Bill Wharton

The “Father” of the Marshall County Sports Hall of Fame, Coach Bill Wharton called the first organizational meeting in November 2000 at Reid’s Restaurant in Guntersville. Coach Jerry Dugan of Huntsville and the Madison County Sports Hall of Fame was the invited guest. Those Marshall Countians invited by Wharton formed the first Board of Directors and were among the 400-plus in attendance at the sold-out charter class induction on June 8, 2002.

Wharton grew up in the mill village called Huntsville Park. When young Bill was 15 years old, the family moved to Madison. There he played on the Sparkman varsity basketball team, which had a record of 53-6 from 1966-68. This All-County, All-Area player signed with Calhoun Jr. College. He was a two-year starter which included a Northern Division championship. Wharton gave up the opportunity to attend Jacksonville State. He then married Linda and two years later graduated from Athens State College.

Starting at age 21, Wharton remained a head basketball coach from 1972-1992, compiling a 359-154 record. He spent the first two seasons at Huntsville where he was the 1973-74 Huntsville News Coach of the Year. From 1974-1992, he coached at Arab, where he was three times named Marshall County Coach of the Year and his team won three county championships. Eighteen of his players went on to play college basketball, including two in the Southeastern Conference. The 1989-90 Arabian Knights opened the season with 17 straight wins before ending the season at 24-6.

Since 1992, Wharton has built a reputation as a strong administrator while serving as principal at Union Grove, DAR Middle, Arab Junior and Guntersville High schools.