John Louie Meadows was a native of Neel, Alabama in Morgan County. He graduated from Falkville High School in 1942 where he played football, baseball and basketball and was valedictorian of his class.

He would serve in the military during World War II and enrolled at Jacksonville State following the war. Meadows played football and made the Little All-American team as a wide receiver. He graduated from Jacksonville State in 1951. He was named to JSUs All-Time Team in 1983 and was inducted into the JSU Hall of Fame in 1985.

Coach Meadows began his career at Cullman High School in 1952 where he served as an assistant for three years.

In 1955 he accepted the head coach job at Hanceville High School and began one of the most distinguished coaching careers in high school football in the state. He produced at least one undefeated team at every school at which he served as head coach. He remained at Hanceville for two years with a record of 17-2-1 and an undefeated team in 1955.

In 1957 he moved over to Gordo for two years and a record of 16-1-2 with another undefeated team in 1957. Next up was a seven year run at Scottsboro where his teams were 55-9-5 with undefeated teams in 1960 and 1965. His 1965 team at Scottsboro won the Associated Press Class 3A State Championship. In addition to his five undefeated teams and five state playoff appearances, Coach Meadows had three teams that played in post-season bowl games, winning all three.

Coach Meadows would leave the state but not coaching in 1979 when he accepted the head football coaching position at the newly opened Lincoln County High School in Fayetteville, Tennessee. Within three years he had led the new school to a Tennessee State championship. In 11 years at Lincoln County, Coach Meadows produced a record of 87-29 with five state playoff appearances and several bowl games.

He compiled a record of 179-47-7 as a head coach in Alabama and an overall career coaching record of 266-76-7. He was named coach of the year in Alabama three times and in Tennessee twice.

Meadows was one of the first inductees in the Huntsville-Madison County Athletic Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the Alabama State Sports Hall of Fame in 1993, the Morgan County Sports Hall of Fame in 1994, and the Pickens County Sports Hall of Fame in 1995.