This is an opinion piece.

Mr. College Football is delving into the world of high school football for his next book.

Tony Barnhart, the longtime Atlanta Journal-Constitution college football writer who is now a columnist for his own website, TMG College Sports, spoke to the Alabama Sports Writers Association recently about his upcoming book, “The 19 of Greene.”

The book is scheduled to be available in October. It deals with Barnhart’s experience with integration in small-town Georgia as a member of Greene County’s first integrated football team.

“It’s about that year when the federal government said in the fall of 1970 that these schools will integrate,” Barnhart said. “We had a white high school and a black high school. We merged and put together the first integrated football team.

“When spring practice was over, we had 19 guys – 12 whites, 7 blacks. We lost our first two games, won seven of the next eight and lost in the region championship game.”

Barnhart said three of the 19 athletes didn’t see action in games, making depth even then a big challenge.

“Every game, the other team tried to wear us down and many times they did,” he said.

The season ended with a 13-0 loss to a Gainesville, Ga., team that included former Clemson coach Tommy West. Barnhart said 15 of the 19 players from his team are still living, and he interviewed all of them for the book. He also interviewed family members of the four deceased players.

“Fifty-two years later, our quarterback, Charles Turner, who came over from the black high school, and I are still close friends,” Barnhart said. “Last year, he was one of the first five players inducted into our high school’s ring of honor.”

Barnhart’s sixth book should be a good one. Can’t wait to read it. It can be preordered at this link.

Prayers requested

One thing I’ve witnessed consistently during my time as a high school sportswriter is that communities come together in times of need.

That time is now for our Alabama high school sports community.

Here are a couple of continuing needs for prayers and good thoughts:

1. Grayson Pope. The Hewitt-Trussville baseball player and Tennessee commit continues to fight in a Birmingham-area hospital following a freak June 6 accident in which a lightning strike sent a tree falling on to a golf cart he was driving at the Trussville Country Club. There have been encouraging signs this week as an EVD Drain was removed from Grayson’s head, and he was moved out of Neurosciences Intensive Care Unit after 17 days on Thursday. Prayer warriors can keep track of Grayson’s progress on the Facebook page “Prayers for Grayson Pope.” Hewitt-Trussville coach Jeff Mauldin told AL.com this week that both he and the family continue to be overwhelmed with the support, kind words and prayers for Grayson from all over the nation.

2. In 2017 and 2018, we wrote several times about Robertsdale baseball player Keaton Krebs and his year-long battle with Leukemia. After numerous stays in the hospital, 90 days of chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant, Keaton went into remission. However, earlier this spring, Keaton developed a mass that has been diagnosed as a histiocytic neoplasm sarcoma. He is back in Gainesville, Fla., this week to begin a chemotherapy process that hopefully will shrink the sarcoma so it can be removed. Prayer warriors can keep up with the journey on the Facebook page “Keepin’ up with Keaton.”

Keep praying folks. God is at work. Always.

Stu is staying

Cullman High announced last week that boys basketball coach Stu Stuedeman had agreed to a three-year contract extension with the school.

Stuedeman led Cullman to the Class 6A state title in 2022.

“I am so humbled and blessed to embark on another three years with Cullman basketball,” Stuedeman wrote in a social media post. “Thank you to our superintendent Kyle Kallhoff, principal Mrs. Allison Tuggle, athletic director Mark Stephens and the board of education for all their continued support and beliefs in our program.

“In just two years, Cullman as become home. This team and community have become family. What we continue to build together is truly something special, and I am beyond excited to continue to be a part of it.”

Thought for the Week

“Whether it’s the man sitting next to you on the plane, the woman in the next cubicle, the teenager taking your order at lunch, take a few minutes to invest in the people in your path.” – Tim Tebow, Mission Possible Devotional.

Ben Thomas is the high school sportswriter at AL.com. He has been named one of the 50 legends of the Alabama Sports Writers Association. Follow him on twitter at @BenThomasPreps or email him at [email protected]. He can be heard weekly on “Inside High School Sports” on SportsTalk 99.5 FM in Mobile or on the free IHeart Radio App at 2 p.m. Wednesdays.