St. Clair County Sports Hall of Fame
St. Clair County Sports Hall of Fame

2020

Dale Beason
Dale Beason graduated from Ashville High School in 1985. He played football and basketball while in high school making All-County in basketball and playing on an undefeated 22-0 varsity B-team.

He attended Gadsden State and JSU graduating from JSU in 1992 with a B.S. Degree in Social Science.

Beginning in 1988, Beason has coached girls’ basketball in St. Clair County. From 1988-92, he coached at Steele Jr. High School winning a county title in 1990. From 1993-2003, Beason coached at Springville High School winning seven ninth grade county crowns and four seventh-eighth grade county titles. From 2004-15, Beason coached at Ashville High School winning eight area titles, four varsity county crowns, four junior varsity county titles and finishing runner-up in the varsity county tournament nine times. The Lady Bulldogs advanced to the playoffs 11 years under Beason. In 2007, Beason was selected to coach in the Alabama North-South All-Star game.

The Ashville girls advanced to the Northeast Regional Tournament eight times under Beason and made it to the finals twice. He averaged over 20 wins a season at Ashville, winning 73 percent of the games.

Beason also helped coach volleyball at Ashville with Denise Mattison and assisted 11 teams reaching the playoffs, two reaching the Final Four.

Beason has attended Mt. Point Ministries on Straight Mountain.

Jonathan Nix

Jonathan Nix graduated from West End High School in 1996. He graduated from JSU in 2000 earning a B.S. Degree in Physical Education.

Nix led the Ashville Lady Bulldogs softball team to an overall record of 108-53 from 2005-07. In 2006, Ashville finished third in the state, the deepest any Ashville softball team has advanced.

Nix then became the softball coach at Ragland High School, leading the Lady Purple Devils to three straight state titles from 2010-12. Nix was named the Alabama Sportswriters Association Coach of the Year in 2010 and 2012. He finished with an overall record of 172-68.

In 2011, Nix was named the Assistant Football Coach of the Year by the Alabama Football Coaches Association. From 2012-14, Nix led the Ragland football program to a 30-5 record including a 4-3 postseason record and two trips to the quarterfinals. He was named St. Clair County Football Coach of the Year all three years he coached Ragland.

Nix just finished his fifth year as head football coach of the Pleasant Valley Raiders.

Roger Pate

Roger Pate is a 1961 graduate of Etowah High School where he starred as a basketball player.

He attended Snead St. Jr. College, JSU, and Livingston University and graduated in 1968 with a degree in education.

From 1961-63, Pate was an All-Conference basketball player at Snead State where he was named All-District and MVP. From 1963-65, he was an All-Conference basketball player at JSU where he was named Team Captain and was second highest rebounder at the time.

From 1963-72, played semi-pro basketball with the Gadsden Vikings and was named league MVP and was the top rebounder and scorer.

Pate became a basketball coach in 1965 and coached at Alma Hinson Jr. High in Attalla for three years. From 1968-70, Pate was a student/grad assistant coach at West Alabama.  

Pate then made his way to Pell City High School where he was a coach, teacher, assistant principal and principal from 1971-1992. Pate received a degree in Administration from UAB in 1974, and earned his Master’s in Administration from the University of Alabama in 1975. From 1992-96, he was principal at Ragland High School.

Pate and his wife, Sherry, are members of First Baptist Church, Pell City. He is also a member of the Board of the Pell City Country Club and loves to cook for city and school functions.

John Rea

John Rea is a 1994 graduate of Pell City High School where he won numerous awards as an offensive lineman. He was a three-year starter and started 31 straight games for the Panthers.

He earned a scholarship to play football with the UAB Blazers where he was a four-year starter and earned many awards. He started 41 games as an offensive lineman and remains the only UAB football player to be named First-Team Academic All-America.

Rea graduated Summa Cum Laude from UAB in 1999 with a double major in Biology and Philosophy and a minor in Chemistry. He held a 4.0 GPA his entire college career. He then graduated from Yale Law School, J.D., in 2005.
Rea is a member of New Hope Baptist Church, Rotary Club of Pell City, Alabama State Bar and St. Clair County Bar Association. 

Nick Roberts

The late Nick Roberts was a 2002 graduate of Springville High School. He excelled in sports especially football as quarterback of the Tigers. In his senior year, Roberts was named St. Clair County’s Player of the Year in football.

Roberts received a scholarship to play football at Gardner-Webb University. From 2002-05, Roberts led Gardner-Webb to two All-Big South Conference championships. Roberts was a three-time All-Big South Conference quarterback. In his college career, Roberts passed for 6,690 yards and 48 touchdowns and rushed for 1,182 yards and 19 touchdowns.

After graduating in 2007, he continued his football career playing Arena Football in Louisville, Kentucky for the Louisville Fire.

In September 2017, Roberts was diagnosed with cancer. Roberts fought to the very end, and passed away January 29, 2019 at the age of 35.
He leaves behind his wife Kasey, his two sons, Parker and Tyler, many other family members and a host of friends.