Two legends were inducted into the Tallassee High School Alumni Association Hall of Pride Sunday.

Coach Duane Webster of the Class of 1949 and Dr. Datherine James-Peters of the Class of 1990 now among the ranks of other legends in the Hall Pride.

The program started when then Tallassee High School principal Matt Coker called Suzannah Solomon Wilson.

“I don't know about you, but if the principal says, ‘Come to the office,’ you have to go,” Wilson said. “So I went and I thought, ‘Oh, gosh, what have I done?’”

Coker wanted to start an alumni group and the Hall of Pride. It took a few years to get things going and in 2015 the Tallassee High School Alumni Association inducted its first members into the Hall of Pride.

Wilson spoke of the inductees at Sunday’s ceremony.

Coach Dencil Duane Webster

Webster was a member of the Tallassee High School Class of 1949, but attended Reeltown High School from 1943 to 1948. He was orphaned when he was 12 years old, but arrangements were made for him to stay with family in the community.

Webster worked at Mt. Vernon Mills while attending Tallassee to save money for college. The school worked with him on his schedule. He also played football for legendary Tallassee coach  J.E. Hot O’Brien. Not long after graduation he joined the Air Force and was honorably discharged in 1952, he returned home and used the GI Bill to attend Auburn University. He started teaching and coaching basketball at Union in Tallapoosa County after graduation in 1956. Webster turned the team around and was soon brought to Reeltown to coach basketball and football. 

Webster turned the Reeltown team around. He returned to Tallassee before returning to Reeltown where he retired in 1987.

Jan Ledbetter was hired at the school as a home economics teacher and recalled how Webster taught her lessons about teaching, not only the subject matter but life.

“I witnessed how discipline, hard, work and integrity resulted in success,” Ledbetter said. “Coach Webster was always supportive of teachers, as he was one of our administrators. I can think of no one person that is a better example of fairness, success, leadership, courage, discipline and a great overall community leader and family man.”

Chad Abrams was a student of Webster’s at Reeltown High School.

“He is the greatest example of what an educator, coach, family man, military service man and human being should be,” Abrams said. “He was a mentor and a great friend that I miss very much.”

Abrams told the story of how Webster came to help his son-in-law Brad Christian after he was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease. Brad and Webster’s daughter Bonita had two children. Brad’s condition meant he could no longer help get the children to school, ball practice and doctor appointments.

“Coach went above and beyond to take care of his family with every need they had,” Abrams said. “Coach filled in places where Brad could not go due to his condition, not replacing Brad, but merely supporting in his absence.”

Dr. Catherine James-Peters 

Peters is a member of the Tallassee High School Class of 1990. She was the first Black Tallassee graduate to become a medical doctor.

Keith Tuck was an athlete at Tallassee High School when James-Peters was a cheerleader on the football field and basketball court. James-Peters was a teammate on the track team where her work at studying was seen by Tuck.

“She was always on the bus studying,” Tuck said. “You rarely see that.”

The studying paid off and got James-Peters an academic scholarship to UAB. She was then awarded a scholarship to attend medical school at UAB. After residency in Tennessee, James-Peters, son Keytrio and husband Junius moved to Dothan where she opened her own clinic, Total Family Care. 

James-Peters grew the practice and took on more responsibilities in the medical community. 

In 2010 she took on the role as a medical director of a practice in rural Georgia. She not only took care of her patients but had to manage the financial operations of the practice. At the same time she pursued an MBA from Auburn University so that she would be better able to understand the complexities of running a medical organization. 

James-Peters was very passionate and concerned not only about patient health and wellness, but health and wellness among physicians as well. She formed a committee within the American Academy of Family Physicians for physician advocacy.

James-Peters died in 2023. 

Tuck ran across James-Peters in his career in pharmaceuticals. Their friendship continued and the families spent family vacations together. 

“It didn't just start or end in high school,” Tuck said. “It lasted a long time and up until her death.” 

Her husband Junius Peters is from Louisiana and a LSU fan.

“I had to endure her laughing at me as Alabama continued to beat LSU through the years,” Peters said.

He said the diploma for her MBA from Auburn had a special place.

“That diploma stayed under the bed,” Peters said. “She was appreciative of the education, but she was just an Alabama Crimson Tide girl.”

Peters said he misspoke when the couple first met.

“She told me she was from Tallassee,” Peters said. “And of course, I immediately said, Oh, Tallahassee.”

The THS grad quickly corrected Peters, who now can say “Tallassee” with ease and has learned much about the area through his wife.

“I'm so happy that I got an opportunity to visit Tallahassee early in our marriage,” Peters said. “You have a beautiful city, a beautiful high school. I just want to say thank you so, so much for this great honor on behalf of Katherine.”