By Staff Reports  

Hartselle baseball coach William Booth became the inaugural recipient of the Alabama Baseball Coaches Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award.  

Booth was awarded the honor Dec. 9 at the association’s annual banquet. 

Being the first recipient, the award will be renamed after Booth and will be given each year to those who meet the criteria set by Booth according to the association.  

Booth has been the head coach of Hartselle baseball for 36 years. He’s amassed 1,172 wins in that span with nine state championships.  

“Coach Booth has done more than accumulate wins,” said Hartselle’s Athletic Director Jake Miles. “He has spent countless hours investing in people. He is a difference-maker.” 

Hartselle High School Principal Dr. Brad Cooper agrees.  “Coach William Booth’s impact is remarkable.  He has made a positive difference in his community and in the lives of the young men and women who have sat in his classroom.  There is no one more deserving,” Cooper said. 

Former Hartselle City Schools Athletic Director Pat Smith adds that Booth “wrote the script for modern-day high school baseball in the state of Alabama.” 

“Coach Booth’s state trophies fill a trophy case, but it’s the hearts he’s filled that resulted in this Lifetime Achievement Award,” Hartselle City Schools Superintendent Dr. Brian Clayton added.   “Trophies collect dust, but the students and athletes who Coach Booth helped to grow have turned his influence into something that lives on in them and in those who they influence.  That’s what a lifetime of achievement is all about.”