Nick Saban High suggested as name for forthcoming Alabama school
Nick Saban High School? Don't laugh, it almost happened.
As reported by the Montgomery Advertiser, a new Montgomery high school solicited potential names from the public, and one of the monikers that was nominated and actually discussed was Nick Saban High School. The school didn't go with Saban High -- the eventual choice was the much safer New Park High -- but the fact that Saban could even be nominated for such an honor in the midst of Auburn country (Montgomery is less than a 60-minute drive from the Auburn campus) is a remarkable feat.
"As big as an Alabama fan as I am, it would likely not be an appropriate choice," Montgomery Public Schools spokesman Tom Salter told the Advertiser. "Especially this close to the Plains."
While there were some 60 suggestions for names for the new school, the fact that Saban's was even discussed is notable, particularly since it put him alongside current president Barack Obama and his glorious predecessors Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy.
While there are plenty of political and geographic reasons to eliminate the likes of Saban, Obama and JFK (it's pretty hard to find someone who dislikes Lincoln), there were other subjects who could have made stronger cases to grace the side of a school, notably Judge Frank Johnson Jr., a Montgomery judge who issued rulings in many of the state's most important civil rights cases.
Instead, the school board chose New Park, likely to the chagrin of Roll Tide supporters everywhere.
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