Smallwood elected to AlaBCA Hall of Fame
Published 3:55 pm Tuesday, January 28, 2014
- Pictured, from left, are Lee Gann, ALABCA board member/Mountain Brook head baseball coach and awards committee member, Coach Lothian Smallwood and Barry Dean, ALABCA executive director and awards committee member.
Hartselle native Lothian Smallwood was recently inducted into the Alabama Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in recognition of his outstanding accomplishments as a high school and college basketball and baseball coach.
A graduate of the former Morgan County High School, Smallwood was enshrined at AlaBCA’s Awards Banquet on Jan. 17 at the Marriott Hotel in Birmingham.
Joining him in the 2014 Hall of Fame Class were Benjamin Russell High School baseball coach Ricky Brooks, Vestavia Hills High School baseball coach Tommy Walker and Jacksonville State University’s Bill Case.
Smallwood served as head baseball coach at Wallace-Selma Community College for 22 years, compiling a 495-253 record, Seven of his teams advanced to the AJCC state tournament. One team ranked sixth in the nation (1982) and his 1984 team finished 40-10.
Smallwood’s teams never had a losing season during his tenure as head coach. He also served as athletic director for 25 years from 1972 to 1995. “It’s a tremendous honor,” Smallwood said. “I was beginning to wonder if I was good enough to get in. Now I‘m thankful somebody out there submitted my name.
“When I look back I’m reminded of the many outstanding players I had the privilege of coaching and realize this honor would not have been possible without them,” he added.
Smallwood was head basketball coach at Morgan County High School in 1971 when his team captured the school’s first state championship in basketball. He left the next year to coach basketball and softball for Wallace-Selma Community College. He split his time between both sports in the early years but was devoting full time to baseball when he retired after 25 years.
He has battled back from a malignant brain tumor over the past two years and received negative reports from five MRI’s since undergoing two series of cancer treatments.
