From the ground up

On an overcast December afternoon, David and Anita Dobbs met at the Hewitt-Trussville High School track and field office.

The Huskies had practice in an hour, but the Dobbses, both 60, had a story to share until then. It’s the story of how one of Alabama’s most respected high school programs grew from the ground up and, in their 28th year coaching at Hewitt-Trussville, the couple has been there through it all. 

“I wouldn’t trade it for anything,” David Dobbs said.  

The Dobbses met at UAB as freshmen in 1975 and were married within five years. Anita Dobbs began teaching soon after her college graduation, and she eventually landed a position instructing math at Hewitt-Trussville Middle School in the late 1980s. David Dobbs followed suit in 1990 as a physical education instructor and football coach at the middle school. Yet, the former high school cross-country runner had broader aspirations. 

“All I wanted to do was coach cross-country and track,” he said. 

At the time, Hewitt-Trussville did not field cross-country teams at the middle school or high school level. The high school track and field program consisted of fewer than 10 athletes and had limited equipment, namely a few old hurdles and a makeshift high jump pit. 

David Dobbs’ motivation to start the programs stemmed from his own high school coach, Mike Dutton, whose name adorns the gym at Pinson Valley High and who had a significant influence on his life.  

“I told Coach Dutton, ‘He can never repay you, but he can pay it forward,’” Anita Dobbs said, “and that’s what he does.” 

Launching the program didn’t come easy. Initially, David Dobbs was told by many that Hewitt-Trussville students had little desire to pursue running. 

“They told me, ‘You can do it, but there’s no interest in track here, there’s no interest in cross-country here, and you’re wasting your time,’” David Dobbs recalled. “I said, ‘Well, let me waste my time.’”

After fulfilling his football coaching duties in the fall, David Dobbs took over the high school track and field team in the spring of 1991. A middle and high school cross-country program, along with an AAU team for fifth- and sixth-graders, came the following fall. 

But he couldn’t do it without his wife. Due to his football obligations, David Dobbs wasn’t able to supervise daily cross-country practices. Anita Dobbs stepped up to the plate. 

With daughters Catie and Amanda in tow, Anita Dobbs drove the family’s pickup along the Huskies’ training routes to ensure runners remained on task. She inherited a similar role when track season rolled around. While her husband coached, she manned the stands and directed athletes to their events. 

A coaching tandem was born. Now, “we’re just a package,” Anita Dobbs said. 

David Dobbs said close to 90 athletes came out for the cross-country team in its second year, while more than 60 signed up for track. The growth didn’t stop. 

This winter, for instance, David Dobbs estimates that about 250 middle and high school students are participating in indoor track. A number of them are children of the Dobbs’ former athletes, kids they affectionately call “grandrunners.” 

David Dobbs admits that he was more consumed with winning when he coached their parents, back when he had something to prove about the sports’ potential in Trussville. He has since coached state champions, state record-holders and more than 90 college athletes. 

Now, he focuses more on sculpting character, developing well-rounded individuals and maintaining the program that he and his wife built. 

“He helps you become a better runner, but he also wants to see your character and work ethic grow,” said Rachel Higginbotham, a 2010 Hewitt-Trussville alumna who now teaches at the middle school and coaches alongside the Dobbses. “He’s not just a coach, you know?”

Anita Dobbs retired from the middle school after a 24-year career, and she relinquished track and field coaching duties in 2007, though she continues as the girls cross-country coach. This past fall, David Dobbs acknowledged she out-coached him at the sectional meet, when the girls secured a surprise, second-place finish.

David Dobbs retired about a year and a half ago from his teaching position at the high school, where he had instructed science since 1999. He now helps out in the athletic department and aids with in-school detention and credit recovery. 

He continues to coach cross-country, along with indoor and outdoor track. Occasionally, he is asked when he plans to step away from the program altogether. That reality is difficult for him to imagine. 

He insists that he still bleeds gray, white and red. His passion is easy to see. 

After more than 90 minutes of recounting the past, David Dobbs grew restless as the Huskies started practice.

“I’m dying not being out there,” he said.  

The Dobbses’ story isn’t over yet.