Red Bay | The Red Bay Homecoming parade’s Grand Marshal for 2019 has been named.
This year, former Red Bay Tiger basketball standout, Renae Cody will hold that honor. Cody played for Coach James Bostick at Red Bay High School and was a member of the Red Bay Lady Tiger Team that won two consecutive Class 2A state championships in 1978/79 and 1979/80.
While playing for the Lady Tigers, Cody was selected as an All-area team member for 4 years, she was selected for the All-state team 3 years, State MVP her junior year, and All-American as a senior. Cody’s top individual scoring game was 31 points her high school senior year.
Cody went on to be a four-year member of the University of North Alabama’s women’s basketball teams from 1981-84. She was a member of UNA’s 1982 AAIAW Northern Division Championship team under Gary Elliott and a member of UNA’s first NCAA Division II Tournament team as a senior in 1983-84 under Wayne Byrd.
She was selected as a member of the first-team All-Gulf South Conference in 1983-84. The Lions had a combined 79-39 record in her four years in the program. She currently ranks as the fourth leading scorer in UNA women’s basketball history with 1,294 points, all in the era prior to the three-point shot. She made 559 career field goals and 176 free throws in 118 career games. She still ranks as UNA’s career leader in steals with 208 and is second in career assists with 477. Her top scoring game was 30 points against Stillman in 1983-84. Cody scored 294 in 1980-81, 264 in 1981-82, 357 in 1982-83 and 379 points in 1983-84.
Cody was Inducted in the Franklin County Sports Hall of Fame in 2000.
She has worked for Central Service Association in Tupelo, Miss., for almost 34 years as a programmer and Information Systems Representative. The company is a computerized information system service that serves the needs of public utilities across the seven states of the Tennessee Valley and other utilities outside the Tennessee Valley area as well.
Cody will be a part of a group that will be formally inducted in the UNA Athletic Hall of Fame in a ceremony at 9 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 28th as part of UNA’s 2019 Homecoming celebration. This ceremony is open to the public.
This year’s induction brings the total number of inductees into the UNA Athletic Hall of Fame to 138.
The 30th class of inductees for the University of North Alabama Athletic Hall of Fame for 2019 includes: Renae Cody 1984, Women’s Basketball (1981-84), Justin Regan 2003, Men’s Golf (2000-03), Bobby Joe Pride 1977, Football (1968-71), Mike Klug, Baseball (2004-05).
The family of Renae Cody would like to invite everyone to a community reception to be held in her honor on Sunday, September 29th at 2:00 p.m. at the Weatherford Center in Red Bay. Renae’s story of success is an inspiration to every young athlete who feels the restraint of small-town opportunities yet feels the drive and ambition to go beyond those boundaries with hard work and preparation and still succeed.
