Dees deserves place in Hall of Fame

It should come as no surprise to hear that an effort is underway to have former Monroe County High School coach, Ronnie Dees, named to the Alabama High School Athletic Association’s Hall of Fame.
Looking over the highlights of his long and distinguished career, you’ll see that it’s been a long time coming. (For the sake of space, I’m only going to touch on his career as a head coach, but believe me, his career as an assistant are just as amazing.)
Dees served as Monroe County High School’s head football coach on two different occasions, from 1965 to 1968 and from 1971 to 1975. Dees won the Pine Belt Conference Championship in 1965 and 1966. In 1965, MCHS was also named the state football champion by the Birmingham News. In a second tour as MCHS’s head football coach, from 1971 to 1975, Dees won 60 percent of the school’s regular season games.
(When you read about Dees, you’ll read a lot about the Pine Belt Conference. This high school athletic conference existed from 1960 to 1969 and was created for the purpose of "promoting local fan interest." The conference was made up of 12 member schools, including MCHS, Excel, Frisco City, J.U. Blacksher, Repton, Grove Hill, Jackson, Thomasville, Chatom, Silas, Leroy and Millry.)
In addition to his duties as head football coach, Dees served as MCHS’s head baseball coach from 1958 to 1968. His teams collected Pine Belt championships in 1962, 63, 64, 65 and 66. MCHS claimed the district championship trophy during the 1961 Southern State Tournament.
In 1971, Dees began a second stint as MCHS’s head baseball coach, a term that lasted until 1979.
During this time, Dees won area championships in 1972, 73, 74, 75, 76 and 78. MCHS won the 3A state championship in 1974 and went to the 3A state semi-finals in 1975. His 1974 state baseball title still stands as the only state baseball title ever won by a high school in Monroe County.
During his time as MCHS’s head baseball coach, Dees posted a regular season record of 86-9, a winning percentage of .905.
Dees also served as MCHS’s head basketball coach from 1964 to 1965. MCHS won the Pine Belt championship and the county and district championships in 1965. That same year, MCHS made the school’s first-ever appearance in the state 2A basketball tournament, posting a 23-2 overall record, the best record in school history.
Other coaching jobs in Dees’ career including jobs at McNeese State University, Morgan City High School and Patrick Henry Junior College.
From 1980 to 1987, Dees served as head baseball coach at Patrick Henry Junior College, now Alabama Southern Community College, in Monroeville. In 1980, his team won the Community-Junior College Southern Division Championship.
That same year, on May 24, 1980, the Monroeville Babe Ruth Baseball Field was renamed the "Ronnie Dees Babe Ruth Field" in his honor.
Dees retired from coaching in 1994 with a career win-loss record of 217-51 in football, baseball and basketball, a career winning percentage of .810.
Eleven years later, on April 19, 2005, the baseball field at Monroe County High School was fittingly renamed the "Ronald M. ‘Ronnie’ Dees Baseball Field" in his honor.
If named to the AHSAA’s Hall of Fame, Dees will join a number of other Hall of Fame coaches with ties to Monroe County schools, including C.D. "Lefty" Anderson, Levaughn Hanks, W.C. Majors, Paul Woolley and Willie Averett.