Dallas Wilcox Bama Club awards scholarships to 14 area rising UA freshmen
“Local students honored at banquet featuring Crimson Tide insider Jeff Allen, who shares stories of Saban, DeBoer, and Alabama greatness.”
Fourteen area high school seniors who are entering their freshman year at The University of Alabama were awarded scholarships by the Dallas Wilcox Bama Club May 6.
Scholarship recipients announced at the scholarship banquet are:
Elizabeth Alford from Wilcox Academy.
Adian Barnes, Molly Bohannon and Walter Gilmore from Morgan Academy.
Shakevion Canty, Jaleel Carter, Jacion Hunter, Breanna Sturdivant and Shelby Brown from Selma High School.
Tamara Jones from Keith High School.
Malaya Mabry of Wilcox Central.
Adriana Reeves from Dallas County High School.
Will Lewis, a transfer from Shelton State.
Shonta Williams, a transfer from Wallace Community College Selma.
Bama Club Scholarship Chairman James McNeill reported that this year the Bama Club awarded scholarships totaling $55,500. Each recipient received a scholarship worth $4,500. Alford, Canty and Jones received awards of $2,000 because they have already received large scholarships from The University of Alabama.
The Scholarship Committee considered school performance, involvement in extracurricular activities and involvement in the community in awarding the scholarships.
McNeill explained that the first Bama Club endowed scholarship fund in 1987 was the Sam Earle Hobbs Endowed Scholarship and was $10,000. Today an endowment of more than $1million funds the scholarships
The banquet’s guest speaker was Jeff Allen, director of sports medicine and senior associate athletics director at The University of Alabama. He was hired by Coach Nick Saban in 2007. Allen had many stories about working for Saban and many stories about other Alabama greats such as Mal Moore, Bill Battle and Hootie Ingram.
One of the first stories Allen told was about his breaking the news about his job at The University of Alabama to his father. “I grew up in Georgia, and my Dad was from Tennessee,” Allen said. “I had some issues growing up. I was surrounded by Bulldogs, but my dad was a die-hard Tennessee fan.”
Allen said his father’s first response to the news that Allen and his family were moving to Tuscaloosa was “dead silence,” but his father has since “converted.” Allen said he is “full-throttle Alabama Crimson Tide” now.
Allen touched on the NIL and the transfer portal. He said at Alabama, Coach Kalen DeBoer and his staff are showing the kids they care and will help them improve, as did Saban. The love and care DeBoer and his staff are showing the players is paying off, because no Alabama players entered the portal, according to Allen.
Allen touched on the NIL and the transfer portal. He said at Alabama, Coach Kalen DeBoer and his staff are showing the kids they care and will help them improve, as did Saban. The love and care DeBoer and his staff are showing the players is paying off, because no Alabama players entered the portal, according to Allen.
Allen said he had noticed that Coach DeBoer has a small picture of Bear Bryant on a shelf behind his desk. “One day I just asked him, ‘Coach, what’s the deal with that?’ He said, ‘I never want to forget where I am.’”
