Montevallo assistant, former Calera coach pass away
Published 12:32 pm Thursday, February 4, 2010
Montevallo High School assistant football coach Keith Adair and former Calera High School head football coach Mac Thompson each passed away overnight Feb. 3.
Adair, who taught agriscience at Montevallo and served as the school’s Future Farmers of America sponsor, was an assistant football coach and planned to help coach the Bulldogs’ softball team this spring, said Montevallo head softball coach Ron Holsombeck.
Adair, who had battled cancer for nearly two years, passed away early Thursday morning at the age of 38.
“(Adair) helped coach a game last year when Coach (Tena) Niven was out,” Holsombeck said. “He said it was kind of fun and he was supposed to help us on the field this spring. I hate that he won’t be there.”
Visitation for Adair will be Saturday from 5 p.m.-until at Concord Baptist Church in Calera. Adair’s memorial service will be at noon Sunday at Concord.
Thompson, 39, passed away after suffering a massive heart attack late Wednesday evening at Adel Memorial Hospital in Adel, Ga. His death came almost one year after he left the Calera community to become the head football coach at Cook High School in Adel, Ga.
Thompson led Cook to a 7-6 record and an appearance in the Georgia High School Association Class 2A playoffs in his first season at the school.
Holsombeck, who developed a relationship with Thompson during his time at Calera, said Thompson was rushed to the hospital with chest complications Wednesday afternoon and was initially stabilized before suffering a massive heart attack later in the evening at the hospital.
His wife, Regina, and four sons, Kolby, 14; Ethan, 13; Mackenan, 11; and Isaak, 8, survive Thompson. Visitation will be held at Concord Baptist Church in Calera on Saturday, Feb. 6, from noon-2 p.m. Thompson’s memorial service will follow.
Chris Bunn, who served as the team statistician during Thompson’s three-year tenure as the Eagles’ head coach, said Thompson will truly be missed. Thompson led Calera to a 28-9 record from 2006-2008, with all three of his seasons at Calera ending with a berth in the Alabama High School Athletic Association playoffs.
“He came in and helped put the football team back where it needed to be,” Bunn said. “He’s truly going to be missed. There’s no doubt he loved his children and his kids loved him.”
Beneath are quotes from Thompson’s son, Kolby, from a story he wrote in class about his father coaching the Calera High School football team in Nov. 2008.
“The loud fans, the green grassy field, the smell of the concession stand. Everything comes to a natural balance here,” Kolby wrote.
“It’s where my crazy dad’s Eagles have went 17-3 in three years … It’s where good meets bad. Calera is a powerhouse.”
“Nobody thinks they are going to come in here and get an easy win. That’s like eating gravy with turnip greens, you just don’t do it,” Kolby wrote.
“But of course the best thing about the game is just being out there. The lights shining brightly down on you, the fans screaming and yelling for the team, how my dad gets that big grin on his face when the team does something right. That is why this is such a great place.”