As soon as the school was built, teams were formed and Shades Cahaba entered competition with other Birmingham area high schools, which had already been competing for a number of years. This was no small feat. You only have to listen to the episode with Michael Gross about the beginnings of Homewood High School to understand that. That Homewood High School won a state football championship in its third year was remarkable.

Shades Cahaba has had a distinguished record in athletics during its 29 years of existence. Football and Baseball teams existed the entire time. Basketball was started in the 1920s and seemed to have disappeared within a couple of years.

Shades Cahaba also had the first lighted field in the state of Alabama. 48,000-watts of floodlights were dedicated on October 27, 1939, during a game with Jones Valley. Electronic speakers and a scoreboard soon followed.

Football Coaches (and most were the baseball coaches) at Shades Cahaba

Arthur Acton - 1921, 3-3 record
W.A. Reeves - 1922, 0-4-1 record
Sump Clarke - 1923, 6-2-1 record
Aubrey Alfred Miller - 1924-26, 10-7-5 record (he left for Greenville)
Sidney Malloy - 1927-1928, 1-15-1 record
Robert R. (R.R.) Hardy - 1929-1933, 21-16-6 record (was called HammerHead Hardy in the yearbook)
Piggy Mitchell 1934-1949, 100-47-6 record (1950 Shades Valley in 1950 and then Hewitt-Trussville 1951-1964).

For game scores and records, visit the Alabama High School Football Historical Society website at http://www.ahsfhs.org/. All the Shades Cahaba Records are listed under Shades Valley. Look for the team then games by year.

Make sure you follow the blog at https://shadescahabahistory.com/blog/ to see photos of teams and read other stories not covered on the pod.

SPONSOR

The Shades Cahaba Oral History Project is sponsored by ShawWright Art.com. When you go there, look for the link to Shades Cahaba and you will find shirts and accessories featuring the exclusive Shades Cahaba Centennial logo. This logo is based on an image on the cover of “The Owl” yearbook back in the 1920s. It has been updated to celebrate the 100 years of the school and it helps us to offset the cost of producing and publishing this podcast. Visit the store at https://www.shawnwrightart.com/product-category/shadescahaba/