Tonya Littleton
Tonya Suzanne Hinton Littleton was born on November 2, 1969, to Tommy and Gayle Hinton. Her athletic career started early as Tonya began her basketball playing days at Boaz High School in the 7th grade. Her coach throughout her junior high and high school career was 2005 Hall of Fame inductee Gerald Thomas. Tonya began playing varsity basketball in the 8th grade and was a star on all of the teams for which she played at BHS. As a sophomore in 1986, she helped lead the Lady Pirates to their first-ever state tournament appearance and was chosen on the all-tournament team. Although the team did not return to the state tournament the next two years, the Lady Pirates were area champions both years. Tonya was selected to the All-Marshall County Team in all four seasons of her high school career and was the Marshall County Player-of-the-Year in 1987-88. She was named to the All-State team following her sophomore, junior and senior seasons and finished her high school career as the Lady Pirates’ all-time leading scorer with 1,957 points.
After high school, Tonya received a scholarship to play at Snead State under legendary coach and Hall of Fame charter class inductee John Kitchens. At Snead, her teams found great success. She averaged 13.2 points, 3.0 rebounds and 31 minutes per game. The Lady Parsons went 17-10 her first year there. In Tonya’s sophomore season, the Lady Parsons won the Region 22 championship, which covered the state of Alabama. She was a star on that team averaging 13.5 points and 4.1 rebounds per game. Snead qualified for the National Junior College Tournament in Tyler, Texas, and Tonya was named as the Alabama Junior College Conference MVP in 1990. When Tonya left Snead, she was the third-highest leading scorer in Lady Parson history.
When her Snead eligibility ran out, Tonya transferred to the University of Montevallo to play for Coach Gary Van Atta. While at UM, she was a two-year starter. In her senior year, Montevallo won their conference and finished as one of the top NAIA teams in the nation.
After graduation, Tonya returned to her hometown of Boaz to lead her alma mater’s girls’ team as their Head Coach. For much of her career, her brother, Brian, has been at her side as her assistant coach. He has guided the JV team, and is now the head softball coach at BHS as well. Coach Littleton won her first Area Championship in 1997 and the Lady Pirates advanced to the regional tournament in Jacksonville that year for the first time as well. This happened again in 1998. Her greatest successes as a coach to date came from 1999-2002. All three of those teams won Marshall County and area championships. Her 2001 team finished 33-2 and beat B.C. Rain 81-76 in the state finals to claim Boaz High School’s first-ever competitive state title in any sport.
In 2002, her team finished 32-3 and was the state tournament runner-up. One of her players, Kate Mastin Limbaugh, was named as Alabama’s Miss Basketball, while another player, Maleah Potter, was also a finalist for the award. Kate surpassed her coach as the all-time leading scorer in BHS history. All five members of her starting team received scholarships to continue their careers and education at the collegiate level.
Littleton won another county and area championship in 2008 and another trip to the regional tournament in Jacksonville, before losing to Marshall County rival DAR in the regional finals. In 2009 and 2010 her squad repeated as area champion to give her eight overall, and her 2010 team won another Marshall County title. Her accomplishments include 5 Marshall County Championships, 8 area championships, 7 Northeast Regional appearances, 2 NE Regional championships, 1 state runner-up, and 1 state title. During the 2009-10 campaign, she recorded her 300th win and her overall record currently stands at 320-198.