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The Legend: Tate Football Field Dedicated As ‘Carl Madison Field’

Friday night, the football field at Tate High School was dedicated in honor of high school sports legend Carl Madison.

The field inside Pete Gindl Stadium is “Carl Madison Field” in honor of the man that led the Aggies to a 1980 state championship and is one of the all-time winningest high school coaches in the nation.

“The best advice you can give people is play clean and hard, and be ready to back the next day,” Madison said shortly before tossing the coin for the Aggies Friday night game against Escambia.

Madison was surrounded at the ceremony by former players from his nearly five decades coaching, including members of the Aggies 1980 state championship team.

For a photo gallery, click or tap here.

Madison, who turns 92 in January, sits at number two on Florida’s all-time football coaching victories list with a 326-129-7 record and is a member of the Florida High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame.

In addition to winning a state title at Tate, he took the Pine Forest Eagles to two state championships in 1987 and 1988. The 1988 Eagle team was named as national champions by USA Today, and Madison earned the title of the National High School Football Coach of the Year. All in all, he coached at five different Florida High Schools including Ernest Ward, plus three out of state schools.

His football days began early at Escambia County High School in Atmore where he played tailback under Coach Herbert Barnes from 1945 to 1947, making him one of Atmore’s semi-famous “Barnes Boys” with 30 straight wins. After a stint in the Army, from 1950 to 1952, Madison played college ball for Texas Tech and Troy State Teachers College in the mid-1950s.

Fresh out of college, Madison coached for four years beginning in 1957 at Ernest Ward High School in Walnut Hill. He moved to Milton High in 1961, coaching them to a state championship and 34 straight victories. He then took a coaching job at a Georgia High School, losing a state championship game in 1968.

Madison joined the coaching staff at Tate in 1971 on his way to winning that 1980 state championship. He left Tate in 1983, heading to Pensacola High for a couple of years. Then it was off to Pine Forest and those back-to-back state championships. He coached at an Albany, Georgia, school, another 10 years at Milton High and another short period at PHS during the period from 1989 until 2002.

In 2002, he took the head coach job at the small Jackson Academy in Alabama. The then 71-year old took over a team that had gone 0-10 prior to his arrival. He lost his first two games at Jackson, but he went on to win the state championship. The following year, Jackson was undefeated and won another state championship.

In 2009, Madison briefly came out of retirement to once again take to the field at Tate, this time as an offensive consultant.

For a photo gallery, click or tap here.

NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.