The John Pruett Collection honors longtime Huntsville Times sports editor

Huntsville Independent Press is set to publish The John Pruett Collection: A Final Offering, Humbly Served today, gathering over four decades of writing from longtime Huntsville Times sports editor John Pruett.Pruett passed away on June 25, 2025. His son Tom Pruett and veteran sportswriter Mark McCarter, who also wrote for The Huntsville Times, compiled the book.The book will be officially launched at a public celebration today sponsored by the Huntsville-Madison County Athletic Hall of Fame. It will be held at 6 p.m. at Joe Davis Stadium, where Pruett used to cover the Huntsville Stars.Pruett, a native of Cullman, was hired at The Huntsville Times in 1966 and was promoted to sports editor in 1974. He is a member of the Alabama Sports Writers Hall of Fame, the Huntsville-Madison County Athletic Hall of Fame and was honored as Alabama’s Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association 17 times until his retirement in 2008.Read an excerpt from the book:Family ties bind SheltonsJune 28, 1994WIMBLEDON, England -- Seated on the front row section reserved for the players’ families, Regina Shelton of Huntsville silently fingered her prayer beads and peered serenely from behind dark scene sunglasses at the scene unfolding below.A few yards on the shaved grass of Wimbledon’s Court No. 3, her youngest son was locked in an arduous five-set struggle with a stubborn Swede, squarely in the heat of the day. The winner would advance to the final eight of what the British refer to as simply “The Championships.” The loser would bow out with the realization that he might never again in his life make it this far in the most famous tournament in tennis.Bryan Shelton, the fourth of Regina and Nathaniel Shelton’s four children, was already one of the biggest stories of the 1994 tournament. He shocked the No. 2 seed in the first round. He won his second match in five sets, and his third, too.. Monday, the seventh day of this year’s Wimbledon, Shelton was trying to keep the dream alive against Christian Bergstrom, whose tennis reputation was similar to Shelton’s: armed and dangerous, but sometimes erratic.After more than three hours, Shelton and Bergstrom were still playing, and Regina Shelton was still praying. “It’s nerve-wracking to sit here watching him play another of these five-set matches,” Mrs. Shelton said. “But it’s a lot easier than sitting at home by the telephone, like my husband. That’s a lot worse.” The Sheltons’ oldest son, Nat, was seated alongside his mother in a group that also included Bryan’s striking Australian girlfriend, Louise Rafter, whose brother Patrick is one of the promising young stars on the pro tennis tour, and Louise’s mother. Mrs. Shelton had interrupted a visit with Nat, an Army officer stationed in Germany, to see Bryan play at Wimbledon. When she leaves England later this week, Mrs. Shelton plans to return to Germany to complete her vacation time with Nat, his wife and their two children, 5-year-old Delia and Regina, 4.“I saw my other three granddaughters Christmas,” Mrs. Shelton said, referring to twin 8-year old girls Corean and Marquette and 2-year-old Bryana, the daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Mark Shelton. “Now I want some time with the other two.” Mark, an Army pilot in Korea, and the Sheltons’ daughter, Yutta, were waiting by the telephone, like their father to hear from their mother.“I’ve got the easiest part,” Mrs. Shelton said. “They’ve got the hard part.” This is Regina Shelton’s fifth trip to Wimbledon. She comes to the All-England Club at Bryan’s request. She also comes because she wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.“I hadn’t planned to be here this year since he had to play in the qualifying. But once he got in the tournament, I had to be here.”Although separated by thousands of miles this week, the Sheltons remain a close family, held together not only by family ties but by the bond of sport. Nat and Mark, both Johnson High School graduates, played tennis at Tuskegee University; Yutta and Bryan both attended Randolph School and went on to distinguish themselves in college, Yutta as an All-American on the track team at Alabama and Bryan as an All-America tennis player at Georgia Tech. At one time, the Sheltons were putting two boys through college and two other children through Randolph, no easy task for a military family. “Don’t how we did it,” Mrs. Shelton said.“All I can say is, love made a way for us.” Love also made a way five years ago when Yutta’s husband, former Alabama football player Joshua Henderson, died unexpectedly of a heart condition at the age of 29. “He was a wonderful young man,” Mrs. Shelton said. “He was another son. We loved him dearly. Nobody can understand these things. All we can do is accept what happens as Christians and go on from there.” Bolstered by their faith and by the help of friends from St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Huntsville, the Sheltons lived through that crisis, although Yutta moved to Atlanta, unable to return to Huntsville where she and her husband once lived. “Maybe one day,” Mrs. Shelton said. “But for now, Yutta is still remembering only the sad times.” On Court 3, Shelton and Bergstrom were still practically even halfway through the fifth set. Nat was cheering openly, waving a colorful hand-painted banner and frequently punctuating one of his brother’s winning shots with a resounding “Hoo-ah!” Mrs. Shelton watched mostly in silence. Occasionally she would whisper unheard words of advice.“Take a deep breath.” “Don’t get in a hurry.” “Take your time.” Once, when Shelton argues an umpire’s call, she muttered, “Let it go. let it go. That one’s over.” She was clearly encouraged by the cheers of the crowd, which was predominantly pro-Shelton.“Bryan is very popular with the players, and the fans have been wonderful to him this week,” she said. “That means a lot.” Telephone calls from old friends have also meant a lot, both last week and this week. One of them came from Vanderbilt tennis coach Bill Tym, who taught Shelton the fine points of the game.“Bill came into Bryan’s life at just the right time,” Mrs. Shelton said. “When Bryan came to Bill, he had a good backhand and he could volley, but he didn’t have a good forehand or a good serve. I remember Bill telling him, ‘We could to K-Mart and buy you a backhand.’ Bill was wonderful:” Down on the court, Shelton’s served two double faults and allowed Bergstrom to forge ahead at 9-8. His mother caught his eye and smiled her support. But it was plain that the match was slipping away. Bergstrom ended it with four quick points.Mrs. Shelton merely shrugged at the last point. Then she applauded Bergstrom, who celebrated his victory with a series of emphatic hand thumps. An hour later, Shelton’s mother was back in her seat to watch her son team up with David Rikl of the Czech Republic in a three-set doubles victory. She applauded at all the right places, but clearly her mind was still on the singles match.“It could have gone either way,” she said. “I think he let a couple of calls get to him in that last set. Bryan needs to work on that.” Regina Shelton’s long day at courtside on No. 3 ended as the sun was dipping low on the horizon. Bryan and Rikl had won their doubles in businesslike fashion, advancing to today’s quarterfinals.“I’ll stay on as long as he’s still in the tournament,” she said. “The doubles are important too.”POSTSCRIPT: Wimbledon in 1994 was one of the high marks in the career of Bryan Shelton, who retired in 1997. He returned to his alma mater, Georgia Tech, and served as head coach of the women’s team from 1999 to 2012. He was then hired as men’s coach at the University of Florida before retiring in 2023. He can now closely relate to Regina Shelton’s courtside angst: His son Ben Shelton is one of the rising stars in pro tennis.