They won the ultimate goal of 6A State Champion. They beat all comers … and really beat them pretty convincingly.-Barry Halladay, 1989 Anniston Head Coach
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Remembering the Best:
Anniston Bulldogs
They won the ultimate goal of 6A State Champion. They beat all comers … and really beat them pretty convincingly.-Barry Halladay, 1989 Anniston Head Coach
By Mickey Shadrix
In past years, in Pigskin Roundup Magazine, I’ ve shared with you the best game I’ ve ever seen and the best Friday night playmaker I’ ve ever seen. In the 2016 edition, I take a look at the best team I’ ve ever seen in East Alabama. The 1989 Anniston Bulldogs were the Class 6A state champions and featured the greatest collection of high school talent I’ ve ever seen. This team produced multiple college stars, as well as several NFL players.
East Alabama has seen its fair share of undefeated state champions over the years, but none quite as dominant as the 1989 Anniston Bulldogs. That Bulldog team was special, and not just because of their 15-0 record and 6A state title. The 1989 Bulldog team was undersized- their biggest player on the team was TE Ken Best, who weighed 220 pounds- and they didn’ t exactly strike fear in their opponent when they unloaded the bus.“ We certainly didn’ t pass the eye test,” 1989 Anniston head coach Barry Halladay said.
Even his two brothers, who made the drive up from the Gulf coast to see the Bulldogs play Carver Montgomery in week four of the 1989 season at the Crampton Bowl in Montgomery, were unimpressed with the size of the team.“ My brothers walk in the locker room, take a look around, and were like,‘ Where are your linemen?’ I told my brothers,‘ Hey, don’ t judge a book by its cover. We may not be big, but these kids can play,’” Halladay, who is retired and now living on Alabama’ s gulf coast, said.
What this team lacked in size, they more than made up for with speed. The Anniston coaching staff took that speed advantage and coupled it with just the right schemes on both sides of the ball to lead Anniston to a perfect season.
One of the unique aspects of this team was the type of offensive attack employed by Halladay. Long before the term“ spread offense” was commonplace among the football lexicon, Halladay was experimenting with new offensive concepts as head coach at Minor High School in the 1980’ s. Then, when Halladay arrived in Anniston in 1988, those new concepts would really take off.
Halladay’ s penchant for no-huddle, five-wide receiver sets was a perfect fit for the players he would be coaching at Anniston.“ The offense we ran was a great neutralizer for teams who were bigger than us, which was every team we played,” Halladay said.“ In high school, you have to go with what your kids can do.”
24 | 2016 Pigskin Roundup the Magazine