Alabama School for the Deaf (Talladega) is off to one of its fastest starts in years as the Class 1A Silent Warriors boys basketball team rolled into the Christmas break at 13-0. ASD recently won the Don Hackney Classic tournament with three impressive wins over Georgia School for the Deaf (65-6), Atlanta Area School for the Deaf (93-28) and Mississippi School for the Deaf (86-16).
Coach Patrick Robinson's team returns to the court Jan. 6 to face Class 1A, Area 7 foe Fayetteville. The Silent Warriors are 6-0 this season against Alabama High School Athletic Association competition and 7-0 against deaf school competition.
ASD has been competing in athletics for more than 100 years – actually playing football in 1892 for the first time. The state's only public school for deaf children has won more national championships by far than any other public school in the state. The National Deaf Sports Digest selects national champions annually and the Silent Warriors are usually near the top in football and boys basketball. ASD holds the national record for wins versus deaf schools in football and captured the national championship in 1971, 1987, 2000, 2001 and 2002.
This year's team was 7-2 and head coach Paul Kulick was named national deaf school coach of the year. Four players were named to the DeafSports Digest All-America Team including Player of the Year
Demetric Snider. The junior fullback/linebacker was also named to the NDIAA's first team. Snider rushed for 746 yards and 12 touchdowns on 111 carries. He also had 12 catches for 122 yards. Defensively, Snider recorded 45 solo tackles and 36 assists. He had five sacks, 11 forced fumbles and four fumble recoveries. Also named to both teams were
Joshua Eatmon,
Tyler Perry and
Lorenzo Burrow.
Robinson's basketball team is the best the school has produced since back-to-back national championship seasons in 1996-97 and 1997-98. ASD, led by longtime coach Don Hackney, also reached the AHSAA Final 48 state tournament both years by going 32-2 and 31-2, respectively, won the Northeast Regional title at Jacksonville State and reached the Class 1A semifinals.
Hackney coached the Silent Warriors for 27 years and served as athletic director for the last 17 of his career – winning national deaf school boys basketball championships six times to go with the one won in 1966 prior to his arrival. ASD has national crown banners under Hackney's leadership for 1986, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1997 and 1998. The Silent Warriors also won in 2008 and 2009.
ASD also won six national girls' basketball championships with Hackney as AD, one national volleyball title, two girls track and field titles and two boys track and field crowns. The Warriors added another boys basketball championship in 2009.
Hackney was inducted into the Alabama High School Athletic Association Sports Hall of Fame in 2006 – after winning 485 games. His teams also won eight Mason-Dixon tournament titles, signifying the southeastern champion of deaf schools. His career was cut short when he fell from a ladder at home while trimming trees, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down. Still living near the school in Talladega, he is a regular at most games and still assists the AHSAA with trophy presentations from time to time at the Northeast Regional tournament and at the Final 48 state tournament.
This year's team has had some impressive wins over AHSAA member schools this season, the biggest coming against arch-rival Talladega County-Central 57-54 earlier this season. That win snapped a 34-game winning streak for TCC in area play.
