RevNet

Marion County in northwest Alabama was first settled in 1818 by settlers that mainly came from Kentucky and Tennessee after General Andrew Jackson had established his Military Road, which went from Nashville to New Orleans. The county was named by planter and US Indian agent John Dabney Terrell, Sr., in recognition of General Francis Marion of South Carolina, the American Revolutionary War hero who was also known as "The Swamp Fox". The first county seat was Pikeville, which is now a ghost town, although the house that served as the courthouse still stands today. Toll Gate, to Pikeville's northwest, became the new county seat in 1887. Toll Gate then changed its name to Hamilton in honor of state representative Captain A.J. Hamilton.

The logo design is a fox's head made up of orange lines. The primary kit, "The Swamp Fox Kit", is an all-orange kit with a white collar, white detailing, and a large white stripe that goes down the middle of the shirt. This is meant to evoke a fox's fur. The secondary kit, "The Hamilton Kit", is an all-maroon kit with white detailing throughout. The maroon color comes from the Hamilton High School Aggies athletic teams.

The sponsor of the kit is the 3M plant in nearby Guin.

The name on the back of the jersey is Clay Dyer, a professional fisherman who was born in Hamilton with only a partial limb on his right arm. He has finished first in approx. 20 state bass tournaments. In addition, he is an author and motivational speaker.

The modern-day site of Sylacauga (pronounced Sil-a-COG-ga) lies near what was the village of Chalakagay, which was founded in 1748 by refugee Shawnee Indians. The first recorded discovery of a marble deposit in the Sylacauga area was made in 1820 by Dr. Edward Gantt, a physician who had accompanied General Andrew Jackson on a trip throughout the area in 1814 and initially didn't realize the extent of the marble deposit. From there, this rock has been mined continuously for more than 170 years with several quarries being established in the 1830s, around the time of Sylacauga's establishment in 1834 and first incorporation in 1838 as Syllacoga. The city was incorporated once again in 1887 for today's spelling of Sylacauga.

Sylacauga marble, also known as Alabama marble, is prized for its pure white color and its crystalline structure. Along with numerous others, the most famous buildings that use Sylacauga marble are the Lincoln Memorial and the U.S. Supreme Court building, both in Washington, D.C. Thanks to Act 755, passed by the state legislature on September 12, 1969, Sylacauga marble is also Alabama's official state rock. For the reasons above, Sylacauga is nicknamed "The Marble City".

The logo design is a maroon-outlined black roundel design with the full team name and full city name in white arching texts within and in the center is an interpretation of the Monument to Lady-Whacking Meteorite marble statue, which memorializes the time in late November 1954 when an 8.5-pound rock crashed through the roof of then-34-year-old Ann Hodges' farmhouse, landed and bounced off of her radio console, and hit her on her arm and hip while she was napping on her couch, causing only a bruise in the process. A slice of the meteorite now sits at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., while the monument statue sits in front of Sylacauga City Hall and is the star of the city's annual Marble Fest. The black and maroon colors come from the Sylacauga High School Aggies athletic teams.

The primary kit, "The Murphy Marble Belt Kit", consists of a black shirt with a white collar and maroon and black hoops that alternate along a diagonal line across the front of the shirt. It is made complete with maroon shorts and black socks, both with white detailing. The secondary kit, "The Sylacauga Marble Kit", is an all-white kit with a black collar on the shirt and black detailing throughout.

The sponsor of the team, IMERYS, is a French company that specializes in the processing of industrial minerals. The company has a plant in Sylacauga.

The name on the back of the jerseys is actor Jim Nabors, who's most famous as Gomer Pyle on The Andy Griffith Show and on his own spin-off show, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. Nabors was born and raised in Sylacauga.

Originally settled in 1818 as Madison Station, the city of Madison first experienced a small-time boom in population in the 1850s as a stop on the Memphis & Charleston Railroad. Due to the Civil War, during which the town was a battle site, the population stalled at around 400-500 until the 1950s. However, with the establishment of the Redstone Arsenal Army post and the beginnings of the American space program (NASA) within such, Madison's population rose to 4,000 by 1980 and was developing as a suburb of Huntsville. In a 1986 vote, however, the citizens of Madison voted overwhelmingly to remain a city and not merge with Huntsville. By 2010, the population had risen to over 42,000, and as of today, Madison has the 9th-largest population in the state with a 2021 estimate of 58,357.

The logo design is a top-down view of a navy blue fighter jet with a red stripe and a light blue stripe that almost come together. The white, vertical "MCSC" text down the middle of the jet completes the design. The team colors come from the athletic colors of Madison's two rival high schools, the Patriots of the older Bob Jones High School (named for the longtime former U.S. Representative of the area) in the city's east and the Jets of the newer James Clemens High School (named for the founder of Madison) in the city's west. The fighter jet nickname/mascot is a blend of the two high school mascots.

The primary kit, "The Patriot Bob Kit", consists of a navy blue shirt with a red collar and a large red stripe down the middle, red shorts with white detailing, and navy blue socks with white detailing. The secondary kit, "The James the Jet Kit", consists of a light blue shirt with a navy blue collar and a large navy blue stripe down the middle, navy blue shorts with white detailing, and light blue socks with white detailing.

The sponsor of the team, Mazda Toyota Manufacturing USA, is a major auto manufacturing plant in the nearby town of Greenbrier.

The name on the back of the jerseys is Huntsville-born Reggie Ragland, the linebacker who attended Bob Jones High School, played for the Patriots, then played for Alabama, then has played for several NFL teams, including winning Super Bowl LIV for the Kansas City Chiefs in 2019. His second and current jersey number for the Cleveland Browns is #19.

When you're creating a league of 64 soccer teams all based in one US state, you might come across a designer's block with a team or two. This team was one such block of mine. I was struggling when trying to come up with a nickname/mascot for this team at first, but then I came across the Wiki entry for the county and noticed the cemetery listing and how many cemeteries were listed. I thought that if nothing else, I can make this team interesting now with that info. From there, I designed this team. The logo design you see is the second one I came up with for the team because the first one was of a black circle with a warm white ghost inside with the team name written on the inside of the ghost. It looked a bit too hand-drawn for my liking, so I changed it to the one you see now. Safe to say that this was an effort, even today. Even with all that struggle, in the end, I feel that this team looks good.

The logo design is of an upside-down gravestone with the county name listed on top of the outer light-gray gravestone. On the inner, dark gray gravestone is a white skull-and-crossbones design in which the crossbones are formed to look like the saltire on the Alabama flag, and the white "SC" text on the bottom completes the design.

The primary kit, "The Dark Gray Sky Kit", consists of a dark gray shirt with a light-gray saltire on the body and a light gray collar, light gray shorts with dark grey detailing, and dark gray socks with light gray detailing. The secondary kit, "The Phantom Gray Kit", is a total color reversal of the primary kit.

The sponsor of the team, Hyster-Yale Group, is one of the world's largest forklift truck manufacturers, and it is headquartered in Cleveland but has two facilities in nearby Sulligent.

The name on the back of the jerseys is Reuben Houston "Rube" Burrow, who was born in Lamar County and became one of the most infamous outlaws since Jesse James, becoming a train robber at first in 1886.

Helen Adams Keller was born on June 27, 1880, in West Tuscumbia, AL, and was rendered deaf and blind at 19 months old after a bout with an illness believed to have been meningitis by doctors at the time. Her family lived on the Ivy Green homestead, where on March 5, 1887, 20-year-old Anne Sullivan would begin a 50-year relationship with the 6-year-old Helen, teaching her how to read and write. From there, after her education in specialist and mainstream schools, Keller was the first deafblind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree at the now-defunct Radcliffe College of Harvard University. Keller's 1903 autobiography, The Story of My Life, would be the basis for William Gibson's play, The Miracle Worker, which has also been adapted into movies and television. Keller would also go on to write 13 other books and hundreds of essays on topics ranging from animals to Gandhi. She would also become a founding member of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) while also advocating for others with disabilities, along with women's suffrage, labor rights, and world peace. Keller would die peacefully at the age of 87 on June 1, 1968, in her Arcan Ridge home in Easton, CT. The Ivy Green homestead is now a National Historic Landmark and hosts performances of The Miracle Worker every summer. These performances become really popular during the Helen Keller Festival held in Tuscumbia every June.

The logo design is a roundel design with the full team name occupying the outer green roundel, and on the inner white roundel is a simple green ivy leaf that symbolizes the Ivy Green landmark. "The Advocates" nickname comes from Keller's advocacy work listed above. The primary kit, "The Ivy Green Kit", consists of a shirt with a two-green stripe pattern, a dark green collar, and white sleeves. The kit is made complete with dark green shorts with light green detailing, and light green socks with dark green detailing. The secondary kit, "Keller's Advocacy Kit", consists of a solid red shirt with a white collar, white shorts with red detailing, and red socks with white detailing. The red color has a double meaning in that it (1) comes from the local Deshler High School Tigers athletic teams and (2) in 1909, Keller became a member of the now-defunct political Socialist Party of America. This would be a hallmark of Keller's later years. Like other socialist parties then and now, red was the color of the party.

The sponsor of the team, Flexco, is a manufacturer of rubber and vinyl flooring headquartered in Tuscumbia.

After listing all she's done, it's kind of obvious who the name on the back of the jerseys is, and that is none other than Helen Keller.

The ALSL, besides being all about Alabama, is all about America, too. None more so than the Patriots of Homewood SC, the team which makes its home in the Birmingham suburb with a population of 26k that lies just south of downtown Birmingham on the other side of Red Mountain. Initially settled in the early 1800s, the area that would become Homewood did not experience significant growth until Birmingham suffered a major cholera epidemic in 1873. Soon after, the communities of Rosedale, Grove Park, Edgewood, and Oak Grove would start to develop, with Edgewood having the most significant growth with an electric railway and a man-made lake. In September 1926, as attorney Charles Rice started a movement to incorporate the communities surrounding Birmingham, the three communities of Rosedale, Edgewood, and Grove Park voted to incorporate under the Homewood name. The former town of Hollywood would be annexed into Homewood just three years later, while the Oak Grove community would eventually also be annexed into Homewood in 1955.

The logo design starts out with a navy blue tricorne hat like what would've been worn by the Americans in the Revolutionary War. "Wearing" the hat is a red letter "H" with the white letters "S" and "C" on the inside that completes the design. The colors and the nickname come from the Homewood High School Patriots athletic teams. The primary kit, "The Homewood Blue Kit", is an all-navy kit with a white sash on the shirt, meant to evoke the uniforms worn by Americans in the Revolutionary War. The secondary kit, "The Stripes Kit", is meant to evoke the stripes on the American flag with a white shirt with red detailing, red shorts with white detailing, and white socks with red detailing.

The sponsor of the team, Jack's, is a regional fast-food chain that primarily serves hamburgers. It is headquartered in Birmingham and was founded in 1960 as a single walk-up stand in Homewood.

The name on the back of the jersey is Charles Ghigna, aka Father Goose, a Queens-born poet and author of 5,000 poems and 100 books who now lives in Homewood. 

The city is named Demopolis, while the big mansion is named Gaineswood. Demopolis was founded around 1817 by French ex-pats and refugees who had settled and organized in Philadelphia after having been exiled from the French colony of Saint-Domingue (which today is the country of Haiti) after the colonial government there was overthrown by enslaved workers. By 1819, however, plans were already in the works for Americans to settle in the formerly French-occupied territory following a very short-lived attempt by the French ex-pats to build the Vine & Olive Colony. One of these early American settlers that came to Demopolis was George Strother Gaines, who would become the spokesman for the company for the town. In 1843, one of the later settlers, Gen. Nathan Bryan Whitfield, would buy the 480-acre plot of land from Gaines in order to start building the Gaineswood mansion over the next 18 years using the profits from forced labor and also using slave labor for much of the construction. The Gaineswood mansion serves as one of the most significant remaining examples of Greek Revival architecture in Alabama. It also uses all three styles of the Greek column: Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian. Today, the mansion is a historical house museum operated by the Alabama Historical Commission.

The logo design is a mock-up of the front of the mansion with blue stripes that represent the columns that are present at the mansion. The big blue letter "G" (for "Gaineswood") lies in the middle of the columns, and in the triangle on top is a small letter "D" (for "Demopolis"). The blue rectangle containing the team name along the bottom completes the logo design. The blue color comes from the Greek flag and the Demopolis High School Tigers athletic teams. The primary kit, "The Big House Kit", consists of a shirt with a blue-and-white striped body, blue sleeves, and a blue collar. The kit is made complete with white shorts with blue detailing, and blue socks with white detailing. The secondary kit, "The Columns Kit", is a color reversal of the primary kit.

The sponsor of the team, Ready Mix USA, is a concrete supplier headquartered in Birmingham with a plant in Demopolis.

The name on the back of the jerseys is Spencer Turnbull, who is a pitcher for the Detroit Tigers of MLB. Turnbull was born in Demopolis, and his only jersey number is #56.

To explain the sort-of homecoming bit, if this team were real, it would be in my home county of Etowah (pronounced Eh-toe-WAH or Eh-o-WAH) County. Also, I have been to Gadsden many times throughout my life, so I happen to know quite a bit about it. First off, Gadsden was founded in 1825 as Double Springs and later renamed in 1845 after Colonel James Gadsden of South Carolina, who would later be known for the negotiation of the Gadsden Purchase. The big thing that Gadsden had for a while was the Goodyear plant, which was technically in East Gadsden and was closed permanently just as the pandemic was kicking off in April 2020 after 91 years of being in operation. Litchfield High School in East Gadsden, one of the Gadsden area's former high schools, was named for Paul Weeks Litchfield, Goodyear's first CEO. In 2006, Litchfield High, along with Gadsden High School and Emma Sansom High School in Alabama City, which is just west of Gadsden, all merged to become Gadsden City High School. At 549 sq. mi., Etowah County is the smallest county in Alabama by land but is also one of the most densely populated counties in the state with a population of just over 103k, about a third of which lives in Gadsden proper.

The logo design is a red cardinal perched on top of the red letter "G". The cardinal bird and cardinal color both come from the Gadsden State Community College Cardinals athletic teams, which I mentioned as having been the last school to still use the Arizona Cardinals' logo as its main athletic logo. The primary kit, "The Cardinal Kit", is an all-red kit with a white collar on the shirt and white detailing throughout. The secondary kit, "The White Kit", is a color reversal kit of the primary kit which features just the red letter "G" from the logo along with red detailing throughout.

The sponsor of the team, Stamped Products, Inc. (SPI), is a leading production metal stamping and welding shop headquartered in Gadsden.

The name on the back of the jerseys is Mathew Knowles, a record executive, businessman, and university lecturer who was born in Gadsden. More importantly, he is the father of Beyoncé and Solange Knowles and once managed their music careers, along with being the manager of Destiny's Child.

Bit of a weird team, this one, but I like weird. Hopefully, you will, too. The city of Prattville sits just across the Alabama River from the state capital of Montgomery and serves as the county seat of Autauga County (the first Alabama county in alphabetical order). It was founded in 1839 by New Hampshire native and industrialist Daniel Pratt, who founded the town for his new cotton gin factory workers. Pratt's cotton gin factory would eventually become Alabama's first major industry and the largest producer of cotton gins in the world, leading Pratt to diversify his industries in the town and elsewhere in Alabama. With the fortune he amassed from his cotton gins, Pratt also invested in the Birmingham District's beginnings as a center for iron-making in the 1870s. Although no longer active, Pratt's factory still stands today near the 140-acre Daniel Pratt Historic District in downtown Prattville. Prattville is also nicknamed "The Fountain City" because of the many artesian wells in the area.

The logo design is a blue half-circle that contains a gray, three-level fountain in the center along with the white "Fountain City SC" along the bottom that completes the design. The primary kit, "The Fontainebleau Kit", is an all-blue kit with a white chevron on the front of the shirt and white detailing throughout. The secondary kit, "The Artesian Wells Kit", consists of a white-to-gray gradient shirt (meant to evoke the look of a concrete fountain) with a blue collar and blue detailing, gray shorts with blue detailing, and gray socks with blue detailing.

The sponsor of the team, Kinedyne, is a leading cargo securement and cargo control company headquartered in Prattville.

The name on the back of the jerseys is Wilson Pickett, who was born in Prattville and became a major figure in the development of soul music, with hits such as "In the Midnight Hour", "Don't Knock My Love", and "Mustang Sally".

The city of Florence is another city that is older than most in Alabama, having been founded in 1818 and then incorporated in 1826. It was named for the Italian city of Florence by Italian engineer Ferdinand Sannoner as a reward for surveying and planning the town.

The logo is a purple fleur-de-lis with the team name text in red across the center and a small white "SC" text at the bottom of the fleur-de-lis which completes the design. As you can tell above, Florence City SC is the farm team for ACF Fiorentina, adopting the Italian team's colors of purple, red, and white. The purple color, in particular, is also one of the colors of the local University of North Alabama Lions athletic program.

The primary kit, "La Viola Kit" ("The Purple Kit"), consists of a solid purple shirt with a white collar, white shorts with purple detailing, and purple socks with white detailing. The secondary kit, "Il Kit Giglio" ("The Lily Kit"), is a color reversal of the primary kit.

The sponsor of the kit, TNT Fireworks, is a fireworks manufacturer headquartered in Florence.

The name on the back of the jerseys is none other than the "Father of the Blues", W.C. Handy, who was born in Florence and would go on to become one of the most influential American songwriters.

Whereas Florence City SC is all about the Italian roots of Florence's founding, Florence United SC is about some of Florence's later history, the 20th century in particular. Currently, all of Florence's 10th-12th graders go to Florence High School and cheer on the Falcons athletic teams decked out in blue and silver. This wasn't always the case, however. Until 2004, students in Florence had the option of attending either Bradshaw High School, founded in 1966, or Coffee High School, founded in 1914. Bradshaw HS was named for local attorney Henry A. Bradshaw (who was the attorney for Florence City Schools as well as the Lauderdale County School System), while Coffee HS was originally built on land donated by Camilla M. Coffee. This team of Florence United SC unites the alumni of those two former schools and their children, starting with the unified mascot of the golden bruin.

The logo design is a shield with the gold "FLORENCE" text on top of the brown outer shield, and a four-quadrant (two gold and two orange) inner shield that contains the following symbols, going clockwise:

• a flying yellow jacket in the gold upper-left quadrant which represents the Coffee HS Yellow Jackets
• a bear's paw print in the orange upper-right quadrant, which represents the Bradshaw HS Bruins
• a brown fleur-de-lis with the year of Florence's incorporation (1826) in the gold lower-right quadrant
• a cotton blossom in the orange lower-left quadrant, which represents Alabama's former nickname as "The Cotton State"

The primary kit, "The Bradshaw Kit", consists of a brown shirt with two thick orange stripes along the front, orange shorts with brown detailing, and brown socks with orange detailing. The secondary kit, "The Coffee Kit", is a solid gold shirt with a brown collar, brown shorts with gold detailing, and gold socks with brown detailing.

The sponsor of the team, Billy Reid, is a fashion brand (and designer) headquartered in Florence.

The name on the back of the jerseys is Sam Phillips, the record producer who discovered Elvis Presley and played a major role in the development of rock and roll music. He was born in Florence and attended Coffee HS and even conducted the school band.

This team was a fun one to do. First, though, let's talk syrups. If you go into the average Alabamian's kitchen, you might find this glass jar of syrup in the cabinets, especially if that kitchen is in and around the city of Fayette. Starting in 1928, the husband-and-wife team of Victor and Lucy Patterson founded the Golden Eagle Syrup Company in Fayette to mass-produce the syrup they had originally made in a wooden-frame building behind their family home. They moved production to the 1st Avenue warehouse in downtown Fayette where the syrup is still made today, and the company is still family-owned as it was in 1928. The main dish that the syrup is really good in is pecan pie, but the company website also has a few other recipes for you to try with the syrup. In 2019, the company branched out and started to produce caramel corn.

The logo design is an orange shield with a gold letter "F" (for "Fayette") and a flying golden eagle in the background that completes the design. The shield design is borrowed from the city's seal. The orange color comes from the Fayette County High School Tigers athletic teams, while the gold color comes from the syrup itself. The primary kit, "The Golden Eagle Kit", consists of a solid orange shirt with a gold collar and gold detailing. The kit is made complete with gold shorts with orange detailing and orange socks with gold detailing. The secondary kit, "The Liquid Sugar Kit", consists of a white shirt with an orange collar and orange detailing. The kit is made complete with orange shorts with gold detailing and white socks with orange detailing.

The sponsor of the team is none other than the Golden Eagle Syrup Company, and the name on the back of the jerseys is none other than the founders of the company, Victor and Lucy Patterson.

The city of Enterprise in Coffee County has the only monument in the world dedicated to a pest. How this came to be is that by 1915, the boll weevil infestation that had started six years earlier had made its way into the area's cotton crops, resulting in the destruction of most of Coffee County's cotton. Facing economic ruin, farmers were forced to diversify, starting with growing peanuts. Just two short years later, Coffee County was the country's leading producer of peanuts. In appreciation, citizens of Enterprise erected the Boll Weevil Monument at the downtown intersection of Main Street and College Street and dedicated it on December 11, 1919, hailing the boll weevil as a "herald of prosperity", making the more than 13-foot tall monument the first and only monument in the world dedicated to a pest.

The simple logo design is of a blue boll weevil with the white "ESC" letters arranged vertically on the bug's body. The blue color comes from the Enterprise High School Wildcats athletic teams. The primary kit, "The Royal Blue Kit", is an all-blue kit with a white collar on the shirt and white detailing throughout. The secondary kit, "The Un-Boll-Weev-abil Kit", is a color reversal of the primary kit that features a sublimated blue graphic of the boll weevil along the front and back of the shirt.

The sponsor of the kit, EEC, is a company that builds and provides weather radar systems and satellite ground stations and it is headquartered in Enterprise.

The name on the back of the jerseys is Jimmy DuBose, the Florida Gator fullback and the 1975 SEC Player of the Year who was born in Enterprise. He would go on to have a three-year stint with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1976-1978). His only jersey number was #35.

Today's Phenix City started out as two towns that bordered each other. On April 12, 1865, some of the fighting of the last US Civil War battle, the Battle of Columbus, took place in what was known back then as the town of Girard. Meanwhile, in 1871, the town of Brownville, to Girard's north, had to change its name to Lively, because there was already a town with that name in Tuscaloosa County, although a few years later, it would change its name back to Brownville. However, the town's post office still maintained the Lively name. To further confuse things, the railroad depot in town was named Knight's Station. This confusion would end for good in 1897 when the town was incorporated as Phenix City. There are two theories on why this name was chosen: (1) it was either because it referred to the Phenix Mills in neighboring Columbus, GA or (2) it was a misspelling of the phoenix bird of fable. Eventually, the towns of Girard and Phenix City would merge in 1923 for the Phenix City of today. Due to its proximity and strong economic ties to the larger city of Columbus, Phenix City is one of the only cities in Alabama that observes the Eastern time zone on a de facto basis.

The logo design is of a red phoenix with gold streaks on its wings that has then been turned 90 degrees to form the letter "E" (for "Easternmost"). The red and black colors come from Phenix City's Central High School Red Devils athletic teams. The primary kit, "The Rising Phenix Kit", consists of a shirt that is half-gold and half-red with a gold collar and opposing colors on the sleeves. The kit is made complete with red shorts with gold detailing and gold socks with red detailing. Due to the nature of the kit, it has black numbering and lettering throughout. The secondary kit, "The Night Sky Kit", is an all-black kit with red detailing.

The sponsor of the team, Aflac, is an insurance company headquartered in nearby Columbus.

The name on the back of the jerseys is Columbus-born Eddie Lowe, who, as of this writing on March 25th, 2023, is the current mayor of Phenix City. He also was a linebacker for the Central Red Devils and the Alabama Crimson Tide. Then he played nine seasons for the CFL's Saskatchewan Roughriders (1983-1991). His jersey number was #42.

We have arrived in Tuscaloosa. T-Town. The City of Champions. If you know about the University of Alabama Crimson Tide athletic program, then you know about Tuscaloosa, which is the state's fifth-largest city with a population that is just over 100k. There is another nickname that, due to Crimson Tide athletics, often gets left out of the conversation when we talk about Tuscaloosa and that nickname is: "The Druid City". Druids? In T-Town? Well, not really. The reason that Tuscaloosa has the nickname "The Druid City" is due to the water oaks that have been growing in the area since the 1840s, a little bit after the University of Alabama's founding in 1833. It is said, though, that the word "druid" may derive from a Celtic word meaning “knower of the oak tree”. Also, the druids frequently worshipped and did their practice in oak groves.

The logo design is a roundel with the full name of the team occupying the outer crimson roundel. On the inner green roundel is a "DC" text done in the style of a Celtic rune which completes the design. The primary kit, "The Druid City Kit", consists of a shirt with a two-tone green hooped body, a white collar, and white sleeves. The kit is made complete with green shorts with white detailing, and white socks with green detailing. The secondary kit, "The Capstone Kit", is a solid crimson shirt with a white collar, white shorts with crimson detailing, and crimson socks with white detailing. "The Capstone" is a nickname you'll often hear when people, especially UA alumni, talk about the University of Alabama, and it is derived from UA's motto: "The Capstone of Higher Education".

The sponsor of the team, Mercedes-Benz U.S. International (MBUSI), is an automobile manufacturing plant in nearby Vance.

The name on the back of the jerseys is Robert J. Van de Graaff, the inventor of the Van de Graaff generator who was born in Tuscaloosa.

"RevNet, what is a doughboy?," I hear you ask. Well, the term "doughboy" was a popular term for American infantrymen, reaching its peak of use and popularity during the years of World War I. The term was first used during the Mexican-American War of 1846-1848, and a number of theories have popped up as to why this was the case. These theories range from the brass buttons on the soldiers' uniforms looking like dough cakes to the soldiers themselves being constantly covered in dust from marching the dry terrain of northern Mexico, giving them the appearance of the mud bricks known as "adobe" (which turned into "dobie", then further into the "doughboy" term). Whatever the case may be, by the time of WWI, the term was often used to describe those soldiers under the age of 25, mostly teenage soldiers as young as 17. After WWI and during the 1920s and 1930s, mass-produced statues of the Spirit of the American Doughboy started to pop up everywhere in America. One of these statues was the first public statue in Henry County, which the city of Headland is in.

The logo design is an orange doughnut shape that contains the green "Dough" and "Boys" arching texts and the orange "SC" text occupies the doughnut hole, completing the design. The primary kit, "The Doughboy's Kit", consists of a green shirt with a beige collar and a singular, beige hoop along the front. The kit is made complete with green shorts and socks with beige detailing. The secondary kit, "The Doughnut Kit", consists of an orange shirt with a white collar and a single white stripe that cuts through the center. The kit is made complete with white shorts with green detailing, and orange socks with white detailing. Another theory of the "doughboy" term is that female volunteers of the Salvation Army would travel to France to cook millions of doughnuts to then serve those on the front lines during WWI.

The sponsor of the team, Flowers Hospital, is a hospital in nearby Dothan.

The name on the back of the jerseys is Walter Thomas West, who is a former Major General of the US Air Force and was born in Headland.

If you look at a map of Alabama, you'll know of a few major cities. There's Huntsville in the north, Birmingham is a bit further down from that, the state capital of Montgomery is further down from Birmingham, and then you have Mobile to the southwest. Well, meet the big city in the southeast corner known as Dothan (pronounced DOE-thin). With a population of 71,000+, it is the eighth-largest city in the state. It is also a hub of the region in the southeastern U.S. known as the Wiregrass Region (the namesake of the ALSL conference), due to the Aristida stricta species of grass grown throughout the region. It is also a hub of the legume crop of peanuts. One out of every four peanuts is grown within 75 miles of Dothan. Each fall season since 1938, except for the WWII years (1942-1946) and 2020 (due to COVID-19), Dothan has held the country's largest peanut festival, the National Peanut Festival, to celebrate the peanut harvest.

The logo design is of a peanut half-shell with the white letters "D" and "C" on the inside. I thought that "The Peanut Gallery" nickname was just a stroke of genius for this team. The primary kit, "The Big Peanut Kit", consists of a white shirt with a light brown collar and two downward-facing chevrons (one thick light brown chevron and a thin dark brown chevron) on the front, white shorts with dark brown detailing, and light brown socks with white detailing. The secondary kit, "The Two Browns Kit", consists of a dark brown shirt with a white collar and a double-stripe pattern of the two other colors along the front, light brown shorts with white detailing, and dark brown socks with white detailing.

The sponsor of the team, AAA Cooper Transportation, is a freight carrier (trucking company) headquartered in Dothan.

The name on the back of the jerseys is Jamie "The Chief" Thomas, the skateboarding legend who won the first-ever X Games Gold in 1995 for having the best trick on the street course. Although born in Florida, he grew up in Dothan. He is now the owner and founder of Zero Skateboards.

Meet Depot SC, the ALSL's Army team. The name of the team is based on the Anniston Army Depot, which is located in Bynum, a former CDP that is now included in the population of the neighboring city of Oxford. Established in 1940 and covering 25 square miles, the Anniston Army Depot is a major US Army facility that primarily builds and repairs ground combat vehicles, infantry weapons, and tanks such as the M1 Abrams, hence the team's nickname of "The Tanks". From the 1960s until 2013, the Depot also handled the storage of 7% of the US chemical weapon stockpile at the Anniston Chemical Activity. The northern side of the Depot is the Pelham Range of the now-decommissioned Fort McClellan, which used to be one of the largest U.S. Army installations, training an estimated half-million troops. Since 2010, part of Fort McClellan's brownfield land has been used as a mixed-use community.

The logo design is that of a beige letter "D" and covering the right side of the "D" is a beige tank gun with the team name on it in green. The whole logo design can be meant to be seen from a top view as a tank itself, but this was not intentional. The primary kit, "The Army Camo Kit", consists of a shirt with a beige body, green collar, and camo-patterned sleeves. The kit is made complete with green shorts with beige detailing and beige socks with green detailing. The secondary kit, "The Battle Ready Kit", is a solid green shirt with a beige collar, beige shorts with green detailing, and green socks with beige detailing.

The sponsor of the team, New Flyer, is a Canadian bus manufacturer headquartered in Winnipeg but has a facility in nearby Anniston. This was Anniston Metro SC's sponsor at first, but I felt that this team was a more-appropriate team for New Flyer to sponsor.

The name on the back of the jerseys is Mark LeRoux, or if you were a WCW fan in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Lash LeRoux. He was born in nearby Anniston, grew up in Oxford, and was on the Oxford High School wrestling and football teams. After retiring from his wrestling career in 2006, he is now a cartoonist and caricature artist.

Decatur, Alabama is the county seat of Morgan County in North Alabama, and it lies on the southern shore of the Tennessee River, hence the Rivermen nickname. It is also an older city than most in Alabama, having been founded in 1820, initially as "Rhodes Ferry Landing". Because of its strategic position, the possession of Decatur changed hands several times throughout the Civil War. Early on in said Civil War, all but four of Decatur's buildings were destroyed by Union soldiers. The four buildings that remained were the Old State Bank, the Dancy-Polk House, the Todd House, and the Burleson-Hinds-McEntire House, all of which are still standing today, with the Old State Bank building being the oldest bank building in Alabama at 190 years old. Out of the ashes of the buildings destroyed rose New Decatur, situated to "Old" Decatur's immediate southeast, in 1887, with incorporation just two years later. It was a planned community billed as "The Chicago of the South" with streets named after the Generals of both Union and Confederate Armies so as to not show favoritism to one region or another. Resentment and animosity from citizens of "Old" Decatur eventually forced a name change from New Decatur to Albany (after the New York state capital of Albany) in Sept. 1916. However, Decatur and Albany merged in 1925 to form the Decatur you see today, although it is still apparent which parts of Decatur are "Old" (Eastern areas) and which are "New" (Western areas).

The logo design is just three wavy lines (two light blue, one aqua) with the teal text of "DCSC" in the middle of all of them. The wavy lines and the colors come from the fact that Decatur is on the Tennessee River and was also one of the first-ever cities in America to build a wave pool, which is still functioning today at Point Mallard Aquatic Park.

The primary kit, "The Wave Kit", consists of a teal kit with a light blue collar and wavy hoops that mirror the logo design. The kit is made complete with light blue shorts with teal detailing, and teal socks with light blue detailing. The secondary kit, "The River Kit", consists of a white-to-teal gradient shirt with teal detailing. The kit is made complete with teal shorts with light blue detailing, and white socks with teal detailing.

The sponsor of the team, Daikin, is a Japanese air-conditioning manufacturing company with a plant in Decatur known as Daikin Alabama.

The name on the back of the jerseys is Decatur-born Mae Jemison, who in 1992 became the first African-American woman to travel into space as a mission specialist for the Space Shuttle Endeavour. She is the namesake of one of Huntsville's six high schools.

A little programming note: Whenever a team is named "(city name) SC", that team represents the city and the county, because they have similar names.

Now, some history. Johann (John) Gottfried Cullmann was born on July 2, 1823, in the small town of Frankweiler in the present-day state of Rhineland-Palatinate in western Germany. Back then, the town was under the rule of the Kingdom of Bavaria. After obtaining a degree in engineering at age 13, he moved with his wife Josephine Low, the daughter of a wealthy banking family, to Neustadt an der Haard (known today as Neustadt an der Weinstraße) where he started an export business and also had three children (four, but one of his kids died at age two) with Mrs. Low. It is in Neustadt where he met up with many American businessmen that planted the seed of democracy in his head. After both of his investments to overthrow the monarchy failed (first in 1848 after the Revolutions of 1848-1849, and again after the Second Schleswig War of 1864), with no future to be had, he left his homeland, his wife, and his three kids to first settle in London, due to his dream destination of the United States being embroiled in the US Civil War. The next year, he made the journey to New York, and for the next seven years went all over the country looking at several of the already-established German communities before eventually founding his first settlement of St. Florian in present-day Lauderdale County in 1872. Facing bitter opposition as an immigrant, St. Florian was short-lived. However, through connections made with the then-Governor Robert Patton, he founded the town of Cullman along a railroad in 1873, advertising it to German-Americans from Cincinnati (where the now-Colonel Cullmann had been able to establish himself as a lawyer), who eventually organized Cullman County four years later in 1877. Today, Frankweiler and Cullman are each other's sister cities, and Cullman has an Oktoberfest celebration and a Christkindlmarkt event.

The logo design is a black shield (which is borrowed from St. Bernard Abbey in Cullman) with a gold saltire, resembling the state flag of Alabama. A white letter "C" in the Blackletter style and a 12-point gold sun (representing the cities and towns of Cullman County) complete the design. The black and gold colors come from the Cullman High School Bearcats athletic teams. Both kits are based on the kits that "Die Mannschaft", the German national soccer team, wore when they won the FIFA World Cup in 1990 and 1974, respectively. The primary kit is named "Das weiß-schwarze Home-Kit" ("The White-and-Black Home Kit"), and the secondary kit is named "Das blaugrüne Auswärtstrikot" ("The Teal Away Kit").

The sponsor of the team, REHAU, is a Swiss-headquartered polymer company that has an automotive plant in Cullman.

The name on the back of the jerseys is actor/producer Channing Tatum, who was born in Cullman and has had a storied acting career since making his acting debut in the 2005 drama Coach Carter.

confluence (noun)

1. a flowing together of two or more streams, rivers, or the like: the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers.

2. a coming together of people or things; concourse.

Whereas Conecuh County SC is a company team in the traditional sense, Confluence SC is a new kind of company team. Mainly because it's more than a company team, but I'll explain more as we get into it. First, in 2007, German industrial and steel conglomerate ThyssenKrupp broke ground on a $5-billion plant in the small town of Calvert, which has a population of only 255 and is located on the border of Mobile and Washington Counties. The ThyssenKrupp Steel and Stainless USA plant opened in December 2010, eventually providing 2,700 jobs to the local economy. Then in 2012, the stainless steel portion of the plant changed hands when Inoxum, ThyssenKrupp's stainless steel division, was sold off to the Finnish stainless steel company Outokumpu. Then in 2014, the other portion of the plant was bought by a 50/50 partnership between ArcelorMittal and Nippon Steel, the world's second-largest and fourth-largest steel producers, respectively. The plant was renamed to its current name of AM/NS Calvert, and today, it has the capacity to produce 5.3 million tons of flat-rolled carbon steel products annually. The plant is also recognized as being one of the most advanced steel finishing facilities in the world.

The reason that this team is named Confluence SC is that the plant is located near the confluence of the Alabama and Tombigbee Rivers, which explains part of the logo design. The three colors of the team all stem from the outer design of the AM/NS Calvert facilities. The logo design is a roundel in which the dark green letter "C" (which can stand for either "Confluence" or "Calvert") occupies 3/4 of the outer roundel, while the other 1/4 of the outer roundel is a lighter green and contains the dark green "SC" text. Inside the inner blue roundel is a dark green cross design that references the confluence of the two aforementioned rivers, which are represented by the wavy lines, while the lone straight line represents the manmade border of Mobile and Washington Counties. Completing the design are the following letters, going clockwise:

• "W" for Washington County in the upper-left quadrant
• "C" for Clarke County in the upper-right quadrant
• "B" for Baldwin County in the lower-right quadrant
• "M" for Mobile County in the lower-left quadrant

The primary kit, "The Synergetic Kit", is an all-over dark green kit with a light green collar and a stripe pattern of the two other colors that go all down the left side of the shirt. The kit is made complete with light green detailing. The secondary kit, "The Bay Blue Kit", is an all-over blue kit with a dark green collar and dark green cuffs on the shirt. The kit is made complete with dark green detailing.

The sponsor of the team is none other than ArcelorMittal.

The name on the back of the jerseys is Greg "Boomer" Wells, the first non-Japanese baseball player to win the Triple Crown in the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) league in 1984. Wells was born in nearby McIntosh, AL. Like Hank Aaron before him, Wells also wore #44.

First off, another pronunciation check. The county name of Conecuh is pronounced: "Cah-NECK-ah".

It's safe to say that this team is a company team. Conecuh County is best known for only one thing: Conecuh Sausage. The company that makes the meat product is of course called Conecuh Sausage Company. Initially founded in 1947 by WWII veteran Henry Sessions as a custom meat-processing facility and cold storage locker in a time when locals didn't have much refrigeration available, the company soon became known for Sessions's sausage links. In 1986, the company moved operations to its present location off Exit 96 on I-65, which produces around 35,000 to 40,000 pounds of sausage per week. Today, the company is run by Henry's son, John Crum Sessions, and grandson, John Henry Sessions, and produces sausage in six different varieties, including a no-MSG option, along with ham, turkey, bacon, and hot dogs. You can find Conecuh Sausage products as far west as Colorado and as far north as Wisconsin. It even has its own fan club on Facebook.

The logo is a long oval roundel (and resembles a pig's snout) with the full team name in white text occupying the outer red shape. Inside the outer red shape is a grazing pig which completes the design. The primary kit, "The Sausage Company Kit", consists of a red-and-white striped shirt with solid red sleeves, white shorts with red detailing, and red socks with white detailing. The secondary kit, "The EverGreens Kit", is a two-tone green version of the primary kit made complete with emerald shorts with white detailing and green socks with white detailing.

The sponsor of the team is none other than the Conecuh Sausage Company.

The name on the back of the jerseys is Wayne Frazier, the Evergreen-born football player who played in the center position for Auburn, then had a five-year NFL career playing for the San Diego Chargers, the Houston Oilers, the Buffalo Bills, and finally the Kansas City Chiefs.

The city of Jasper was settled and founded in 1815 when two railroads were being completed throughout the area. Around the time of its incorporation, in 1886, the population was only 200. By the beginning of the next decade, the population had shot up to 3,000. One of the things that contributed to the sharp rise was the six coal mines in Jasper. This boom period in the late 1800s also contributed to the Walker County seat being nicknamed "The Coal City". Today, Jasper has a population of around 14,500.

The logo design is a yellow roundel and resembles a railroad crossing sign, only that the things being crossed are a black pickaxe and a black shovel. A black helmet with the "JASPER" text in the headlamp lies in the center. A lump of coal sits at the top of the roundel, and the words of the team scattered throughout the sides and bottom of the logo complete the design. The black color comes from the coal, while the yellow color comes from the helmets that coalminers wear.

The primary kit, "Coalminer's Kit #1", consists of a yellow shirt with a black collar and black detailing, black shorts with yellow detailing, and black socks with yellow detailing. The secondary kit, "Coalminer's Kit #2", is a color reversal of the primary kit, with the exception of the big yellow hoop across the front of the shirt.

The sponsor of the team, HTNA North America, is an automotive fabric and textile company headquartered in Plymouth, MI, but has a plant in Jasper.

The name on the back of the jerseys is Ronnie Coleman, the Jasper-born football player who played college football at Alabama A&M and then had an 8-year career as a Houston Oiler in the NFL.