Kevin Greene

In 1984, his final season of football at Auburn University, Greene led the Southeastern Conference in quarterback sacks with 11, was named SEC defensive player of the year, and received the Zeke Smith Award, given annually to Auburn’s top defensive performer.

Incredibly, Greene’s football career at Auburn included more seasons spent playing intramural football with the school’s Army ROTC team than playing for coach Pat Dye’s Tigers. Following his graduation from Granite City (Ill.) High School in 1980, Green entered Auburn as a student, not as a student-athlete. He enrolled in Auburn’s Army ROTC program. Greene and his family lived in Calhoun County during his time at Auburn and had previously lived in Calhoun County when his father’s military deployments put him in places where dependents were not allowed.

Greene played three years of intramural football. Then, in 1983, he walked on for Dye and played special teams for the 1983 SEC championship team. He earned his 11 sacks in 1984 despite the fact that he wasn’t a starter on defense until the final four games of the season.

When the 1984 season ended, Greene asked Dye if Dye thought he had the potential to play in the National Football League. Dye responded positively. In the 1985 NFL draft, Greene was a fifth-round draft pick of the Los Angeles Rams, the 113th pick overall. During his 15-year career in the NFL, he played for the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Carolina Panthers and the San Francisco 49ers in addition to the Rams.

Greene retired as an NFL player following the 1999 season. When he retired, his 160 total sacks ranked third all-time, trailing only Bruce Smith and Reggie White. He totaled at least 10 sacks in seven of his final eight seasons, missing only in 1995 when his nine sacks were best for Pittsburgh. He led the NFL in total sacks in 1994 and 1996, was chosen for the Pro Bowl five times, and was named All-Pro in 1989, 1994, and 1996.

The NFL Players Association named Greene the AFC linebacker of the year in 1994. He was the UPI defensive player of the year in 1996. In 1997, Greene was the Alabama Sports Writers Association’s professional athlete of the year.

Following his retirement, Greene was chosen for the NFL’s 1990’s All-Decade team. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2016.

A native of Calhoun County and 1965 graduate of Anniston High School, Hobizell devoted his adult life to teaching and coaching. His career included 25 seasons in Alabama, all as a head coach, and 25 seasons coaching in Georgia, with 11 seasons as a head coach. He had a special knack for taking charge of football programs that were struggling and making them successful. In Alabama, Hobizell’s teams were 171-102-2. His Georgia teams were 53-63.

Hobizell’s longest time at one school, and arguably his most successful career stop, came at Piedmont. Prior to his arrival ahead of the 1982 season, the Bulldogs had not had a winning season since the 1974 campaign. Over 13 seasons, Hobizell led Piedmont to a record of 105-44. Piedmont had never reached the AHSAA football playoffs before hiring Hobizell. During his tenure, the Bulldogs made nine playoff appearances, eight times as area champions and once as an area runner-up.

In each of Hobizell’s final seven seasons at Piedmont, the Bulldogs made the playoffs and won at least one playoff game. His 1990 team completed its regular season 10-0 and won twice more in the postseason. In the postseason, Piedmont shut out its three Class 4A, Area 3 opponents in the regular season by downing Cherokee County (34-0), Hokes Bluff (35-0) and Jacksonville (41-0) for an 8-2 record. In the postseason, the Bulldogs defeated Sylvania, Midfield and Deshler before falling to North Jackson (21-6) on the road in the 4A semifinal round.

Hobizell graduated from Jacksonville State University in 1969. After one season as an assistant in Georgia, he became head coach at Douglas High School in 1970. His first year at Douglas was also the first season for football at Douglas and the Eagles finished 4-5-1.

Success followed at Valley Head where his five teams were 34-21-1 with one loss coming in the 1972 1A state championship game and another in the 1976 1A semifinal round. Hobizell led his four Cleburne County teams to a 23-17 record after the Tigers were 23-52-4 over the eight seasons before he was hired.

In Calhoun County, Hobizell was named football coach of the year seven times by his peers and baseball coach of the year once. Overall, he was coach of the year honoree 11 times. 11 of his teams were area or region champions and 23 of his football players were named first-team, second-team or honorable mention all-state.

An all-around athlete at Anniston, Hobizell was a three-year starter in football, basketball and baseball and represented the school at Boys State. As a senior, he was a second-team all-county pick in football and a first-team all-county selection in basketball as a senior.

Hobizell played basketball and baseball at Snead State Junior College and was president of the Student Government Association while at Snead State.