Former Bob Jones Swim Coach Mike Gunner To Be Inducted Into Huntsville-Madison County Athletic Hall Of Fame
MADISON- Former long-time swim coach at Bob Jones High Mike Gunner has been selected among the 2020 class of the Huntsville-Madison County Athletic Hall of Fame. Gunner and the remaining 12 honorees will be inducted on Monday, April 13, 2020 during the annual Induction Banquet in the North Hall of the Von Braun Center.
As head coach of the Bob Jones swim program he won nine boys and one girls state championships. In 2007, the Patriots won both the boys and girls state titles. Gunner retired from coaching after the 2017 swim season.
“I’m a little surprised at being chosen and humbled by the whole thing,” said Gunner. “I’m honored to be among so many great names in the local Hall of Fame. It’s a great feeling to know my career in coaching has been recognized. The selection really caught me off guard.”
Gunner’s coaching and teaching career has had stops at Decatur, Austin and Athens High Schools before arriving at Bob Jones in 2000. Upon his retiring as head coach of the swim program, he took the position as Coordinator of Operations for the Madison City Schools. He and his wife, Christian, have been married for 24 years and between them have three children.
For the past 12 years, Gunner, 64, has played keyboards for the area’s top show band The Flashbacks, who have been inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame. The band averages two shows per month throughout the South.
In 2016, Gunner was selected the National High School Boy’s Swimming Coach of the Year by the National Federation of State High School Coaches Association.
He was offered a college swim scholarship while attending Austin High School in Decatur, but chose instead to tinker in music, which led to his fun hobby in music.
Gunner now cherishes his memories of his years as a coach of young swimmers, many of which made their way through an education by taking to local pools under the guidance of Gunner.
“The Hall of Fame induction is a great way to cap off a coaching career,” added Gunner.
