Raymond Farmer

Raymond Farmer graduated from Ashville High School and Memphis State. He began his career with the Memphis State Tigers as a graduate assistant before moving into the high school ranks. Since 1966 he has coached primarily in Alabama with a short stint in Georgia. His coaching career spanned 42 years, starting in 1966 as an assistant coach at Hewitt-Trussville Farmer landed the job at Ashville in 1968 in his first stab as a head football coach. He stayed with the program for five seasons with a record of 28-18-2. In 1976 he became the head football coach at Springville High School. He returned to Ashville in 1981 for another six years before accepting the head coaching position at Etowah High School in 1992. Over the next 10 years, he guided the Blue Devils to nine playoff appearances. In his last five years, he led them to three straight appearances in the Super Six and one state championship, a 32-26 win over Williamson in 1999. In 1998 the Blue Devils had lost in overtime to Blount. At Etowah, Farmer compiled a 93-32 record coaching many athletes who went on to play college ball. Most famous was Mr. Football and Auburn star, Carnell Williams. The Devils had a 21-8 playoff record under Farmer. He had only two losing seasons at Etowah, 3-7 in 1995 and 4-7 in his last year with the school. Etowah produced a number of collegiate players under Farmer, including Carnell Williams, Patrick Nix, Edward Scissum, Toderick Malone, Derrick Nix, Freddie Kitchens and Anthony Mayo. Following the 2001 season, Farmer stepped down as head football coach at Etowah. His next stop came at Donoho for the 2002 and 2003 seasons. In 2006 he accepted the head coaching job at Coosa Christian for another two seasons before stepping aside. Coach Farmer had become a legend in the Gadsden area and in 2012 he came out of retirement to coach the Victory Christian Lions. Now in his 44th year on the sideline, Coach Farmer was called upon to build another program. In 29 seasons as a head coach, Farmer had an overall record of 174-149-2. He led successful teams in a range of sports from gymnastics to track. Out of his five total State Championships, three were coaching boys track at Ashville and one more as the head football coach at Etowah. He has been Class 5A Coach of the Year once and was his areas Coach of the Year five times during his stay at Etowah. Among his many honors, Farmer is a member of the St. Clair County Sports Hall of Fame.