The Birmingham Board of Education voted Tuesday to name the Wenonah High School field house and football field in honor of former Wenonah High School Coach Ronald Cheatham.

“Ronald Cheatham changed my life,” said board member Walt Wilson. “He taught me not only how to bring the best out of myself, but how to bring the best out of other people.”

Former NFL players told the board Cheatham had a lasting impact on their lives.

“He was not just a coach,” said Alonzo Ephraim, who played college football at the University of Alabama and was an offensive lineman in the NFL for Philadelphia, Miami and Cleveland. “He was a teacher and a leader.”

Miles College Coach and former NFL player Sam Shade, who played on Alabama’s 1992 national championship team and had eight seasons in the NFL as a safety with Cincinnati and Washington, presented a plaque to Cheatham’s family on behalf of the board.

“We were blessed to have Coach Cheatham there to lead us as young men and to shape and mold us,” Shade said. “I still carry the lessons from Coach Cheatham today.”

Cheatham’s other standout players included Quinnen Williams, another former Crimson Tide player who was the third overall pick in the 2019 NFL draft and is currently a defensive lineman for the New York Jets; and Williams’ brother, Quincy Williams, a linebacker for the Jets.

Cheatham coached Wenonah football for 30 years, compiling a 172-136 record from 1989-2018, according to the Alabama High School Football Historical Society website. He led the Dragons to the 2016 Class 5A championship game before losing to Beauregard.

Cheatham attended old Phillips High School in Birmingham and played college football at Southern Mississippi. He served as an assistant coach for the Golden Eagles in the mid-1970s, becoming the first black assistant coach at a Mississippi college.

Cheatham retired from Wenonah in 2018. He died in September 2020, at age 65.

The new signs honoring Cheatham should be in place soon, said Henry Pope, athletic director for Birmingham City Schools.