John Malcolm Laney was born in 1910 at Ragland, Alabama.[1] He later moved to Birmingham and attended Phillips High School in Birmingham where he played on both the football and basketball teams.[1][2] After one year at Birmingham–Southern College, Laney transferred to the University of Alabama.[1] At Alabama, he lettered on the men's basketball team as a guard for the 1930, 1931 and 1932 seasons.[3] He played on the squad with his brother Walton Laney and was a part of the undefeated 1930 squad led by head coach Hank Crisp.[2] After he graduated in 1932, Laney coached a YMHA team in Birmingham before he became the head football coach at Woodlawn High School.[4]
Coaching career
Basketball
After not fielding a team for the 1943–1944 season due to the effects of World War II, on December 29, 1944, Alabama athletic directorHank Crisp announced Laney as the new basketball head coach.[5] Prior to his appointment with the Crimson Tide, Laney had served as a basketball referee over the previous 15 years.[5] During his only season as head coach, he led Alabama to a record of ten wins and five losses (10–5).
Football
In 1934, Laney entered his first season as head football coach at Woodlawn High School in Birmingham, Alabama.[6] He remained at Woodlawn through the 1943 season and ended his high school coaching career with the Colonials with an overall record of 76 wins and 14 losses (76–14).[7] Additionally, during his tenure as head coach, Woodlawn captured seven Birmingham city championships and five state championships.[8] While there, some of the future stars he coached included Harry Gilmer, Earl Fullilove, Holt Rast and Travis Tidwell, and each would later become a member of a College Football All-America Team.[7] From Woodlawn, he went on to serve as an assistant coach with the Alabama football team from 1944 to 1957 under both coaches Harold Drew and Jennings B. Whitworth.[9]
Golf
From 1952 through the 1954 seasons, Laney coached the Alabama golf team.[10] During his tenure as head coach, Laney led the Crimson Tide to an overall record of 23 wins and four losses (23–4).[10] He was also the coach for Bobby Hill when he captured Alabama's first SEC golf championship in 1952.[11]
Later life
After his tenure as a coach ended, Laney continued to serve at Alabama as a field representative for the University Alumni Office from 1958 until his retirement 1972.[12] In 1975, he was appointed interim director of Alumni Affairs.[12] He started Camp Laney, a boys summer camp that still survives to this day, at Mentone, Alabama, in 1959.[13] In recognition for his contributions to sport in the state, Laney was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame on February 18, 1984.[8] He died on March 24, 1985, at Tuscaloosa, Alabama.[7]
^"The Crimson Tide's Basketball Lettermen". 2005–06 Alabama Basketball Media Guide(PDF). Tuscaloosa, Alabama: University of Alabama Athletics Media Relations Office. 2005. p. 116. Archived from the original(PDF) on November 12, 2012. Retrieved April 21, 2012.
^"All-Time Assistant Coaches". 2011 Alabama Crimson Tide Football Record Book. Tuscaloosa, Alabama: University of Alabama Athletics Media Relations Office. 2011. pp. 142–143.