Dale Palmer
Softball coach
“Don’t want the program someone else has, make your program the place everyone else wants to be.” That was the motto of Dale Palmer and his 25-year coaching career when he created a program at Sparkman High School that became the place where the softball world wanted to be. That was well-illustrated by Palmer’s 1,058-312 record and six state titles in 25 seasons. However, it didn’t start out that way.
Palmer was a three-sport athlete at Colbert County High School and Deshler High School in Tuscumbia, playing for legendary coaches Tandy Geralds (Deshler), and Don Creasy (Colbert County). After graduating high school, he turned down a football scholarship and stayed home to attend UNA. After missing the sport his first year there, he met with Coach Bobby Wallace and walked on for the University of North Alabama football team. After an injury in the spring and later in the fall aggravating the same injury again, he moved on with his life, got married, and began working to support his family. After several jobs, lots of traveling the roads and long hours he went back to Athens State to finish his degree in education to become a teacher and coach.
During his student teaching, a couple of “right place, right time” encounters landed him a job at Sparkman to be the softball coach. Beginning in 1997 the Alabama High School Athletic Association was making a gradual transformation from slow pitch to fast pitch, and Palmer and many other coaches were making decisions on when to make the transition. (Sparkman had won the state slow pitch title in 1993). His 1997 team participated in slow pitch, and after that season “we had a decision to make, either stay with slow pitch and win, or transition to fast pitch and give the core players 2 years at the new sport of Fast Pitch Softball,” Palmer recalls. “Coming into the ‘98 season we had a good group of 5 juniors and we decided to teach them the fast pitch game and try to get ahead of the competition while the pool of talented athletes was rich! Because of the excitement around the program, every year we started the off season earlier, until 2000 when we were starting on the first day of school. With the freshman class of 2003, the desire to be “SPECIAL” was set. We were not satisfied with average and wanted more. As a result of that desire, together, we set a standard and we wanted everyone to strive to achieve the standard.”
The first fast pitch team made the state tournament in 1998. In the 2003 season, Brandy Harrell became the first All-State honoree in program history. In 2005, the Senators amassed more than 50 wins. And in 2006 came the first state championship, sweeping Vestavia Hills in the finals, and a 60-9 record. The standard was indeed set. A run to the finals in 2007, a regional appearance in 2008, then another title in 2009. In Palmer’s 25 years at Sparkman, his teams played for 10 state championships, winning six. From 2012-2014 they didn’t lose a state tournament game. More than sixty players earned All-State honors and four times Palmer was named Coach of the Year by the Alabama Sports Writers Association. In 2014, Jordan Bullock was the 6A Player of the Year, and Bullock, Bevia Robinson, Abigail McKay and Amber Torres all were named Super All-State.
Winning six state championships makes it hard to narrow down one being more special than another, Palmer says. “If I were pressed to picking favorite memories, one would be coaching my daughter (Hannah) and her winning a state championship her freshman year and another her senior year. Another would be the first one in 2006. That set the tone for our program. The kids, parents, coaches, administration were all committed to “SPECIAL”. “ We stopped chasing something and instead decided the opponents and results didn’t matter. Those things take care of themselves. We can only control us and being the best team and players and people we can be, and that was what drove the standard that we played to.”
“Looking back, I want to be clear that this honor is about Sparkman softball, the players, assistant coaches, boosters, and administrators, and those in the community who supported us. I just happened to be the head coach while it was going on.” I gladly accept this reward for “SPARKMAN SOFTBALL”. “ Girls, WE DID IT!”
Every championship coach realizes that they did not get there alone. That many people contributed to the success. Every ship has a crew, but it also has a captain to guide the ship. The same can be said for successful sports teams in that a lot of people contribute to the success but it takes a great head coach to guide the team. For Sparkman softball, they should be glad Dale Palmer went back to college to get the teaching degree. The rest is in the record books.
--Robin Gaines
