Mac Champion

Mac Champion was a 1952 and 1953 All-State quarterback from Hayneville who also played for the Auburn Tigers (1954-1957). He was a third string quarterback on the Tigers 1957 National Championship Team. Coach Champion began his career in Montgomery at Floyd Junior High School where he served as the head football coach. He returned to his alma mater in 1962 as the head coach at Hayneville. His teams won as soon as he arrived at the small Class 1A school. Champion compiled a record of 39-1 in four season at the school. The Blue Devils averaged almost 50 points a game in 1963 and won 28 games in a row at one point. His 1963 team finished with a 10-0 record and was named State Champions by the Montgomery Advertiser and the Birmingham Post Herald. His 1964 team (10-0) repeated as State Champions. The 1965 team made it a three-peat when they won another championship according to a vote of the Associated Press sports writers. In 1966 Lowndes Academy opened and the high school in Hayneville closed. Coach Champion was instrumental in starting the school and the football program. He secured the property where the school was to be built. Champion moved to the new school and started the football program from scratch with the assistance of some slick recruiting. Success followed him there where his teams amassed a record of 36-3 through the 1969 season. Two of his three loses at Lowndes came against the powerful teams from Lee Montgomery and Meridian, MS. Mac Champion, one of the most successful coaches in the history of Alabama high school football resigned from Lowndes Academy to accept a position as principal and coach at Monroe Academy. Monroe Academy opened in the fall of 1970 and is located in Monroeville. Champion announced at the same time the formation of a Private School Athletic Association which had been joined by 30 private schools from around the state. Coach Champion would continue his success at Monroe Academy by winning four of the first five State Titles in the new Private School Athletic Association with a record of 61-3-1. His thirteen year record would be an amazing 136-7-1. Later he would coach at other schools around the state but never again enjoyed the success of these first three coaching stops. His 1987 Samson team advanced to the semi-finals of the state playoffs before losing and his Lowndes Academy team of 1993 lost in the AISA championship game. His last team at Highland Home finished 6-4 in 1994. His overall record at ten school is 255-77-1 in 30 years as a head football coach. Champion was inducted into the Alabama Independent School Association Hall of Fame in 2003.