This is an opinion piece.

I didn’t expect this week to start out the way it did.

I wrote in last week’s column that W.S. Neal football coach Hugh Fountain was traveling to M.D. Anderson in Houston to seek cancer treatment.

I had no idea that four days later he would be gone.

Cancer stinks.

Fountain died Monday night. He was only 61.

He won 271 games and a pair of AISA state titles in 37 years as a head coach. His teams made the playoffs 29 times and won seven region titles.

But those are just statistics.

What can’t be truly measured is the impact he had on so many players, coaches, students, administrators over the years. That’s what really matters.

Escambia County superintendent Dr. Michele Collier talked earlier this week about how Fountain had successfully brought pride back to the W.S. Neal program in his second tenure as head coach at the school.

“He was a straight shooter,” she said. “As a person, he is a man of faith and he’s a good man and a family man. He loves Neal. He loves his community. He loves the Lord, all those things.”

The last line is the most important for, as tough as it is for those of us who are still here to go on without him, coach Fountain now has victory in Christ.

John 14:2-3 reads: “My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”

Later today, the W.S. Neal community and the state will celebrate a life well lived by coach Hugh Fountain. There will be a visitation from 4 to 7 p.m. beginning in the W.S. Neal football field house and spilling out into the football stadium. A ceremony celebrating Fountain’s life will begin at 7 p.m. on the football field. The ceremony is open to the public.

Coach Fountain had a great platform in coaching and teaching to provide a positive impact to all who came in his path. He did that not only at W.S. Neal but also at Charles Henderson, Escambia Academy and Evergreen.

He will be dearly missed, but his legacy of love, discipline and community will live on through his family, his players and all who knew him.

Player of the Year race

The race to be the fans’ choice for Alabama’s best high school basketball player is ongoing on AL.com.

We are in the quarterfinals for both the girls and the boys, and voting continues through the weekend.

The boys quarterfinal matchups (with their seeding) are:

16 Jayden Williams (Ramsay) vs. 8 Peyton Wiggins (Huffman)

13 Jayden Parks (Brantley) vs. 12 Brayden Rivers (Huntsville)

2 Jacoby Hill (Central-Phenix City) vs. 10 Devin Barksdale (Gadsden City)

3 Salim London (Hoover) vs. 6 Austin Coner (Pinson Valley)

Vote in the quarterfinals through Sunday night at this link.

The girls quarterfinal matchups are:

1 Ace Austin (Spring Garden) vs. 8 Ava McSwain (Good Hope)

13 Chauncey Dixon (McIntosh) vs. 5 Kaylee Yarbrough (New Hope)

2 Jabria Lindsey (Central-Phenix City) vs. 10 Sarah Gordon (Vestavia Hills)

14 Jamonica Chambers (Vigor) vs. 6 Lani Smallwood (Albertville)

Vote in the girls quarterfinals through Monday at this link.

The eventual winners will be announced April 14 and 15.

New volleyball coach at Gardendale

A former Nebraska volleyball star has accepted her first head coaching job. Merritt Beason has accepted a job as the head coach of Gardendale High School.

Beason is a 2020 graduate of Gardendale. She graduated from Nebraska last spring with a degree in Child, Youth, and Family Studies.

The Alabama native played for the Huskers in the 2023 and 2024 seasons. She transferred to Nebraska after starting her career with the Florida Gators.

Last season, she was named All-Big Ten First Team for the second year in a row and earned her third consecutive AVCA All-Region honor. Beason averaged 2.78 kills per set with a .233 hitting percentage and 30 service aces in 36 matches.

Beason will continue to play professional volleyball on top of her coaching duties. She’s in the middle of her rookie season with the Atlanta Vibe of the Pro Volleyball Federation.

Hanceville softball forfeits games

The AHSAA announced last week that Hanceville High’s softball program has been fined and placed on probation for playing ineligible players in violation of the Transfer Rule. The AHSAA announced that the school also was found in violation of the Rule V. Coaches’ Requirements.

Hanceville had to forfeit all games won that the ineligible students played in and they were assessed restitution for the contests they participated in while ineligible. The uncertified coaches are disqualified from coaching at Hanceville for a year.

Thought for the Day

“And the church of Christ was born

Then the Spirit lit the flame

Now this gospel truth of old

Shall not kneel, shall not faint

By His blood and in His name

In His freedom I am free

For the love of Jesus Christ

Who has resurrected me.”

King of Kings, Hillsong Worship

Ben Thomas is the high school managing producer 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].