CENTRE — The late Roy Knapp, a football coach for 42 years, was one of 12 major contributors in Alabama who was selected to the 22nd class of the Alabama High School Sports Hall of Fame last week.

The 2012 class, which will be inducted at banquet at the Renaissance Hotel in Montgomery on March 19, 2012, includes coaches, an administrator, a contributor and Knapp in the “old-timer” category.

Selected along with Knapp were baseball coach Ken Whittle, football coach Jackie O'Neal, basketball coaches Louis Berry, Jimmy Golden, Ned Harbuck and Danny Petty; track coaches Angelo Harris and George “Snoozy” Jones; administrators Bill Marsh and Ronald Chambless; contributor Morris “Doc” Hodges.

Knapp graduated from Gaylesville High School in 1936 and Livingston State in 1950 with an interruption while serving in the Navy during World War II. He received a master's in administration from Mississippi State in 1956.

Knapp coached high school football from 1939-1981 at various schools in Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee. He served four years (1953-56) during that stretch at East Mississippi Junior College and won a state JUCO title in 1955. After college, Knapp spent 13 years as a player in the St. Louis Cardinals baseball organization.

Among his coaching stops were Scooba (MS), Midland City, Washington County, Choctaw County, Gaylesville, McMinnville (Tenn.), Ranburne, Randolph County, Macon Academy, Sand Rock, Spring Garden and Coosa Christian high schools. He also coached baseball and basketball at several of these schools. While his won-loss record in not complete, he won more than 200 games in his prep coaching career. Knapp died in 1992.

The 17-member Hall of Fame Committee made the selections from the more than 50 nominations on the Hall of Fame ballot. The Hall of Fame is located at the Alabama High School Athletic Association office in Montgomery.

To order tickets to the March 2012 banquet at $35 each, mail requests along with check or money order payable to AHSADCA, P. O. Box 242367, Montgomery, AL 36124. Additional information is available at 334-263-6994.