Franklin County Times Scholar-Athlete of the Week

By Staff
Kim West
Franklin County Times
RED BAY – Senior Pablo Makepeace has enjoyed a highly successful playing career at Red Bay High School, but he values academics over athletics when it comes to choosing a college.
"My top school would be the University of Alabama," said Makepeace. "And then the University of Alabama-Huntsville and the University of North Alabama, but I really like UAH because I'm planning to study civil engineering or computer engineering."
Makepeace, 19, has a 3.4 GPA and serves as the senior class treasurer and belongs to the Science Club, English Club, Leo Club and Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
"Math is probably my best subject, but I couldn't really name a favorite teacher because everyone has really helped me," Makepeace said. "(Red Bay football) coach Dale Jeffreys has especially helped me, and he always tells us to make the best out of every situation."
In addition to being a good student, Makepeace is also a three-sport star who is blessed with a rare combination of speed and strength that comes in handy during football, basketball and track seasons.
The Tigers had one of the best football seasons in school history this year, which included a 13-1 record, Class 2A semifinals appearance and a region championship.
"This season has been great, and even though we lost in the semifinals to Fyffe, we played very well," said Makepeace. "My sophomore year we went 5-6, and then my junior year we were 6-5, so this season has just been amazing."
He attributed the Tigers' success to hard work and being able to enjoy the season and have fun with each other.
"On Mondays we would usually go to Adam Henson's house and watch the game film from Friday's game," said Makepeace, who named John Thigpen and Josh Senkbeil as his funniest teammates. "When we watched the film of the Cherokee game, I had a made a tackle and I just started shaking my head in the spur of the moment. I don't know why I did it, and it looked really funny on film – I had to laugh when I saw it on film, and everyone else got to laugh about it. Whenever our team was together, everybody's laughing and having fun."
He is the son of Edgar and Irma Makepeace, and he has an older brother, Jose, 22, and a younger sister, Isebel, an eighth-grader at Red Bay.