Into the hall: Inaugural Homewood High Hall of Fame class honors those who paved the way

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HHS

Admittedly, Alvin Bresler was a little surprised.

During a recent phone call from Homewood Athletics Director Rick Baguley, Bresler was informed that he would be one of 17 people to be inducted into the inaugural class of the

Homewood High School Athletics Hall of Fame.

“It hit me right over the head,” Bresler said.

Then again, as Homewood High School’s very first football coach who led the Patriots to their first state championship over 50 years ago, it shouldn’t be such a big surprise to anyone else. For Baguley, this hall was about honoring all the great men and women who made Homewood sports what it is today.

“This Hall of Fame is about preserving and celebrating the stories, moments and people that helped build Homewood High School into what it is today,” Baguley said in a statement. “For more than 50 years, countless individuals have poured their time, passion and heart into our programs, and this is an opportunity to honor them in a lasting way.”

Along with Bresler, other inductees include Philadelphia Eagles guard Evan Mathis, longtime Homewood volleyball coach Susan Cook and professional soccer player-turned-coach Katy Freels.

A special induction ceremony will be held Oct. 1 at Rosewood Hall, and the class will also be recognized during halftime of the Homewood-Calera game the following night.

“There will be a lot of chills going up my spine that night,” Bresler said.

The rest of the inaugural class spans six decades of Homewood athletics.

Susan Cook coached volleyball, basketball, softball, track and gymnastics from 1972-2003, winning back-to-back volleyball state titles in 1991 and 1992 and more than 700 matches before going on to start the UAB volleyball program. Gerald Gann, the longest-tenured head football coach in school history, went 108-76-2 with six region titles and three state runner-up finishes from 1979-1994.

Bob Newton led the Patriots to five state championships and six region titles from 1976-2008, finishing 124-24. Homewood’s football field has borne his name since 2009. Dickey Wright won five state titles as a defensive coordinator and five more as head wrestling coach, while David Jones has been on the football staff for all six

of Homewood’s state championships dating to 1971.

Tim Shepler spent nearly 30 years as boys basketball coach, reaching four state final fours and winning a state title in 2016, and Tom Esslinger produced 31 state championships across cross country and track before later coaching at Hewitt-Trussville.

Robert Davis remains the only Mr. Football winner in school history, rushing for 6,542 career yards from 1988-1991 before playing at LSU. Evan Mathis started four years on the offensive line at Alabama and went on to a 12-year NFL career that included two Pro Bowls, a first-team All-Pro nod and a Super Bowl title with Denver. Chris Gray played 208 NFL games, mostly with Seattle, where he still holds the franchise’s consecutive-starts record.

Austin Hubbard won two football state titles as Homewood’s quarterback and later pitched at Auburn, while Aaron Ernest set school track records before becoming an 11-time All-American and world junior champion at LSU. Ronald Nored, a two-time national runner-up at Butler after his Homewood career, was named head coach at Butler University in March 2026, and Kiara Williams (now Williams Chase) won state titles in nine different track and field events before earning All-American honors at Alabama.

Michael Gross, Homewood’s first principal and later its superintendent, rounds out the class as an Exceptional Contributor honoree.

THERE FROM THE BEGINNING

A knee injury during his sophomore year at Auburn gave Bresler’s childhood dreams of playing in the NFL a stutter step. Despite being drafted in the sixth round to the San Francisco 49ers in 1971, the Shades Valley alumnus knew that the best of his playing days were behind him, so he opted out.

“I knew my knee wouldn’t hold up,” he said.

Wanting to find some way to stay in football, Bresler thought coaching might be something he could do, and in 1972, following a brief stint as an assistant coach in Anniston, he was encouraged to apply for the head coaching job at a new high school that had just been formed: Homewood High School.

At the time, Bresler was only 23 years old.

“In the beginning, those students who were going to Shades Valley High School were going to have to go to Homewood for their senior year,” he said.

From the start, Bresler and the team had to work with what they had. Home games had to be played at Berry High School, then at Samford University, until the school’s stadium could be completed by 1974. But Bresler felt like he had to reach his team in a different way.

“I think, in my mind, the older coaching philosophy would not match with the upcoming era of high school players,” he said. “I wanted to communicate with them and respect them, finding ways to get them to be self-motivated.”

Leading into the 1974 season, Bresler and his coaching staff made a choice: they would only have 42 players on the team, half of whom were seniors. Between three-a-days and a quick retreat with the team, Bresler felt like the intense time together made the team both inseparable and unstoppable.

“That was the glue,” he said.

That season, the Patriots went 13-1, winning their first regional championship and their first state championship over Dothan on Dec. 7, 1974. Since then, the Patriots have won 18 additional regional championships and five other state titles.

Following the 1974 season, Bresler spent two years at Talladega before ending his coaching career at Vestavia in 1977. He remains grateful to have been an early part of Homewood football’s success.

“At the end of the day, when it’s all said and done, it means so much for everything you work hard for to become a reality,” he said. “I’m just so humbled.”

MEANS SOMETHING MORE

Growing up in Homewood, soccer was always Katy Freels’ joy.

In those days, people in the stands would hear Freels being called by her maiden name, Frierson, but even then, her name was already traveling far and wide. As a freshman, Freels had played for the Homewood girls varsity soccer team for a year before playing for the U-23 women’s national team for two years.

But by the time her senior year came around, Freels wanted to be a Patriot again.

“It was really fun to get to come back my last year,” Freels said.

After graduation, Freels went to Auburn, where she was named SEC Freshman of the Year in 2008 and continued playing for the U-23 team. By the time her Auburn career ended in 2011, she had racked up 73 career points, marking her as only the 10th player in the program’s history to score over 50 points.

During this time at Auburn, Freels began doodling coaching ideas in her notebook and thinking differently about the game.

“The kind of way I played the game, I had a very tactical approach,” she said. “By the time my junior year came around, I began to journal a lot of different coaching ideas.”

In 2012, Freels made the jump to professional soccer, being selected by the Atlanta Beat in the second round of the Women’s Professional Soccer draft. However, with the league folding shortly afterward, Freels went to the Western New York Flash in the Women’s Premier Soccer League Elite.

After two years with Sky Blue FC, Freels retired from soccer in 2015 to start a family. Living in Florida, she knew that she didn’t want to stay away from the game for long, so she began looking for a way into coaching.

“I reached out to Florida Tech and asked if there was a way I could get involved,” she said. “They allowed me to join.”

After three years as an assistant coach, Freels was named head coach of the Florida Tech women’s team in 2024. This past season, Freels led the Lady Panthers to a 17-3-6 record, the most wins in a season in the program’s history, as well as a South Region championship.

It’s a different state of mind for Freels but one she feels has changed her outlook on the game.

“When you’re playing, for better or worse, it’s a selfish endeavor,” she said. “When you get in coaching, your perspective changes to, ‘How can I help them reach their goals?’ and I have the attitude that I’m going to love them whether they win or lose.”

It’s an attitude that Freels feels she learned from all the coaches and teachers at Homewood who mentored and encouraged her throughout her career.

“I’ve lived all over the world and there’s no other place in terms of the investment offered like Homewood,” she said. “So many people were there with me for the highs and the lows and I still get messages from them to this day.”

With her name enshrined in the Homewood High School Athletics Hall of Fame, Freels feels blessed to be a footnote in the story of the school’s many acclaimed sports programs.

“I think it’s such a testament to the people that it makes you proud to share in that joy with them and all they’ve poured into you over the years,” she said. “Sharing in that again is something I will treasure for the rest of my life.”