BLAST FROM THE PAST: Reliving Cold Springs’ 1998-99 state championship run
Published 1:08 pm Friday, July 7, 2023
- In this 1999 file photo, Robyn Light lifts the Blue Map trophy as Kasey Willbanks (32), Cold Springs coach Tammy West and Mandy Willbanks (20) soak in the moment.
Tammy West called her shot ahead of the 1998-99 prep basketball season.
The Cold Springs varsity girls coach, who will soon embark on her 32nd campaign commanding the Eagles, just didn’t realize it when she verbalized her thoughts nearly a quarter century ago.
“They know this is the year,” she told The Times in a November 1998 preview article, referencing her talented and experienced squad. What the coach couldn’t have known, though, was that in just four months that team would take Cullman County by storm en route to winning the program’s first Class 2A state championship.
The Cullman Times interviewed several key people who were part of that storybook run 24 years ago, and each provided their thoughts and recollections on a remarkable season that laid the foundation for the myriad successes that have followed for the Blue and Gold.
The Eagles soared into the 1998-99 season with lofty aspirations. Cold Springs had notched a 24-6 record the season prior and returned all five starters — Mandy Willbanks, Lorie Graves, Laura Harbison, Tiffany Mosley and Kasey Willbanks — off a team that had reached the Northwest Regional Tournament for a fourth straight year, though each of those appearances ended with disappointing opening-round losses. So, while West and Co. seemingly possessed all the pieces of the puzzle, there was still the matter of conquering that Sweet 16 hump.
Robyn Light (junior guard): “I can remember a lot of work the summer before that season. I feel like as a team … we worked really hard. Mrs. West made sure we were in shape.”
Harbison (senior forward): “I think I knew we were a special team because of our closeness — we were all just really good friends. But I don’t think I knew the depth of how special and talented the team was as a whole before the season.”
Kasey Willbanks (sophomore guard): “We all just wanted to go further than we did the year before. I don’t know if any of us thought we were going to win it.”
Mandy Willbanks (senior forward/center): “We came into that season knowing we’d been to Wallace State four straight times, but we were hoping for and gearing for state. As far as expectations, you go into every season wanting to win it all. … We were going to do whatever it took.”
John Welborn (Cold Springs assistant coach; now West Point varsity girls coach): “That was my first year to coach with (my sister) Tammy. I really hadn’t been around girls basketball at the time, so I didn’t know what to expect. I was just out of college and had jumped right in and started helping her.”
West: “I didn’t understand the magnitude of it back then. I was still in my 20s and we’d never been close to even playing for a state title. I knew going into the season we were good, but nobody had ever done it before around here. So, it was like, ‘Can this be done?’”
Cold Springs wasted no time putting the hoops landscape on notice. The Eagles jumped out to a 15-0 record, which included wins over every county squad, and ascended to No. 1 in the Class 2A state rankings. During that torrid stretch, West’s team earned a pair of holiday tournament titles and accumulated an impressive average margin of victory of 28 points. All in all, a well-rounded start to a promising campaign.
Harbison: “I really don’t know if I realized how big it was to be No. 1, but I remember vividly when we found out. We were practicing in the gym, and Joey Graves came in holding a newspaper and showed Mrs. West. She was surprised but thought it was great, and we were all in disbelief. ‘Us? Ranked No. 1?’”
Graves (senior forward): “That was sort of an eye-opening moment for us. That was really cool to see, but I don’t think it set in for us that it was real.”
Kasey Willbanks: “I think we all bought in when we were ranked No. 1. That’s when we started realizing we were doing well, and let’s try to keep it going and not lose our momentum.”
Mosley (senior guard): “Even with the success, I don’t know if we were the most confident people. I don’t know if we felt we were truly capable yet. It was one game at a time, and that became like, ‘Hey, we’re doing this.’ And that’s not to say nobody had confidence; something like this had just never happened before.”
Welborn: “After that many games, I kind of figured we were pretty good. We definitely pushed them.”
West: “We were No. 1, but what did that really mean? Those girls just worked hard, and we really worked them hard. It was a group that just clicked on all cylinders. I remember (Tanner) coach (Larry) Greene and (Red Bay) coach (Donnie) Roberts calling them machines. They just went out and took care of business. As we kept going and kept playing and kept winning, we thought we might have something special.”
Light: “There was a lot of pressure that came with winning. We didn’t worry about that, though. We just went out and played our game. The chemistry between us was just phenomenal. Everybody played their role so well.”
A flip of the calendar did nothing to slow the Eagles, who secured eight more wins on the way to earning the Class 2A, Area 10 regular season crown — Addison, Cleveland and Meek acting as little more than speed bumps along the way, with Cold Springs outscoring them 479-232 across six games — and improving to 23-0. The next step? A much-anticipated Cullman County Basketball Tournament, where the No. 1 Eagles had their sights set on notching the program’s second county title.
Welborn: “We knew we were the favorites, but I knew West Point had a really good team, too. They had played a tougher schedule than we had, and I knew it’d be tough.”
Harbison: “I think there was confidence just because we had beaten everyone in the county, and the county title was one of our goals. We wanted to win state, but the county championship was a little bit more in our reach at the time. State was still uncharted territory.”
Kasey Willbanks: “I don’t think we felt unbeatable. Mrs. West really did a great job preparing us for each game individually and telling us what we had to work on in terms of specific players or scenarios. We also had some awesome players — Samantha (Knott), Deserae (Campbell), Karie (Rice) and Vonda (Aaron) — coming off the bench for us. If it wasn’t for them beating us up in practice, we wouldn’t have been as successful. They played every defense imaginable against us and ran various offenses in preparation for every team we faced.”
Mosley: “I do think we expected to win, but we also knew there were good teams — and it’s hard to beat those teams two and three times.”
Cold Springs opened with a 58-45 semifinal victory against defending champion Hanceville to set up a championship clash against second-seeded West Point, a squad Cold Springs had twice defeated earlier in the season in close games. In those previous outings, the Eagles overcame a six-point halftime deficit and held off a late surge to knock off the Warriors 81-77 in November before using a 41-point second quarter to collect a 93-82 triumph earlier in January. Unfortunately for West and Co., the third time was the charm for West Point, which rode a 33-point performance from DeeAnna Hanscom to a 76-66 victory and ended Cold Springs’ bid for a perfect season.
Mandy Willbanks: “It hurt (laughs). We’re on top of the world coming into that game. We fought, we struggled, we tried — but it was a tough loss. It hit everybody hard.”
Light: “I can’t recall specifics or even if it was close. A lot of tears … that’s all I can remember 24 years later.”
West: “Hanscom was a matchup nightmare for us. She was just incredible. We had no answer for her.”
Graves: “I feel like we put a lot of pressure on ourselves just because of the ranking. We were all heartbroken. We were expecting to play better, I think. Our defense led to a lot of offense for us, and I think they handled our press really well that night.”
Mosley: “I don’t think we felt as though we couldn’t be beaten, but we didn’t show up and perform our best. I don’t remember much of what was said afterward, but I remember the disappointment. We didn’t play our best that game, and the outcome proved it.”
West: “It wasn’t a shock that we lost, because West Point had a really good team. But when you’re undefeated for so long and lose, you have the sense of wondering if your season is over — even though you know it’s not. It was just so down that night (in the locker room) after we lost.”
Welborn: “The girls were torn up after the game. But I told them in the locker room that we ain’t going to lose again and that we needed to win eight more games. It’s good to win the county tournament, but that wasn’t our ultimate goal.”
Harbison: “We were disappointed in ourselves. But I truly think that loss fueled us and that pep talk from coach Welborn fueled us. We learned that we could lose. Experiencing that truly helped us get to the next level.”
Kasey Willbanks: “I didn’t think we were too discouraged. If anything, it made us work harder.”
Mandy Willbanks: “County was always our nemesis (laughs). Coming out of that one, it was a good thing we lost. It knocked us down a peg. It showed us we needed to go back to square one and tighten up any loose ends. It made us realize we were beatable and to not take anything for granted moving forward.”
Cold Springs avoided a second straight loss after Light drained three clutch free throws with no time left against Fairview to send the game into overtime, where the Eagles eventually won 79-72. Cold Springs then waltzed to the Class 2A, Area 10 Tournament title and clobbered Oakman 79-39 in the sub-regional round to once again punch its ticket to Wallace State, where No. 5 Tanner awaited in the Sweet 16.
Light: “That, I do remember (laughs). That was huge for us. I think it was really … I don’t know if our season would have ended the same or not, but I think it was a huge swing in the momentum. It just showed the tenacity of our team and what we were striving to do — which was to win. That was a great game and probably one of my greatest moments. That was awesome.”
Graves: “We still carried over some disappointment from the county tournament, but I think that’s what great teams do. They figure out how to win when faced with adversity. In the timeout before that happened, Mrs. West asked to me take the shot. But Robyn was open and I passed it to her. Thank the Lord she made three free throws.”
Kasey Willbanks: “It definitely wouldn’t have been a good thing to lose two in a row.”
Mandy Willbanks: “Having to come back and fight in that one 100 percent attributed to a lot of our success. Had we come out and destroyed them, it might have given us false hope.”
Welborn: “At that point in the season, you just had girls making big-time plays for us. I’m sure it could have made a difference if we had lost, but Robyn stepped up and made those free throws.”
West: “If that Fairview game hadn’t gone in the direction it did, I truly don’t know what happens to our season. But going into Wallace, I felt like this group was different. I felt like we were going to win that first game. I was pretty confident with the players we had and their demeanor. I felt like it was our time to get it done.”
Graves: “It was almost like the Sweet 16 was our curse. It was a breeze to get there, but we couldn’t get past that point. I remember going into the game that Mrs. West and her husband had gone to scout Tanner. I think it was at the point she thought we can do this. That gave me a little burst of hope that this might be the year we get past the Sweet 16. She came back and told us we could beat them.”
Harbison: “It was business as usual (going into the game), but we also knew that had kind of been our stopping point. We knew we needed to get over this hurdle.”
Mandy Willbanks: “At that point, it’s win or go home. And, as a senior, I didn’t want to go home. There was definitely some pressure, and a little more heart had to go into every game from that point on. It meant more. We had four seniors and none of us were done at that point. We all wanted to get it done.”
The Eagles easily slayed those past demons, outscoring the Rattlers 25-10 in the third period — Light punctuated the decisive frame by tracking down an offensive rebound and sinking an unlikely 3-pointer from the corner as time expired — and controlling the rest of the matchup to advance to the Elite Eight following a 65-49 win. Graves notched a double-double (25 points and 11 rebounds), while Light (12) and Kasey Willbanks (11) also pitched in offensively.
Mandy Willbanks: “There was a bit of a weight off our shoulders, and it felt good to get that one knowing we were going to the Elite Eight. After that win, we decided we were going to do what it took to win this thing. It was ours to lose.”
Kasey Willbanks: “When you get stuck there, it’s a huge deal to get past that point and to a place you’d never been before.”
West: “Right after that game it became, ‘How are we going to beat Mars Hill?’ (laughs). It became, ‘We did this, now can we do this?’ We didn’t get complacent.”
Standing between Cold Springs and a trip to Birmingham was No. 3 Mars Hill Bible, which downed Marion County 61-44 in the semifinals and had eliminated the Eagles a season before with a 34-20 win at Tom Drake Coliseum. The Blue and Gold jumped out to a 21-8 advantage before the Panthers cut the deficit to 28-26 in the third quarter. A few key turnovers, however, allowed Cold Springs to bump its lead to 36-29 entering the final frame, where the Eagles eventually put a 55-42 win on ice. Graves earned MVP accolades following a 20-point, eight-rebound effort, while Light (15 points) and Mandy Willbanks (seven points and six rebounds) joined her on the All-Tournament Team. More importantly, though, Cold Springs was headed to the Final Four for the first time in school history.
Graves: “Mrs. West brought in some boys to practice against us, because Mars Hill had an awesome point guard and post player. We did a lot of different things and put in an offense for their zone defense. I feel like Mrs. West did a great job of maximizing everyone’s talent before that game and we were able to pull out a big win. It was pretty sweet knowing we were going to the Final Four.”
Mosley: “The revenge factor may have played a part, but I just remember winning and being excited. I started thinking, ‘Maybe we can actually do this.’”
Kasey Willbanks: “We were all really, really happy to move forward with the season.”
West: “I didn’t have a clue what was going on or any idea what to expect (going to the Final Four). We didn’t realize we were getting a hotel. We didn’t know we were going to be treated like royalty. We just had no idea what all was ahead of us. It was definitely nerve-racking at the time. Everyone in Birmingham is calling you for this and that. It was so new to all of us.”
Welborn: “It was all new to me, too. As a player, I didn’t do anything like that. We did lots and lots of scouting and film watching. After watching the film, I was thinking to myself that we could actually win this thing.”
Harbison: “I don’t think we really understood then. It took a long time for it to sink in what we accomplished. I remember the community support and the support from all of Cullman County. It was free meals, free this, free that. We were super grateful for all of it.”
Kasey Willbanks: “There was a lot of excitement in the community. We had a lot of celebrations before we went and a whole lot more when we came home (laughs). They were really behind us all the way.”
Graves: “I do remember Deserae recorded everything. She had her camcorder out to the point where we were telling her to stop (laughs). Just being together, spending time together was a lot of fun.”
West: “Back then, it was just me and John. He took a carload and I took a carload. We spent the whole week down there and had a blast.”
Welborn: “The girls were also focused on what they had to do to win. Once we got to Birmingham, they worked. I told them it was still basketball — you’re just playing in a bigger arena.”
Mandy Willbanks: “You get to the Sheraton and look around and think, ‘Oh, my gosh, we’ve made it.’ The floor itself looked so much bigger, but it wasn’t. I felt like that size floor was an advantage to us because we had played county and regionals at Wallace. And we had also played with a ton of people in the stands for multiple seasons (at Wallace). But even though it wasn’t quite as big a leap for me, we were all a little starstruck.”
Light: “Hanceville’s boys had made it to state as well, and they were in the front row cheering us on when we were playing. The support we received was just phenomenal. The place was packed. Most of those people were from Cullman County. We were probably feeling like superstars (laughs), but still ready to handle business.”
Mandy Willbanks: “For us, it was exciting. We had to take it all in, too, because we hadn’t ever done it. It was a huge deal. But, by the same token, it was get back to work because we have two more games to win.”
The Eagles took on Southern Choctaw in the semifinals, building a 33-29 halftime lead that ultimately left West wanting more. “I told the girls we needed to get some rebounds. I told them we needed to get mean and physical like Choctaw,” the coach said at the time. Her squad heeded the message, quickly pushing the advantage to double digits and crafting a 13-point cushion entering the fourth quarter. Cold Springs controlled the game the rest of the way to secure a 68-52 victory and a spot in the championship game. Graves pitched in 18 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists, while Mandy Willbanks (15 points and 11 rebounds), Kasey Willbanks (11 points, nine rebounds and seven assists) and Mosley (10 points) provided other offensive contributions.
West: “I probably did say that to them at halftime.”
Mandy Willbanks: “She tore me up (laughs). I had underperformed, and I knew I had. She laid it in my lap and said, ‘Look, Mandy, you haven’t done X, Y, and Z, and this is what you typically do, and this is what I need you to do. And, if you don’t, we aren’t going to win.’ It was hard, but it was good. I needed the kick in the pants.”
Mosley: “I know we got a lot of halftime talks that season, but I don’t remember them (laughs).”
Kasey Willbanks: “I don’t remember, either, but I’m sure she had plenty to say (laughs). We probably should’ve had it more in control by then. During the game, she would ask us at random points if we wanted things to end here. Sometimes, hearing that can pull more out of you.”
Harbison: “The main thing I remember about that game is that I got hit in the eyebrow and had to go get stitches afterward. They were very physical, but we needed to respond to that and show them we could be just as physical. I think we did that.”
Geraldine, meanwhile, smashed No. 4 Alabama Christian 69-44 in the other semifinal to advance to the Class 2A title tilt for the second straight season. Though the Bulldogs were unranked, they had played good basketball throughout the playoffs, which included a win over No. 2 Fyffe.
West: “You had to drive and exchange films and do lots of talking over the phone back then. I knew that they had two really, really good players. But I felt like we had the better team.”
Graves: “I didn’t think about it being my last game — I just wanted to win. At that point, we all believed that we could. We wanted to win for our school, for each other, for Mrs. West, for our parents. We really just wanted to win a championship.”
Harbison: “There was a lot of emotion there. We knew this was it, this was our last game. I don’t remember knowing that much about Geraldine other than they were similar to us in that they were well-rounded.”
West: “We were still riding the wave, but I remember being sad we were about to play our last game with that group of girls. When I tell you they were incredible … I still have great relationships with those girls today.”
Mandy Willbanks: “It was very real. It was amazing to be there and to get as far as we did. But at this point, we had to do it. It was so cool to hear your name called on that platform and shake the other coach’s hand. We had done it a hundred times before, but never in that moment. You tried to take it all in but also focus on what’s in front of you. That was kind of a difficult task.”
Mosley: “I was very nervous and probably very scared (laughs). There was a huge crowd there just from Cullman County. My brother had played on the 1995 (Cold Springs) team (that went to state), and I watched them play from the stands. Being on the court, though, and seeing the spirit of the crowd — that was truly amazing.”
Kasey Willbanks: “What I tried to prepare for was getting my nerves under control. I was young and nervous. It was exciting pregame, but we tried to focus on what we came there to do.”
West: “I remember walking out there before the game and looking up and thinking, ‘Oh, my gosh.’ It was crazy. I also remember somebody doing radio and saying something like if there was ever a time to rob someone in Cold Springs, today is the day (laughs). The game didn’t start out great and their fans were chanting ‘Overrated.’ But we had the toughest group of girls.”
Neither team gave an inch in a tightly contested finale, with Geraldine boasting a 26-25 halftime lead before extending its advantage to 47-41 with just eight minutes to play. Then, to make matters worse for Cold Springs, Graves was relegated to the bench early in the final period due to foul trouble. With their proverbial backs against the wall, the Eagles needed to put together their best six minutes of the season. Behind a smothering defensive effort — Cold Springs outscored Geraldine 15-3 in the fourth quarter, holding the Bulldogs to just 1-of-15 shooting — the Eagles chipped away to eventually tie it at 48. Mosley, who earlier had entered the game for Graves, then buried a 3-pointer with 2:42 left to hand her team a lead it didn’t relinquish.
Graves: “I remember being so thankful going into halftime. After Robyn hit her 3, I remember running up to her and grabbing her. It gave us a little bit of relief only being down 1.”
West: “I remember going into halftime with some momentum. We changed up our defense, and our press was effective against them. But the biggest thing I remember is Tiffany coming in and playing the way she did. You talk about subs being ready to play.”
Welborn: “We went in at halftime, and Tammy was so mad and frustrated (laughs). She told me to get them, so she stood outside and I let them have it. When I got done, she just walked back in and started going over the game plan, because we had played so badly.”
Mosley: “I remember being excited about that shot. I didn’t know if we were going to win at that point, and I was still scared it could end the wrong way, but I recall the excitement of us just getting to that point. But by no means was I the all-star of the team (laughs).”
Mandy Willbanks: “I just remember looking up at the scoreboard and thinking about what we needed to do to make this happen. Mrs. West challenged us to step up defensively, and we stepped up to that challenge. She always preached it. but we just had to dig down deep and show it.”
Kasey Willbanks: “Our defense was always a big thing for us. We worked on our press constantly. I do remember something Mrs. West said to me during the game. I had gotten down on myself, and I felt like I was playing terribly. But she told me, ‘You’re here to bring the ball down the court — and that’s all I need you to do.’ After that, I felt a weight lifted off me and that as long as I did my job, everyone else could do theirs.”
Harbison: “I remember feeling like if we were going to win this we had to step up and play our best ball down the stretch. I can remember saying, ‘Let’s go. We’ve got this. We’ve got to finish strong.’”
The Blue and Gold indeed finished strong. A Mandy Willbanks free throw and a bucket from Graves put the Eagles ahead six soon after Mosley’s crucial shot, allowing Cold Springs to enjoy the moment down the stretch — at long last fulfilling its championship potential with a 56-50 win that set off a celebration the team still revels in to this day.
Mosley: “The game wasn’t over yet, but we knew it was ours. We were trying to hold in the excitement, but we were giddy — high-fiving, smiling, laughing. But we weren’t trying to go overboard until it was over.”
West: “It was such a good feeling when we knew. I just remember sitting by John and saying, ‘This is it; we’re going to win a state championship.’”
Mandy Willbanks: “The last few minutes … it’s a nail-biter. You’re thinking you’ve got to do this and that. At the same moment, you’re thinking, ‘Holy cow, we are going to do this.’ There’s anticipation and excitement, but you also don’t want to screw it up. When it was over, my first thing was, ‘Where’s my sister?’ I found her and hugged her. We had tears streaming, and that’s how we stood for a hot little minute. It was amazing, and I won’t ever forget it.”
Kasey Willbanks: “I remember looking for my sister immediately. As soon as the buzzer went off, we found each other. That was the best part of the celebration. Then, we joined in with the rest of the team jumping up and down and screaming.”
Light: “You’re on cloud nine. It was one of the greatest feelings ever, but I’m not sure it had sunk in what we had accomplished at that moment. We knew it was big, but not how big.”
Graves: “I wanted to give Mrs. West a hug, because I wanted to win for her. She did so much for us — just an awesome coach. I still love her so much, and I’m thankful for all she poured into us.”
Harbison: “It’s hard to put those feelings into words — that sheer excitement. I can remember our parents being so excited. We were the players, the ones on the court, the ones at practice, and all that. But our families and friends were just as important as we were. I’m so thankful they got to have that experience with us.”
Graves: “Going back up to the main level and seeing my dad in tears and so happy and excited for us — that’s my favorite memory outside of being with the team. Our parents cheered for us the whole season, and that was a really cool moment. They all took pictures with us and with the trophy. I’ll never forget the joy on their faces.”
Welborn: “I just remember everyone coming down and standing out there and seeing all the people surrounding us in the hallway after we won it. I think everyone in Cold Springs was there, plus probably half of Cullman County. That was pretty cool.”
Danny Welborn (Tammy’s and John’s father; Good Hope varsity boys coach from 1974-94): “That was some kind of moment for me and my wife. When it was over, I went down and almost got arrested trying to get over the gate to hug my kids. It was such a thrill and hard to believe a team from Cullman County had won a state title. It took a couple of weeks it seemed to soak in. Words really couldn’t describe how proud I was of my kids. We never imagined it happening, either, until it started to unfold before our eyes.”
West: “In the locker room, it’s bittersweet. Because you know it’s the last time with this team. But how we went out … I still don’t think we understood the magnitude of what we had just accomplished. As a coach, I probably didn’t soak up a lot of stuff that I know to soak up now. Man, they were incredible and fun to coach.”
Light notched a team-high 19 points, including five 3-pointers, while Graves earned MVP honors after an 11-point, nine-rebound outing. Mandy Willbanks (nine points and 14 rebounds) joined them on the All-Tournament Team. Light’s performance sparked then-Geraldine coach Steve Simpson to highlight it in the postgame press conference. “The difference in the game was their 3-point shooting. That (No.) 14 (Light) really surprised us,” he said at the time. Light later attributed her net-ripping effort to a pep talk given to her by Welborn. “He pulled me aside in the hall before the game and told me I had to hit five 3-pointers if we were going to win it. I did it … and by gosh, we did it,” she told The Times then.
Light: “It’s so different today. It was harder then to really know what you were up against. I guess they didn’t do their homework. I don’t know where it came from, but I just went out and did what I loved to do. I didn’t plan on being the high scorer, but it happened.”
Welborn: “There’s no telling what I said to her (laughs), but that’s probably the truth. She had to do it. She was one of the best shooters, especially being as small as she was. Skinny as a rail but could absolutely shoot it. We’d play H-O-R-S-E and have 3-point contests after practice — me, her and Tammy. She’s still one of the very best shooters I’ve ever been around in 25 years of coaching.”
West: “You didn’t have a whole lot of film back then, so I think a lot of their scouting report was Southern Choctaw — and she didn’t play well at all. I don’t think he knew what she was capable of doing. We knew, though. She was a deadly shooter.”
Cold Springs’ state championship — the first by a Cullman County program at that time — capped an amazing campaign for the Eagles, whose 32 wins were the most by a Cullman County basketball team until the 2007-08 squad eclipsed that mark with 36 victories and another state title. West claimed Class 2A Coach of the Year accolades, while Graves (First Team) and Mandy Willbanks (Honorable Mention) were also spotlighted by the ASWA. Those two standouts, along with Mosley and Harbison, were later named The Times’ Co-Players of the Year on the Western All-Area Team. Light and Kasey Willbanks made the squad as well.
Graves: “I think some younger girls came up a couple of weeks after we won and asked us for our autographs. I wanted to say it’s not going to be worth anything (laughs), but it was pretty funny and interesting. What I’m the most proud of, though, is just being able to make a name for our community and girls basketball at our school. Mrs. West and the girls after us have been able to carry it on, and it means a lot to me that they still take so much pride in Cold Springs. I’m thankful for that.”
Kasey Willbanks: “I think we realized at the time the attention we were getting. We were invited to the Capitol and recognized as the first Cullman County team to win it. We felt it was awesome. And we still do. We’re still very proud to be the first team to do it.”
West: “All of that definitely jumpstarted where we are today as far as being respected across the state and people talking about Cold Springs and girls basketball.”
Harbison: “I think there was a lot of chatter about Mrs. West and her coaching abilities. She is a great coach.”
Light: “The Cullman Times did great that year. They gave us phenomenal coverage. I certainly don’t remember any team being recognized like that, especially statewide.”
Mandy Willbanks: “The way the community rallied around us the whole year was something we took in and appreciated. The same week we won state, my maternal grandfather passed away. Kasey and I flew to California and spent time with our family. The fact that everybody put the celebration on hold until we got back meant a lot then. As an adult, it means even more now. Everyone may have celebrated individually, but nobody celebrated together — the pep rallies, the get-togethers — until we got back.”
Though it’s been 24 years since the Eagles exploded on the scene, the importance of that initial run hasn’t abated. Since then, the Blue and Gold have reached the Final Four six more times and won three additional state titles. The consistency during that stretch — Cold Springs has tallied just three losing seasons while West has registered more than 700 wins in her career — has resulted in numerous accomplishments. And, to this day, the Eagles continue to churn out quality players and make noise year in and year out in Class 2A. To say that the 1998-99 team has played a substantial role in that success would be an understatement.
West: “I know for a fact that girls who played on our other state title teams remembered this team. They wanted to do what this team did. I think it helped make basketball better in Cullman County as well. When someone does something around you, you start to think you can do it, too. I think it set the tone and made everyone believe they could do it. And for me, it helped with coaching. Because now you know what needs to be done and how you have to do it.”
Welborn: “The little girls were there watching when we did that. They bought into the program then — and it’s been that way ever since. Cold Springs is one of the main 2A programs in Alabama, and they’re always going to be there. That’s because of the young kids and community. And Tammy gets a lot out of a little sometimes. She works them hard and works hard herself at learning new stuff and talking to other coaches and implementing different things.”
Harbison: “I just think we were a special group of girls. We did kind of help set the tone for what the program is now, but Mrs. West gets most of the credit for that. It’s her work ethic and what she requires her players’ work ethic to be. She set those expectations, and with our family support, we met those expectations. We put in the work, and we were also close friends on and off the court. When you have that kind of chemistry, I think that’s what can happen — you can win games and win championships.”
Mosley: “I do think we paved the way for the younger kids just by them seeing us do it. During my first three years teaching, I coached some of those girls who went on to win another state title. They talked about watching us and wanting to do that. That’s something neat. As for Mrs. West, she proved herself then and has proven herself since. She is just fantastic.”
Light: “Winning state was the greatest moment for our team. Since then, though, it’s been awesome to see what Mrs. West has been able to do with the program. She really is the greatest of all time. She can transform teams and do amazing things with her players. She’s had a lot of great talent, but she really is the backbone of that program — and it was pretty awesome playing for her and John back then. You had to put in the work to play for Mrs. West, but she has always had that ability to get players to be the best they can be. She’s awesome.”
Kasey Willbanks: “We set the stage for the type of team you need to be successful. We didn’t just have one amazing player. Any of us could have been amazing on any given night. If one of us was down, another took up the slack. You’ve got to have players at every position do their job and do what’s best for the team. Playing for Mrs. West wasn’t all roses and unicorns (laughs); she was tough. She was hard on us. But that’s why we were so successful. Going through that and needing to be dedicated … it set us up for the future and showed us we needed to work hard to accomplish the things we wanted to accomplish.”
Mandy Willbanks: “You don’t want to toot your own horn, but we were kind of pioneers. The work we did as a team and program laid the groundwork for what Mrs. West wanted to do and where she wanted to go. We went through the ups and downs with her, and we worked with the youth in the program. A lot of those girls are the ones who came up and won state titles later on. I think it played a huge part in the community and in building the younger generation’s love for basketball. That whole program, I know, helped me develop a love for the game I don’t think will ever die.”
Graves: “I love to tell people that I played basketball at Cold Springs. The question that follows sometimes is, ‘Did you play for Tammy?’ and I love to say, ‘Yes, I did.’ I’m proud and very thankful that I got to play for her and Cold Springs. The legacy she has built speaks for itself.”
West: “They were the first (championship) team, and that’s always going to be special. Because it was the team that showed you what could be done. I still have some kind of relationship with every one of those kids on that team. I still talk to them. I’ve had their kids in class. Their kids have played for me. Man, I miss them. They were just a special group.”
