“I didn't know what the heck I was doing,” Jeff admits. “My early stuff wasn't good, but he would try to run some of it.”

“When boys get to a certain age, they also need good mentors outside their homes. I want to be that good, positive role model for my guys.”

“[Arnold Palmer] came up to me and he said, ‘You're Steve Hudson.’ I said, ‘Yes sir.’ He said, ‘That was one fine round,’ like nobody had shot it before. He was that type of person. He made you feel special.”

“We had a play where I'd kick out the end. The first thing to hit the ground was the back of their head—we didn't do that pushing stuff. I'd just lay them out.”

“My sister would get out in the yard with me and spot me tumbling… In seventh grade, I decided to try out for the Jasper Travelers cheer team, but I wanted private lessons.”

“The referees would not run up and down on his side of the court. If they called a foul, he would look at them and his eyes would pop out.”

“We get all types of soil in the program. Sometimes the ground is rocky because a young person has a rough home life, but we believe you can cultivate that soil in a healthy environment.”

“My mentality is, it’s not my team, it’s theirs. I’m just the guy at the head of the ship trying to give them a little direction. I’m extremely hard on my players, but I am fair. They will let you know I’m a difficult person to be around, but if they ever need anything, they know who to call. “

“My mother was a teacher and coach at Walker County Training School,” Medlock says. “As a young kid, I would go with her to all of her games. I would also follow around the head basketball coach at the training school. As a black kid, there was nothing else to do but go to the local games.”

In 2004, Chris returned to Alabama and coached at Bragg Middle School in Gardendale for nine years, developing a very successful program in that community. Under his leadership, Bragg went to the Jefferson County Middle School Championship five of those years and won the championship in four out of five tries. It was here that Chris says he “got the itch that [he] wanted to be a head coach.”