The Frank Johnson Federal Courthouse in downtown Montgomery. (Jimmy Wigfield/Call News)
By JIMMY WIGFIELD
MONTGOMERY — A hearing on a federal lawsuit brought by the mothers of two Mary G. Montgomery students who were ruled permanently ineligible to play football at the school was postponed Thursday until next week.
Lewis
U.S. District Judge Bill Lewis reset the hearing for Tuesday at 1 p.m. at the Frank Johnson Federal Courthouse in downtown Montgomery.
Tameka Dale and Ashley Davis, who appeared at the courthouse Thursday with their sons, are seeking a temporary restraining order and a permanent injunction to restore their sons’ eligibility plus compensatory damages for irreparably harming their sons’ futures, according to a lawsuit filed by attorney Michael Kidd on Tuesday.
Dale and Davis claimed their constitutional rights of free speech and equal protection and those of their sons were violated by the Alabama High School Athletic Association, which declared their sons ineligible in May because the AHSAA ruled they were connected to violations of recruiting rules for attending freshman football welcoming ceremonies at MGM in 2024 and 2025. Their lawsuit names AHSAA Executive Director Heath Harmon, Mobile County Public School System Superintendent Chresal Threadgill and MGM Principal David Diaz as defendants.
The lawsuit is the latest legal salvo launched against Harmon and the AHSAA over a case in which MGM was given restrictive probation and banned from the playoffs for a year and coach Zach Golson was put on probation for a year and ultimately was removed from his job by the MCPSS.
The federal lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama on behalf of Dale, the mother of a minor identified as T.D., and Davis, the mother of a minor identified as B.G. Both are still students at MGM, although they are among 21 students the AHSAA declared permanently ineligible to play at MGM, according to Harmon’s May 18 letter to Diaz disclosing the sanctions.
B.G. and T.D. attended MGM’s welcoming ceremonies in 2024 and 2025, respectively, after their mothers said they had already filed paperwork for their sons to go to school there. Diaz said the students were not invited to the ceremony and the mothers contend no recruiting for football occurred.
A third welcoming ceremony in April 2026 was the genesis of the AHSAA’s investigation after two middle school students zoned for Baker attended it. Baker turned in MGM but Golson and Diaz said those students were not invited and Golson said any contact with them was inadvertent.
Kidd previously filed a lawsuit on behalf of Dale on Sept. 4 in Montgomery County Circuit Court claiming the AHSAA and Harmon used an improperly modified rule to punish her son and the school. Those claims are maintained in the new lawsuit.
AHSAA attorney Benjamin Espy filed a motion to dismiss the initial state lawsuit, saying the circuit court has no jurisdiction over the association. But Kidd pointed to legal precedent giving the circuit court authority to overrule the AHSAA “if acts of the association are the result of fraud, lack of jurisdiction, collusion or arbitrariness.”
Golson claims he was denied due process and defamed in a separate lawsuit filed in Montgomery County Circuit Court against the AHSAA, Harmon, Threadgill, Diaz and AHSAA investigator Chuck Anderson.
(This story will be updated.)
