Staff Report
(July 12, 2010)

Alabama All-Star Week will begin its final appearance in Huntsville on Monday.

Then it’s back to where it all started in 1997.

The City of Montgomery awaits the All-Star Sports Week’s return after it left in 2005. The event was moved to Huntsville due to renovations in the Montgomery Civic Center for what was supposed to be a three-year tour.

Instead, the event stayed in Huntsville for six years but the Alabama High School Athletic Association along with the Alabama High School Athletic Directors and Coaches Association announced one year ago that it was returning to the River Region in 2011.

“It was one of the most important events we staged in Montgomery and it was key that we got it back,” Ken Blankenship recently said. “Huntsville has done a tremendous job as a host but we felt like all along that Montgomery was a more central location and we are pleased that it is returning.”

Blankenship was instrumental in the development of the event and was the coordinator before leaving the AHSADCA for a post with the city of Montgomery. One of his first tasks was to make arrangements with the high school associations to move All-Star Week back to the Capital City.

The city of Huntsville tried desperately to keep the event. According to the Huntsville Times, the economic impact topped $1 million each year.

More than 300 athletes participate in one of six sports. Thousands of coaches also attend clinics and discussion boards. The event also features an expo for several hundred vendors to show their wares.

This year’s coach’s convention will be highlighted by University of Alabama head football coach Nick Saban, who is scheduled to speak on Thursday.

“It worked well in Huntsville,” said Steve Bailey, former Jeff Davis football coach and athletic director who is now the director of the AHSADCA. “The move is not a reflection of what the people of the city of Huntsville has done. They have been tremendous. But this move is about location. Our association considered every scenario and it continued to show that Montgomery would be better from a standpoint of travel.”

When the event returns to Montgomery next year, it will arrive to new and better facilities, particularly for the annual coaches convention. The Renaissance Montgomery Hotel & Spa at the Convention Center will be the new home for the coach’s convention and trade show. The annual football game will return to new turf at Cramton Bowl.

“There will be more improvements but we believe this will be better than when it left,” Blankenship said. “We’ve seen growth in several areas such as hotels and restaurants, particularly downtown. I know the event will be better than ever.”

This year’s All-Star Week begins with the annual soccer games on Monday and concludes at the end of the week with the football classic. Several student-athletes from the River Region are scheduled to participate.

Alabama All-Star Sports Week

Game sites/times in Huntsville

Monday: Soccer (John Hunt Park)         5/7 p.m. (girls/boys)

Tuesday: Baseball (Joe Davis Stadium)         4 p.m. (DH)

Wednesday: Softball (Metro Kiwanis Sportsplex)         6 p.m.

Thursday: Volleyball (Spragins Hall – UAH)         2 p.m.

Thursday: Basketball (Spragins Hall – UAH)         6/8 p.m. (girls/boys)

Friday: Football (Crews Stadium – Ala. A&M)         7 p.m.