Class of 2016
Attend a high school game in the Salem community, and it does not take long to find a reminder about one of the school’s most successful football coaches.
Kennemer’s name is inscribed on the scoreboard, honoring the legendary
Wildcats coach.
During his tenure at West Limestone, Kennemer led the Wildcats to some of the football program’s most successful season.
Kennemer was West Limestone’s second football coach, taking over the program in 1957 and coaching the Wildcats eight seasons. It was a successful run.
In Kennemer’s inaugural season, West Limestone posted its first perfect season, topping Tanner 33-7 in the season finale to finish with an 8-0 record.
Now, six decades later, it still is the Wildcats’ only perfect campaign. The success did not fade.
The following season, Kennemer guided West Limestone to a 5-3-1
finish, and his 1962 team finished with an 8-1-1 record.
During Kennemer’s career, he coached two all-state players. Center Dwight Tucker and running back Ray Carwile were honorable mention’s on the Birmingham Post Herald’s 1962 all-state team.
West Limestone eventually named the stadium after Kennemer, and the Wildcats have since played plenty
of significant games on its turf. In 1988, West Limestone hosted the Class 3A state title game at James Kennemer
Stadium, losing 44-6 to Thomasville.
The following season, West Limestone was labeled as one of the top Class 3A teams in North Alabama, spending most of the season ranked in the Alabama Sports Writers Association’s Class 3A poll, but the Wildcats lost the Area 14 finale to state ranked Rogers, on a bizarre night where the power went out at the stadium for several hours, missing the playoffs. Rogers went on to represent the North bracket in the state finals, finishing as the state runner-up to Elba.