Former Erwin Eagles football coach James E. “Jim” Jefrey of Hoover, Alabama, died Friday, Feb. 25, 2011. He was 74.
A native of Chattanooga, Tennessee, he attended City High School. He was highly recruited for football and chose Auburn University, where he was a member of the 1957 Auburn National Championship Football team and played in the Blue-Grey game and Senior Bowl.
Although drafted for professional football, he decided to be a coach/teacher. His undergraduate degree at Auburn in Education/Social Studies led to a Master’s Degree in Administration/Traffic Safety at the University of Montevallo. He was a coach at Tuskegee High School, T. R. Miller High School, E. B. Erwin High School, and Vestavia Hills High School.
He retired after 37 years in education in 2005. He was also was an instructor for the Court Referral Program and was the Director of Headquarters for 30 years at Alabama Boys State a member of St. Peter’s Catholic Church.
He was married to Inez Occhipinti Jeffrey for 49 years. He had four children (Millie Jeffrey Whitacre (Ron - husband), Jimmy Jeffrey (Celeste - wife), Jenni Jeffrey Dismukes (Jared - husband), and Jacki Jeffrey Lindsay (Brad - husband) and five grandchildren (Alex Whitacre, Holden Jeffrey, Brennan Jeffrey, Anne Claire Dismukes, and Ally Dismukes).
In leiu of flowers, donations can be made to Camp Bluebird (St. Vincent’s) and Alabama Boys State (c/o the American Legion). Funeral Mass was held Tuesday at 1 p.m. at St. Peter’s (2061 Patton Chapel Road, Hoover, Alabama).
#1 by Scott Moor on March 19th, 2011 - 6:40 pm
Sure hated to hear about Coach Jeffery. He was one heck of a Coach while at Erwin. I can remember a lot of good things he did on the practice field as well as off the field. One of the most rememberable moments for me was when he caught Don Bryan and myself as well as several others at football camp in Navoo Alabama stealing watermelons. I litteraly thought he was going to run us to death. Rest in Peace Coach!