H.L. Shorty Ogle

H.L. "Shorty" Ogle, a native of Gainesville, GA, played football for the Albertville Aggies during the 1920s when football was still a young sport in high school. He stood 6 feet, 4 inches tall, so they called him "Shorty". Ogle was a starter in all sports for the Aggies before attending Birmingham-Southern on a scholarship and played football for Coach Harold "Red" Drew. He played quarterback, end and was the team punter. He was named All-Southern end and also lettered in basketball, baseball and track. Birmingham-Southern awarded him the Porter Cup for being the Best Athlete his senior year. He made a run as a professional baseball player for a while before deciding on a career in coaching. Ogle got his first coaching job at Hanceville in 1929. The Decatur Red Raiders came calling four years later and lured him away with a reported $100 a month salary. The rest is history. Ogle coached four undefeated State Championship teams at Decatur, including his first squad in 1933. Other highlights include a 33-game winning streak from 1946-49. His career coaching record is 231-77-17 in football, 232-42 in basketball, 128-29 in baseball and 147-31 in track. Coach Ogles' Decatur Red Raiders team of 1941 may have been the first high school team to use the modern day T-formation and one of the first three teams in the United States to use it, along with Stanford and the Chicago Bears. His 1947 team went undefeated in ten contests and gave up only 13 points during the season. To top it off his basketball team made its first trip to the state tournament in Tuscaloosa where they lost in the quarter-finals to Sidney Lanier. Ogles' 1949 team finished the season 9-0-1 and was named co-state champions for their efforts. He remained as the head coach at Decatur until his retirement in 1963. In all, Coach Ogle spent 31 of his 35 seasons as a head coach with the Red Raiders. He was the winning coach in the 1948 inaugural Alabama High School All-Star football game in which the North team won 33-0 over the South. In 1979, he became the first high school coach to be inducted in the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame. He was a member of the charter class of the Alabama High School Hall of Fame in 1991. Ogle was also inducted into the Morgan County Hall of Fame. Some years later, Decatur High School named their football stadium in his honor.