an occasional spat in a practice or a game. His senior year, the Tigers were at Butler, which had lost at Grissom earlier in the season. It was halftime and we were behind, said Scott. I shot something like 0-for-7 in the first half. We get to the locker room and he busts in. An eraser flew across the room and he says, We might beat these guys if you could ever make one! I remember shouting back, I may make em all this half! I didnt make em all, but I did make 7-of-8 and six of them were 3s, and we came back and won. Of all the outstanding players Ronnie Stapler coached in a career that now spans more than four decades, few were better than his own son. As a sophomore at Grissom in 1987-88, Scott started for the 6A state champions. As a junior, he was first-team All-Area and All-City. As a senior, he set and still holds the 6A record for 3-point baskets in a state tournament game (six). He also set the city record for 3-point baskets in a season (104) and made the 6A All-State team, All-Area, All-City and Academic All-State. He averaged 13 points and six assists at Walker and eight points at Northwestern State. From 1994-96 at Auburn, he was a scholarship letterman as a personal assistant for Cliff Ellis. Scott is a member of the National Association of Basketball Coaches, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and Mayfair Church of Christ. Hes married to Ann Kyle Stapler. They have three children: Elijah, 5; Carolyn, 3; and Campbell Scott, 1.