2026 Rocket City Awards include connection to Bob Jones High School
MADISON – The Huntsville Sports Commission and 97.7 ESPN The Zone radio presented its fourth annual Rocket City Awards at a special ceremony held at the MARS Music Hall inside the Von Braun Center in downtown Huntsville. High school, college and professional categories were included in the festivities along with a Billy Neighbors Lifetime Achievement Award, which was given to former Bob Jones All-State athlete Candice Storey Lee, who has most recently named Athletic Director of the Year among NCAA schools from her position at Vanderbilt University.
While she is celebrating her 30th anniversary as a Vanderbilt student-athlete and administrator in 2026, as Vice Chancellor for Athletics and University Affairs and Athletic Director, Storey Lee was recently honored as Sports Business Journal’s Athletic Director of the Year during the annual Sports Business Awards in New York. Amid unprecedented change in college athletics, Storey Lee oversaw a historic year of individual and collective competitive success and game-changing philanthropic and community support.
Storey Lee’s passion for other people, especially athletes, glows like a beacon and Vanderbilt University has been better off with that light of success in the athletic program’s watchtower where she continues to make a name for herself. From a young toddler needing two surgeries to correct an eye condition set forth at birth, Storey Lee, formerly of Madison, a Bob Jones graduate and Gatorade Basketball Player of the Year in Alabama, has always had the great foresight at how she wanted to succeed in life.
The Rocket City Awards also featured Bob Jones winning the E-Sports Team of the Year after capturing the fall AHSAA state championship in the Rocket League Division versus LAMP with a 4-1 victory in the best-of-seven finals. The Patriots’ team consisted of Max Dunkerley, Rylan Barden and Noah Serafin with Aubree White Bond as head coach.
The victory was the 16th individual state title for the Patriots since the first year of competition in the fall of 2019. The AHSAA also has E-Sports championships in the spring.
The awards ceremony also included the presentation of a $20-thousand check to the Make-A-Wish Foundation collected through the Zone’s fourth annual charity golf tournament earlier this year and a special award presented to Dylan Nutt, a member of the University of North Alabama (UNA) Bass Club, who recently won the Bass Masters Championship as a professional angler. His 66-pound, 13-ounce catch total was the third most in the history of the Bass Masters Championship.
The remainder of the awards included: Men’s College Team-Jacksonville State baseball; College Male Athlete- Nash Rippen (UNA baseball); Men’s College Coach- Jad Prachniak (UNA baseball); Women’s College Team- UAH basketball; College Female Athlete- Lili Wilken (UAH basketball); Woman’s College Coach- Allen Sharpe (UAH basketball); Male College Athlete- R.J. Johnson (Kennesaw State basketball); Female College Athlete- Alyssa Hastings (Auburn softball); Pro Athlete- Philip Rivers (Indianapolis Colts); SportsMED Scholarship Male Athlete, $2,500Luke Martin (Arab High baseball); SportsMED Scholarship Female Athlete, $2,500- Lillie Meeks (Whitesburg Christian cross country/track and field); Inspiration Award-Lillie Meeks (Whitesburg Christian cross country/track and field); Girls High School Team-Whitesburg Christian track and field; Girls High School Athlete- Amaya Wells (Mae Jemison track & field); Girls High School Coach- Demetrius Miller (Hazel Green basketball); Boys High School Team-Whitesburg Christian basketball; Boys High School Athlete- Evan Toms (Huntsville basketball); Boys High School Coach- Andrew Dennis (Hazel Green baseball).
