Three Added to Albertville Alumni Hall of Fame

This article first appeared in The Sand Mountain Leader on Oct. 1, 2025.

Two retired educators and a physician made up the latest class of the Albertville High School Alumni Hall of Fame.

Joyce Bishop, Paul McAbee and Dr. Christopher J. Thrash were inducted into the Hall of Fame on Sept. 12.

Bishop, 74, is the oldest daughter of the late Burley and Helen Cryar. She and her sisters, Beth Ann Todd and Millie Carroll — both Albertville educators — grew up on a farm in Alder Springs. Bishop graduated from Albertville High School in 1968 and later graduated from Jacksonville State University in 1971. She taught in south Alabama before moving back to north Alabama with her young family in 1979.

After the death of her husband, Ronnie, Bishop returned to education as a teacher assistant at Big Spring Lake Elementary (now Albertville Kindergarten and Pre-K). She went on to earn a master’s degree in counseling and guidance from Jacksonville State University and worked in the Arab and Albertville school systems as a counselor. She later became principal of Big Spring Lake Elementary for 12 years, then principal of Alabama Avenue Middle School (now Albertville Middle School) in 2002.

Bishop later served as assistant superintendent until her retirement in 2013. She and her husband, Bruce, remain in the area. Their son, Wade, and daughter, Melissa McKee, also live locally.

McAbee, 69, was born in Fort Payne to Paul Willard and Jewell McAbee. After Paul Willard McAbee died in a work-related accident early in Paul’s childhood, he and his mother moved to Albertville from Fyffe in 1963.

McAbee started for the Aggies football team for three years until a knee injury ended his playing career during his senior season. He graduated from Albertville High School in 1974 and went on to earn both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in mathematics from the University of Alabama. McAbee earned his administration certification in 1990.

He became the second-winningest coach in the history of the Aggie football program, serving from 1990 to 1998. In 2002, he was appointed principal and athletic director of Albertville High School and served in those roles for 14 years. During his tenure, McAbee guided the school through the aftermath of the 2010 tornado that heavily damaged the campus, as well as the subsequent renovation and rebuilding project.

McAbee was the third former Aggie football player to have his jersey number retired by the school, joining Pro Football Hall of Famer John Hannah and former Jacksonville State University and University of Florida coach Charley Pell. Hannah and Pell were members of the first AHS Alumni Hall of Fame class inducted in 2011.

McAbee retired in 2016. He and his wife, Karen, live in Albertville. Their daughter, Danza, graduated from Albertville High School in 1999 and lives in Dallas with her husband, David.

Thrash, the salutatorian of the Albertville High School Class of 2001, is an internal medicine physician based in Santa Barbara, California.

He graduated summa cum laude in chemical engineering from Auburn University in 2005 and earned his medical degree from the University of Alabama School of Medicine in 2009. He completed a combined internal medicine and pediatrics residency at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Thrash is the older son of Lynn Thrash and the late Jeff Thrash, who was a member of the inaugural Albertville High School Alumni Hall of Fame class. Thrash and his wife, neonatologist Dr. Kathy Chung Thrash, have three children.

The Albertville High School Alumni Hall of Fame inducted its first class in 2011. Members of that inaugural class include Dr. Bennett Alford, Judge Edward Carnes, T.J. Carnes, Pat Courington Jr., Rusty Greer, John Hannah, Hal Hayes, Robert O. Johnson, Jonathan Killian, Dr. Lelias Kirby, Charley Pell, Kathryn Rains Reed, Gerald Smith, Susan Nolen Storey and Jeff Thrash.