League champions the Huntsville Havoc start their 15th season on Nov. 9.
The coolest
sport It’s about more than winning hockey games BY LISA SAVAGE
K
eith Jeffries could barely ice skate, and he knew little about hockey when he made the decision to establish the Huntsville Havoc.
“It’s about more than hockey,” the 61-year-old says. While hockey isn’t a traditional Southern sport, the arena is thick with excitement, the music is loud, and there are plenty of fun activities for the kids and team interaction with the crowd. The Havoc, a member of the Southern Professional Hockey League, won the league championship, the President’s Cup, in May. There’s a lot of excitement in the community as the Havoc starts its 15th season on Nov. 9. Jeffries and his wife, Becky, are Ardmore Telephone customers from New Market. The couple enjoys giving back to the community. “We had a really good year, on and off the ice,” he says. When someone comes to a game who has never been before, they don’t have any idea about the rules of the sport or where the team is ranked in the league, Jeffries says. “But we want to make sure they have fun, and hopefully we’ll get them back,” he says. 12 | September/October 2018
KEYS TO SUCCESS Jeffries was born in Decatur, and his family frequently moved. When he was 14, they relocated to Montana, and he worked on a ranch. Three years later, they returned to Alabama. He only needed two credits — one for Alabama history and one for English — to graduate from high school. He played sports at a small, private school while also working two jobs. He drove the school bus each morning and got out of school at noon for work in the afternoon. He later bought a printing business. He and his business partner, Brad Johnson, supported Huntsville professional teams — Stars baseball, Vipers football and Channel Cats hockey — with season tickets and sponsorships. “My kids enjoyed hockey more than any of the other sports,” he says. He sold the printing business in 1998, and he worked for the company that bought the business until 2002. Then, for the first time, he considered purchasing a hockey team, but that idea did not work out. Someone else bought the team and changed the name, and it folded after one season. In 2003, Jeffries was approached by a representative of the Von Ardmore Telephone Company