John Kitchens - 2001 

John Kitchens began his lifetime involvement with basketball as a player at Trinity High School in Morgan County, Alabama.  He received a basketball scholarship to Florence State University, where he earned his bachelor?s degree in Physical Education in 1959.  He received his master?s degree in School Administration from the University of Alabama in 1964. 

His forty-one year basketball coaching career began in 1959 with one year in Guntersville at Carlesle park Junior high school, Followed by two years at Eva High School.  Coach Kitchens then had six outstanding years at DAR in Grant, with his 1965 team winning the state championship. 

John?s thirty-two years as a college coach started in 1968 at Northwest State Junior College in Phil Campbell.  In 1970 he moved to Boaz to become the basketball coach and HPER instructor at Snead State Junior College. 

He coached the men?s basketball team at Snead for eighteen years.  During his first twelve years at Snead, John also coached the baseball team.  His final two seasons as the men?s basketball coach (1986-87) and 187-88) were also his first two as the women?s   basketball coach. 

His women?s basketball teams were extraordinarily successful, as his teams won Alabama/Region XXII championships in 1987, 1990, and 1992.  These teams represented Alabama very well in national tournament competition.  He coached the Snead State women for fourteen years, always having his team prepared and one of the top contenders in our conference.  Two of his final three years at Snead featured teams with twenty wins.  A Snead State win in December 1998 gave him the 600^th win of his basketball coaching career.  Coach Kitchens retired following the 1999-2000 season. 

Since John began his career as a junior college coach in 1968, he has proven himself to be a dedicated coach respected by his peers. Always intensely competitive as a coach, he was at the same time a man of integrity and fairness. 

The development of student-athletes as responsible young men and women was a prime concern for Coach Kitchens throughout his career.  Literally dozens of his former players have followed in his footsteps to become basketball coaches in Alabama high schools. 

John and his wife Sue are the proud parents of three grown children and now have six grandchildren.  Sons Brad and Lance have both become teachers and basketball coaches in Marshall County, Alabama.  Their daughter, Nan, has been an elementary school teacher in Tuscumbia.