Catching Up with an East Alabama Legend …
first head coaching job was at Suwannee County in Live Oak, before moving to Choctawhatchee in Fort Walton Beach. They had not won a game the year before I came, but we went 61-18-3 over the next eight seasons. I was then an assistant principal at Niceville and was out of coaching for nine years.
Pigskin Roundup: How to did you get back home to coach at Etowah?
Wyman Townsel: I guess I always had it in the back of my mind to come home, but I never imagined I could ever come back. Coach Glover was the one that talked to me. I turned it down twice because I was retired and didn’ t need a job, but finally Coach Glover said,“ Etowah High School needs you.”
Pigskin Roundup: You had a lot of success at Etowah. Why were you so successful?
Wyman Townsel: I attribute the success at Etowah to hard work. I could see the potential. We emphasized fundamentals, techniques, and conditioning. You had to be of the right mind to go through our program. We started with over 100 players and wound up with 33 the first year.
Pigskin Roundup: What are your thoughts on your 1990 team that finished 10-1 and featured players like
Patrick Nix and Tyrone Nix?
Wyman Townsel: That bunch had bought into the program for four years. We mainly just outworked people. The night of that loss at Pell City in the playoffs hurt more than any other game I can remember. To this day that is the only loss I remember.
Pigskin Roundup: What memories do you have of the famous 69-63 six overtime playoff win at Oxford in 1991?
Wyman Townsel: I was completely given out after that game. We took some chances that I wouldn’ t normally have taken in that game and they paid off. When we came back and tied it up at the end of regulation, a lot of Etowah folks had already left. At the end of the regulation the stands on our side were sort of empty, but at the end of the sixth overtime the stands were packed again. People went to their cars and came back in!
Pigskin Roundup: What about your life since retiring from Etowah?
Wyman Townsel: We built a place on the water down at Canoe Creek in 1988. Betty, my wife of 50 years, passed away six years ago. I have two daughters and a grandchild that live in Florida. I have three dogs-Pete, Pepper, and CoCo.
Baptist Retirement Village I & II
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