Vernon Wells

Vernon Wells is Albertville’s winningest football coach with a 99-77-4 record. Eighteen of his 37-year career was as the head Aggie (1949-1953, 1973-1985).

After playing football at the University of Southern Mississippi and graduating in 1949, he started and ended his head coaching career at Albertville. In between, there were stops at Butler, Fort Payne and Rainsville, resulting in a 37-year record of 214 wins, 140 losses and 10 ties. His 1964 Fort Payne team won the 3-A State championship. Coaching honors for Wells include All-Star game head coach, two-time state Coach of the Year, and inductee into the Alabama High School Sports Hall of Fame and the DeKalb County Sports Hall of Fame.

The night he joined a select group of coaches with victory 200, Coach Wells was asked by sportscaster Bill Yancy if any victory or game stood out above the rest. He replied, “One year when I was at Butler, we went down to play Etowah and we beat them 28-27, and we didn’t pick up a first down. Three times we threw the ball and scored each time. Don Mincher was our punter and he got a bad snap and ran it about 70 yards for a touchdown”.

“That was a real good victory and one of the oddest things that ever happened...I’ll never forget it - to beat somebody 28-27 and not even pick up a first down.”