Mention the name Wallace Bice around family and friends who know him well and one of the first words used to describe him is competitor. No matter the sport, Bice wants to win and wants to come out on top. Even if it is a board game with his two children,Bice became a premiere basketball player for the Purple Devils in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. He was so good and competitive, he was named a First Team All-State player his senior year.
Early life
Born in Ragland, Bice attended Ragland School from the second grade through the 12th grade and graduated in 1962.
He started playing basketball in the sixth grade and was a member of the Jr. High squad.
Once he got to high school, he also played football and baseball. The baseball program did not start until his junior year.
Although he played all three sports, basketball was the sport he enjoyed and loved playing the most.
“To show you how much we loved basketball in Ragland, we would practice football and then after football practice, go and practice basketball,” Bice said. “We played basketball on Saturdays. Sundays and whenever we had a free moment. In a small town, that’s all we did was play basketball.”
Becoming a star
Bice was the team leader on the basketball court for the Purple Devils. He led them in scoring but is quick to point out he would not have enjoyed the success had it not been for his teammates.
“I don’t think you can say I was successful because you have to have the other players,” Bice said. “If you do not have the other players, I don’t care how good you think you are, you will not be successful. It just so happen we had great players when I played. There were five or six of us who had played basketball together since junior high school.”
Coaches
Bice said the greatest thing about his high school basketball days are the two great coaches he had. George Eden and Kermit Huddleston.
“Coach Eden was my first coach at the high school level,” Bice recalled. “I remember going out for the team as a freshman. He would not allow me to practice with the team for two weeks. During those two weeks, Coach Eden made me shoot a jump shot against the wall. For two solid weeks, that’s all I did. I couldn’t even shoot the basketball toward the basket. I guess that’s how I developed my jump shot. He was a great coach as was Coach Huddleston. Playing under the two of them helped me a lot.”
Enjoying success
The Purple Devils enjoyed success the four years Bice was a member of the team. Although he did not remember the record all four years, Bice said the basketball team was 19-11 his junior year and 22-6 his senior season.
Sixth District Tournament
What is now called area tournaments used to be called district tournaments and more teams were in each district. Ragland played in the Sixth District tournament at Emma Sansom with larger teams like Glencoe, Hokes Bluff, Odenville, Saks, and several more.
“At Ragland, we had the wooden backboards,” Bice said. “At Emma Sansom, they had the glass backboards and that made a difference. But we survived and finished third in the tournament my senior year.”
Ragland defeated Hokes Bluff then Spring Garden. In the third game, Ragland lost to Glencoe but turned around and defeated Saks.
Even though the Purple Devils finished third, Bice was named the Most Valuable Player.
County tournament
The Purple Devils won the St. Clair County Tournament during Bice’s senior year. After St. Clair County High School had dominated the tournament in the 1950’s, Ragland won in 1962. The tournament was held in Springville and the Purple Devils defeated the home-standing Tigers. Bice was named MVP.
“Their gym was like an old barn and it rained that night and the roof leaked,” Bice said. “I remember they had to keep mopping the floor.”
Other unusual gyms
Bice said during his junior high and high school days, they played in some weird gyms. In Gaylesville one night, Bice said they had four pot-bellied stoves in the corners of the gym. When the players stepped off the court, they stepped off on dirt.
Bice recalled one gym where they played on a tile floor that turned out to be rough on the feet.
During a junior high game once at Chandler Mountain, the basketball got loose and rolled down the mountain.
Opportunities after high school
During his high school career, Bice scored about 3,500 points. He said coming from a small school, colleges didn’t notice you a lot which made it tough if you were interested in moving on to the next level of play.
Snead State in did offer Bice a basketball scholarship and he played one year before dropping out and going to Atlanta to work at the Ford plant.
While in Atlanta, Bice and his wife, Glenda were married in 1965.
Military
Bice stayed in Atlanta until he was drafted into the U.S. Army. Basic training was at Ft. Benning, Ga., while his advance training was at Ft. Gordon, Ga., where he trained to be a field radio repairman. He then went to Germany for the next two and a half years in the late1960’s.
Still playing basketball
Although he was in a foreign country, Bice found a basketball team to play with as he played with the post team there.
“We traveled around and played against teams from other posts,” Bice said. “We played for two years and one year, we played the German Olympic team, which was an eye-opener because we had to play by their rules — a lot different from our rules. We won 75 percent of the games we played.”
Bice was injured while in the military — he broke his big toe while playing basketball.
Life after military
Once Bice’s military career was over, he went back to work at the Ford plant in Atlanta and also attended Morris Drawn Business College and received an accounting degree.
Bice was an accountant for 34 years in Atlanta and Trussville where he and his wife now live before deciding to get out of it. Today, he owns a small concrete finishing business.
“I got tired of working for everybody else,” Bice said.
Competitive
Those who know Bice know what a competitor he is. He actually played competitive basketball until he was 55 years old, whether it was with a church team or a city recreational league team.
Bice and his wife are members of Trussville First United Methodist Church. He did play competitive basketball for them and was a member of the church’s golf team.
“I still enjoy playing golf,” he said. “I’ve been playing eight years when my son got me started. I used to beat him playing basketball so he took up golf and he told me he found a sport he could beat me at. At first, he did beat me but when I started beating him, he gave it up. I am competitive in anything I do. I never let my children win board games when they were growing up at home.”
Glenda said she learned early on when she met Wallace at Ragland High School that basketball came first.
Family
Wallace and Glenda have been married 43 years. They have two children. Whitney is 34 while Wallace Jr. (Jay) is 27. Their only grandchild is Molley Gray (Whitney’s daughter) who was born May 12. Whitney is a schoolteacher and Jay is in the U.S. Army stationed in Anchorage, Alaska.
