LIVINGSTON, Ala. – On May 22, 2010 in Birmingham, Ala., former University of West Alabama head football coach Bobby Johns became the fourth head coach with ties to UWA to be inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame.
Johns, who coached in Livingston from 1997-2000, joins current UWA and former North Alabama coach Bobby Wallace and Vaughn Mancha, who coached the Tigers from 1949-1951 and took the 1949 football team to the Paper Bowl, and Mickey Andrews in the ASHOF.
Johns played collegiately at the University of Alabama, where he was a two-time All-American at defensive back (1966-1967) and three-time All-SEC (1965-1967) and was named to the Team of the Decade for the 60's. UA's annual Most Improved Defensive Back spring award is named after Johns as well. For over 30 years he was an assistant coach at South Carolina, Eastern Kentucky, Tennessee at Chattanooga, Florida State, and Valdosta State.
Wallace, who in 2009 led UWA to its first NCAA Division II Playoff appearance in 34 years, played collegiately at Mississippi State University, where he was a three-year letterman. Wallace was named head coach at UNA in 1987, and in eight seasons at the helm of the Lions he took the football program to the top of the NCAA Division II. UNA became the first school in the history of NCAA scholarship football (Division I, I-AA or II) to win three straight national championships. From 1993-1995, UNA had a combined 41-1 record, making the Lions the first team in the history of collegiate football on any level to win as many as 40 games in three seasons. Wallace was selected as the NCAA Division II Football Coach of the Quarter Century, and is one of only five coaches in NCAA playoff history on the Division 1-AA, II or III levels to have won as many as three national titles. He is just one of four coaches to have received the American Football Coaches Association award three times or more (1993-1995). Wallace resigned from UNA in 1997 to become the head football coach at Temple University. In 1993 was awarded the Sington Trophy, which is named after fellow Hall of Famer, the late Fred Sington, as the College Coach of the Year in Alabama. On Dec. 17, 2010, Wallace will be inducted into the Division II Football Hall of Fame.
Andrews spent three seasons guiding the UWA football team, leading the Tigers to a 24-7-2 record during his tenure and a 1971 NAIA National Championship. He was also an assistant at UWA from 1967-69. Andrews went on to Florida State as defensive coordinator and helped lead the Seminoles to the 1993 and 1999 National Titles. Andrews starred in football and baseball at the University of Alabama from 1961-64, earning Second Team All-American honors as a wide receiver and defensive back. Alabama won two National Titles (1961 and 1964) and played in three New Year's Day bowl games during his tenure at the Capstone.
Mancha played at the University of Alabama from 1944-1948, earning All-SEC and All-American honors as a four year starter. Mancha played in the Rose Bowl and two Sugar Bowls, was voted to the All-Time Sugar Bowl Team and played pro football with the Boston Yanks (NFL). Following his pro career, Mancha served as head coach and athletic director at Livingston University, assistant coach at Florida State University and Columbia University, and director of athletics at Florida State, 1959-71. From 1972-1992 he was a professor in media education at FSU, retiring as professor emeritus in 1992. In 1990 he was inducted into the National Football Foundation Hall of Fame and in 1992 was selected to Alabama's All-Century Team.
