By By Tim Cottrell
Several coaches in various sports are famous for their hordes of championships. Phil Jackson and Red Auerbach each won nine NBA titles. Vince Lombardi won 5 NFL titles with the Green Bay Packers. Paul "Bear" Bryant won six national titles at the University of Alabama and one more at Texas A&M.
You can add to that list Mike Alverson of Robertsdale.
Alverson recently won his sixth city title as a T-Ball, Minor League, and Major League coach between Atmore, Panama City, Fla., and Robertsdale while coaching his grandson on the Diamond Oil Cubs in Robertsdale T-Ball, 23 years after coaching his son to the city title in T-Ball in Atmore.
"I moved to Robertsdale about three years ago," Alverson said. "I lived in Atmore for many years and worked with Diamond Oil for about 10 years. I went through a divorce, remarried, and moved over here. Coaching my grandson is the reason I started coaching there now."
Alverson said there were strange parallels in his first championship and this most recent one.
"We had nine wins in 1982 and nine wins this year," he said. "Bot times it was good enough for a championship."
Alverson then chronicled his odyssey of youth baseball coaching.
"I coached in Atmore for five years," he said. "I coached in Bratt for a couple of years and then moved to Panama City and won a championship there. I coached Minor League and Major League in Atmore and won minor league once and major league twice. I coached the All-Stars in Panama City, too."
Most of all, Alverson wanted to thank Diamond Oil for their generosity with his team.
"I was really surprised," he said. "When I took on that team I asked Roy White of Diamond Oil for some help and he agreed to sponsor. They sponsor some teams around Atmore (such as the Diamond Oil Pumpers of Cal Ripken T-Ball). I just wanted to thank Diamond Oil for their generosity and sponsoring out of their area and spreading the money around."