Hartselle renames baseball field after winningest coach

By Jean Cole 

For the Enquirer  

A Hartselle city councilman was nearly moved to tears Tuesday while reading a resolution renaming an existing high school baseball field after the late Hartselle Tigers Baseball Coach William Booth, the winningest high school baseball coach in state history. 

Councilman Dwight Tankersley had to pause at one point during the reading because he was overcome by emotion. The council unanimously approved the renaming of the park at Sparkman field from Reuben Sims Field to William Booth Field. Without discussion, Council President Kenny Thompson and council members Virginia Alexander, Ken Doss and Tankersley approved the renaming. (Councilman Chuck Gill was absent.) 

Tankersley explained after the meeting why he was so moved by the renaming. He said Booth, also an effective and beloved math teacher for decades, had been his favorite teacher when he was a student. 

But it is for winning that Booth is best remembered. The Alabama Sports Hall of Famer led his teams to nine state titles, five state championship runner-ups and 21 area championships during his 36-year tenure as varsity coach from 1988 until his death on May 15 at age 79, according to the resolution and a May 16 story in The Decatur Daily. 

He became Alabama’s winningest high school baseball coach when he reached 648 wins in 2006, a title he continues to hold. He has 1,217 career wins against 518 losses, according to the resolution and The Daily. 

In addition, he coached Hartselle youth league baseball and compiled a record of 88 wins against only 17 losses, together with five league championships, two state championships and one state runner-up. 

The resolution said Booth “touched the lives of uncounted individuals, not only through his coaching but as a math teacher and through other roles in the Hartselle School System.” 

According to the resolution, several baseball players ended up receiving college scholarships and a high percentage of players coached by Booth attended college in general. 

In addition, Booth was instrumental in bringing about many improvements to Reuben Sims Field, including the hitter’s wall, new press box, chair-back seating behind home plate, right field deck for student seating, brick wall and netting for the backstop, new brick dugouts, asphalt around dugouts and seating areas from the Morgan County Commission and a larger more modern scoreboard from Pepsi. 

The resolution said Booth is honored and will be remembered for “the role he played in the Hartselle community by bringing people together in support of his baseball program and touching the lives of many people beyond the players he actually coached and the students he taught.” 

The resolution also credits Booth with bringing the city of Hartselle and Hartselle Tigers Baseball “into the forefront in Alabama high school athletics and (setting) a benchmark for excellence in high school baseball.” 

When asked after the meeting about renaming a field already named after someone, Tankersley said it would be OK and that the issue is naming it after William Booth because of his immense contribution to the sport. 

Council President Thompson said he was a good friend of Reuben Sims’ son, Don, and said he can’t imagine too many people opposing the change because of Booth’s record. 

“I haven’t heard anything one way or the other. It was not my idea, but I think it was a good idea. He (Booth) has won probably 250 games more than the next guy. He probably won’t ever be beat because of how long he coached. Most people don’t coach that long.” 

Sims’ son, Edward, who lives in Decatur, seemed alright with the change. 

“Whatever, I have lived in Decatur for over 50 years. It’s whatever they want to do,” he said adding that Booth was “a great coach” at Hartselle. 

“My dad thought a lot of him and spent a lot of time with him on baseball,” he said. 

He said his own father made an important contribution to baseball in that he started baseball in Hartselle with the Babe Ruth league.  

According to Find A Grave.com, Sims, 75, was a World War II veteran who served in the 71 Infantry Division and Gen. George Patton’s Third Army in Europe. He was a disabled veteran who and served in the field as a logistic adviser during the Vietnam War. He was a retired logistics specialist with the Army Missile Command at Redstone Arsenal. He was a graduate of Morgan County High School and attended Athens State College. For 48 years he was involved with youth baseball in Hartselle. He served nine years on the Park and Recreation Board, during which time the Sparkman Civic Center was built.