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Fort Dale Academy recognized another group of graduates to the FDA Athletic Hall of Fame during last week’s Homecoming festivities against Sparta. A total of five FDA alumnus were inducted into the Hall of Fame. FDA Headmaster David Brantley said each year the class is chosen by four-person panel.

“Coach James Sampley along with myself and two other people choose the class each year,” he said. “The people chosen have to be graduated for at least five years from FDA. We’re very proud of this year’s group. All the people chosen represented FDA well when they were here, and have achieved so much since they’ve been gone. They’ve just made us very proud.”

This year’s inductees include, Chance Williams, Abbey Martin Paige, Cam Norman, Stephen Sorrells and Anne Matthews. Information on each one can be found in below.

 

Chance Williams

Williams graduated from Fort Dale Academy in 2011. While at Fort Dale, he played football, baseball, soccer, and track. He was a member of the 2010 AISA state football championship team and played in the 2010 East/West All-Star football game. He was named FDA Football team captain his senior year and was the 2010 Most Valuable Offensive Lineman. He was also named to the 2010 Alabama Sports Writers Association All-State Team.  In soccer his senior year, he was named the most valuable defensive player.

Williams attended, and graduated from Huntingdon College in May of 2016 with a degree in Biology. While at Huntingdon, he was a member of their football team. He played on the 2011-12 travel squad, and in 2013-14, he started at left tackle. In 2014 Chance played on the North South Division III All Star Game.

After college, Williams taught, and coached at Eufaula High School for three years.  Chance is currently the offensive coordinator at Slocomb High School. He and his wife, Ashton, live in Geneva.

 

Abigail (Abbey) Martin Paige

Paige graduated from Fort Dale Academy in 2011. While at FDA, she was a member of the basketball, softball, dance and track teams.  She was named Most Valuable Basketball Player for three years. She was also an AISA All-Star her senior year and was named to the Alabama Sports Writers Association All-State Team.  Peige was a member of the varsity softball team for four years and was named the Most Valuable Offensive Player twice.   She was also captain of the dance team and a Diamond Doll for the varsity baseball team.  Off the field, Paige was a member of Mu Alpha Theta, the SGA Vice President, the Drama Club Vice President and the treasurer of the Key Club and FACTS Club.

Paige graduated from LaGrange College in 2014 with a degree in Exercise Science.  She played on the LaGrange women’s basketball team all four years of college. She served as a Servant Fellow and was a member of the Service Council and the Student Athlete Advisory Committee.

In 2018, Paige graduated from the University of St. Augustine with a Masters of Occupational Therapy and is now a registered/licensed occupational therapist. She and her husband, Brent, live in Spartanburg, NC where she is employed with the Mary Black Health System as an Occupational Therapist.

 

Cam Norman

Norman graduated from Fort Dale Academy in 2012. While at FDA, he was a member of the basketball and golf teams. Norman was the FDA basketball team’s Co-MVP in 2012 and holds the record for the most three-point baskets in a single game – eight – against Pike Liberal Arts. Norman was also the 2012 AISA Golf Champion.

He graduated from Troy University in 2017 with a Major in Criminal Justice and a Minor in Business. During college, Norman was the 2013, 2014 and 2015 Greenville Country Club Invitational champion, and the 2016 Troy Country Club Invitational Champion with a record breaking  score for the tournament.  Cam had eight top 5 finishes in three semesters of junior college play; was named to the Junior College All-District Team and the Troy University All-District Team. He finished the 2017 NCAA Regional Tournament in 6th place and finished in the top 25 at the 2017 NCAA National Championship Tournament.

After college, Norman began his professional golf career.  He is a  two-time winner of the Emerald Coast Professional Golf Tour and set a scoring record for the tournament, and in 2017 was the runner up for the Emerald Coast Professional Golf Tour.

Norman currently lives at home in Greenville while competing on the professional circuit.

 

Stephen Sorrells

Sorrells graduated from Fort Dale Academy in 2001. He played football, basketball and baseball.  In 2001, Sorrells was a member of the AISA 3A state runner up team.  While playing basketball at FDA, he was on the AISA 1999 3-A state runner up team and the 2000 ASIA Final Four team.   As a member of the baseball team, his batting average was over .300, he had a .800 winning percentage on the mound and had 12 career home runs.

Sorrells has had 17 years coaching experience with 11 of those years coming at the college and professional level. His college coaching has included UAB, SMU, Occidental College and Kenyon College.   While serving as the offensive coordinator/offensive line coach at Kenyon College, he helped lead them to back to back winning seasons for the first time in school history.  In 2014, Sorrell was assistant coach at UAB when they became bowl eligible for the first time in 10 years and for only the second time in school history. In 2017, he began his professional football career with the Saskatchewan Roughriders, a Canadian Professional football team.  In his first year, the Roughriders reached the eastern finals.

Sorrells lives in Saskatchewan where he continues to coach with the Roughriders.

 

 

 

 

Anne Matthews

Anne graduated from Fort Dale in 2013. While at Fort Dale, she played on the basketball, tennis and track teams. She was selected to the Alabama Sports Writers Association’s  All-State Basketball Team as Honorable Mention, AISA Basketball All-Star and Fort Dale Academy’s Most Valuable Player for three years. Matthews was on the FDA tennis team for six years.  She was an AISA State Champion in her seed.  While on the track team her senior year , she was state runner up in the discus event.   Anne was  cheerleader captain,  an  AISA All-Star Cheerleader  and a UCA All-American cheerleader.

Matthews graduated from the University of Alabama in 2017 with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management with a Specialization in Human Resources Strategy.  Among her academic accomplishments  at the University of Alabama are, University of Alabama National Alumni Association’s Most Outstanding Female Student and Order of Omega Most Outstanding Junior Award.  She was a member of many academic honor societies including Cardinal Key, Omicron Delta Kappa, Blue Key, Golden Key,  Mortar Board and the Anderson Society. Her leadership activities included Capstone Men and Women, Blackburn Institute and The Elliott Society.

Matthews now lives in Nashville, Tenn., where she is employed at Vanderbilt University Career Center as an Employer Relations Specialist while working toward her Master’s Degree in Leadership and Organizational Performance.