The Northridge Reporter September 2015

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Northridge High School 2901 Northridge Road Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35406

est. 2003

the SEPTEMBER 18, 2015

north ri d ge

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reporter

The student voice of Northridge High School

VOLUME 13 ISSUE 1

Photo by Camri Mason

go jags Students in the Mike’s Maniacs stadium section cheer prior to the County High game Aug. 28. Mike’s Maniacs has been renamed ‘McNabb Nation’ in honor of the late Coach Don McNabb for the remainder of the 2015 football season.

‘i loove football!’

Students, faculty remember life and legacy of Coach Don McNabb

REBECCA GRIESBACH and CAMRI MASON MANAGING and SPORTS EDITORS t’s the annual matchup against Tuscaloosa County High School, but the imminent chance of beating an age-old rival is not the only reason hundreds of fans are packed in the concrete stadium. As the band marches down the field, head coach Mike Smith and the family of Don McNabb stand for a moment of silence to honor a great father, teacher and coach. “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound,” the band begins to play as the football players crouch to one knee and the stands fall silent in remembrance of a school figurehead, a man who “lived his life right.” The offensive line coach and health teacher passed away just the night before school started - after five and a half months of battling kidney complications. “It was very out of the ordinary, and we knew it had to be serious,” April Allen, McNabb’s daughter, said. “We put our trust in the Lord and the doctors and staff of DCH and UAB. We knew he was in good hands.” Allen said her dad was “always healthy,” and throughout “a lot of ups and downs” of his condition, he managed to surprise his doctors with his improvements in the months before his passing. “He would say, ‘Come on guys, I’m okay,’” she said. “He was always a fighter and he never quit at anything he did.” Strong faith helped the family through this difficult time, assuring them McNabb’s spirit would live on. “My dad is okay, he is healed and no longer in pain,”

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she said. “My dad loved the Lord, and there is no absolute doubt where he is going. He’s living in Heaven with Jesus. Allen, an only child, said she never left her father’s side. “I was a daddy’s girl, and he was my biggest fan,” she said. Allen said she grew up in a household where football and class discussions were the talk of the table. “We knew the love he had for his students,” she said. “The passion he showed at home, he showed at school.” The McNabb family played a part in every aspect of the coach’s career, establishing lifelong relationships with fellow coaches and teachers. “We were very, very close,” coach David Akins said. “Our families were close; his daughter babysat my kids growin’ up… we just spent an awful lot of time together.” A friend of the family for 35 years, Akins met McNabb, a new baseball coach for Tuscaloosa Academy, while umpiring their games in the early 80’s. The two went on to coach football at competing area schools - Central and Tuscaloosa County High School - maintaining fierce competition with each other until 1992, when McNabb came to Central as an offensive line coach. Akins, Central’s offensive coordinator at the time, said he was able to work closely with McNabb and witness some of his friend’s finest moments. Halftime of the 1995 state championship game stuck out in particular. “We’re down six to nothing, and we walk into the locker room. Our head coach comes in there and he tells both of us that if we can’t get the job done, then we would be looking for another job,” Akins said. “[McNabb] turned around and looked at our head coach and said, ‘Well

Coach, I can’t go out there and block for ‘em. This is all I can do. I can’t go block for em.’ Our head coach just looked at him and said, ‘You’re right.’” The head coach turned around and walked off. Central came back and won the game in the second half. “The way he said it, it was just one of those ‘wow’ moments,” Akins said, smiling. For a man who’s had a presence in Tuscaloosa nearly his whole life, McNabb has influenced a number of souls young and old. Art teacher Richard Nowell was one of them. “I basically grew up knowing him,” Nowell said. In 1983, the seventh grader had no idea he’d be teaching with his then-science teacher and JV football coach in 2002, but he was able to cling on to some early memories nonetheless. “I remember some boys played a prank on him when he was the head football coach at TA,” Nowell said, chuckling. “They took all his furniture out of his office and put it in the showers. They set it up like his office was in the boys’ showers. He came into the field house and threw a fit, but it was just hysterical.” While driving the basketball team back home from away games, McNabb would put tapes from the 70’s into the tape deck, blasting tunes from Journey and The Eagles. “Think about this,” Nowell said to his class of ceramics students. “It’s like midnight. You can’t see anybody’s head on the bus ‘cause everybody’s laying down they’re so tired. And then ‘Hotel California comes on.

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