This is a series of articles we call "People You Should Know". Each week throughout the season we will hopefully spotlight a few of the many individuals around the great state of Alabama who work tirelessly behind the scenes to made high school sports great in our state.

This week we get to know a friend of mine and a founding member of AHSFHS.org who was here from day one. Meet Lee Peacock.

We've known each other now for what, 20 years or close to it? Over all those years I am still amazed to learn something new about you and your adventures seems like all the time. I know you are the local historian for Conecuh County, a blogger, a radio personality, a reporter, a geocacher and who knows what else. Oh yea you have a passion for high school football.

1.       Give us a glimpse into a typical day for Lee Peacock.

A typical day for me begins at 3:30 a.m. Monday through Friday, I do a two-hour radio show on WPPG 101.1 FM in Evergreen. I then drive to Monroeville, where I work at The Monroe Journal newspaper and have my own financial advising business on the downtown square. At the paper, I cover local news and sports. I also cover sports for The Evergreen Courant newspaper in Conecuh County, and I also write a weekly historical column for The Wilcox Progressive Era newspaper in Camden. Most days, I head home around 5 p.m. for several hours of family time, supper and NetFlix before bed. In my "free time," I like to read, go to the YMCA and travel.

2.       I know you have a couple of kids who are teenagers now and you live I think in the Frisco City area right?

I was born and raised in Frisco City and have lived in Monroe County all of my life, except for college, my time in the military and a year running the newspaper in Waynesboro, Miss. My wife, Crystal, and I have two children, Harper, who is a college freshman, and James, who is a junior at Excel High School. (I went to Frisco City, and Excel was our archrival. Ironically, my wife works at the school in Excel and both of my kids went/go to school there.)

3.       We got to know each other around 2005/2006 while trying to research the history of the schools in your area. What schools in your area are you most familiar with and what was the process like doing that initial research?

My research has mostly focused on the teams in Monroe and Conecuh counties. I would say that I'm most familiar with Frisco City and Excel, but I've also done a lot of research on J.U. Blacksher, Monroe County High, Monroe Academy, J.F. Shields, Evergreen/Hillcrest High and Sparta Academy. Initially, I began the research for newspaper purposes, so that we could say with certainty how many times teams had played, won against each other, etc. I also began that research using pen and paper in the days before I even had an email address. Needless to say, much has changed since then.

Your listeners might be interested to know that I am currently working on a book about the Frisco City-Excel football rivalry called "The Battle of Escambia Creek: Monroe County's Greatest Football Rivalry." Frisco City closed in 2008, which ended the rivalry. The book is an effort to keep the memory of all those games alive. If that book is well received, I plan to do one on the Excel-Blacksher rivalry, which is the county's longest running rivalry. They've played every year since the end of WWII and played a number of years prior to the war.

4.       Some of those schools in that area are not considered powerhouses right now when we discuss high school football but at one time each have been at the forefront of statewide recognition. What team or teams do you remember the most in that area from the past?

The team that comes immediately to mind is the 1992 team at Frisco City. The Whippets went 12-1 that season and made it all the way to the third round of the playoffs for the first time in school history. In that game, Frisco lost by one point in double-overtime at Coffeeville, a team that FC had beaten earlier that season. I was a junior on that team at FC, and while I was a very average football player, it's a point of pride to have been a part of the best team that ever played at my high school.

The 1989 team at Excel has almost legendary status in our neck of the woods. They went to the 1A finals that season and lost at Courtland, when they were on their awesome run back in that time period

5.        What do you think about the 2024 version of the Hillcrest Evergreen football team? I hear they are going to be pretty good in 2024.

I think this year's team at Hillcrest has the potential to make a deep playoff run. Their head coach Justin Nared (pronounced like Nar-Red) started at Hillcrest as an eighth-grader, then went on to play at Tuskegee, where he led them to a victory over Alabama State during a nationally televised game on ESPN the same night ASU opened their new stadium in Montgomery. Hillcrest has a ton of seniors, returning starters on both sides of the ball and lots of depth. They play in a very tough region, the type of region where a pretty decent team will not make the playoffs this year.

6.       You are a member of the Alabama Sports Writers Association and past voter in the polls. Can you tell us a little about the ASWA polls?

I was an ASWA member for about 20 years and voted in the polls for most of that time. Growing up, I followed the polls closely and always kind of put the voters and sports writers on a pedestal. When I eventually got to vote in the poll, I was like "wow, this is great!" A couple of years ago, mainly because of time constraints, I got away from voting in the poll. It was probably time to let some of the "young bucks" handle all that. LOL, I did enjoy the process and following teams that were outside of my immediate area. 

7.       Where can the folks find your Blog because I always find that most interesting?

In addition to everything else, I've run a blog for going on 14 years. I try to update it every day. Check it out at:

 http://leepeacock2010.blogspot.com/

Thanks Lee. Keep us informed on the progress of your new book and when it will be available to the sports fans.  I look forward to getting an autographed copy soon.  Thank you for supporting high school sports not only in Monroe County but across the state.