Melvin Vines was a four sport letterman and All-State basketball and football player at the former Alliance High School in Bessemer.

After high school he earned a scholarship in 1925 to play football for Wallace Wade at the University of Alabama. As a freshman, Vines, who was nicknamed Snake by his teammates, traveled with the team to the 1926 Rose Bowl after Alabama won nine straight and allowed only seven points all year.

Alabama became the first Southern team to play in the Rose Bowl and defeated heavily favored Washington 20-19 and eventually earned their first National Championship. Vines was a starter on the 1926 Alabama team when they returned to the Rose Bowl, tying Stanford 7-7 and earning another national title.

During the offseason, Vines was involved in a bizarre incident that cost him the use of his right arm. He foiled a kidnapping attempt in Tuscaloosa by chasing a car full of men who had attempted to kidnap a woman off the street.

He jumped on the running board and fought with the driver until he was able to stop the car. One of the kidnappers, wielding a knife, severely cut his right arm during the fight. Due to the injury, he missed the entire 1927 season, but managed to come back in 1928 and finished his Alabama career in 1929.

Coach Vines began his coaching career at Athens High School, leading the Golden Eagles for the next twelve seasons. Records are incomplete at this time for Athens, but he was noted as being a winner during his time at the school.

From 1948 to 1962, Coach Vines compiled a 78-44-9 record, including several Jefferson County championships and an undefeated season in 1958.

Vines became the head coach and athletic director at the University of Tampa in 1942. The college cancelled football in 1943 because of World War II and since he was unable to serve in the war because of his arm, he took a job at a junior college in Mississippi.

In 1948 Vines took over as the head football coach at Hueytown. Over the next fourteen seasons, he compiled a 77-48-11 record, including several Jefferson County championships and a perfect 10-0 season in 1958.

Melvin Vines won more football games at Hueytown High School than any coach in the history of the school.

Hueytown remembered its former coach by renaming the stadium H.F. Gilmore-Melvin Vines Stadium in 2003. Coach Vines died at the age of 80 in 1984.