Huntsville Madison County Athletic Hall Of Fame Our Story

Stewart, Campbell and Record formed the nucleus of a board that also included Roy Blair, Buck Hughes, Robert McKee, Billy Joe Rowan, Tooney Summers and Brick Warden. The board enlisted the assistance of an eclectic advisory committee to provide input and established an 18-person voting committee.

The Class of 1989 – each of whom was immortalized in a Stewart caricature that remained on display for decades in a local restaurant – had 29 members from a broad spectrum of sports and with unique accomplishments.

After the Class of 1990 was inducted – appropriately including Record and Stewart, an Anniston native who made Huntsville his adopted home – the Hall had some trouble gaining its equilibrium. There were no inductees in 1991, 1993, 1995 or 1998.

However, a decade into the Hall’s existence, a number of other leaders in the sports community, former athletes and coaches, joined the Board, helping gain consistency and traction. Financial help via ad sales and banquet tickets grew.

Since 1999, a new class has been enshrined each year except for 2020, when the banquet was canceled by Covid-19. Inductees are nominated by the public at large and their credentials considered by a 16-member voting board that represents a cross-section of the Huntsville/Madison County sporting community.

The Hall of Fame celebrated a milestone in December 2010 when a permanent home was unveiled at John Hunt Park, with a handsome gray monument with the Hall of Fame logo and the names of various dignitaries. The Hall of Fame inductees' names are on brick pavers in a plaza area in front of the monument.

Twenty different sports are represented in the Hall of Fame among the nearly 400 members, as well as inductees from officiating, media, education and administration.