Newspaper clipping courtesy of Tynette Lynch.
The 1988 Berry Athletic Association board of directors.
Tynette Lynch, Hoover’s retired tourism director, recently found this old photo of the Berry Athletic Association board of directors from the former Berry High School in 1988.
On the front row, from left, are Tynette Cerniglia (Lynch), Marlis Kuehnert, Mildred Quick, Jerri Page and Sue Dew. Going up the stairs and across the top, from left, are Mary Sue Fortner, Sandy Jones, (first name unknown) Monroe, Babs Hopping, Janice Langston, Otis Bibb, Don Hohne, Preston Huddleston, Jeff Edwards, Chuck Cuppett and Pete Scott.
Q: Tell me about this particular photo.
A: I believe that photo was taken at the Hoover Lake House (on Municipal Drive). The Athletic Association was basically made up of parents that their kids played sports, and the families were very involved in sports back then.
Q: Did the boosters represent all sports or just football?
A: All the sports. The band had a big booster club, and the sports had a big booster club. Keep in mind — it was one high school at that point in the city of Hoover. … Hoover had just started a young school system. My oldest son played football at Berry High School when it was a Hoover school, and he graduated in 1989 from Berry. Stan White was in that group, and a lot of men who are now businessmen in Hoover played those couple of years at Berry under Coach Finley.
Q: What was it like working with Coach Finley as a booster?
A: It was fantastic. Coach Finley coached, and he had assistant coaches that really, I would say, disciplined a little more, but Coach Finley was just a straight-up great Christian guy. He taught our kids so much about life.
