B.T. Law is living proof it’s the quiet ones you should look out for.

Those who know Law say quiet is an apt description for his demeanor. But when it came to playing on the football field or the basketball court for Cherokee County High School in the late 1960s, few equaled his ferocity.

As a 6-foot-5 defensive end/tight end for the Warriors in 1967, Law helped lead Cherokee County to a 9-1-1 record and the school’s first ever playoff appearance.

As a man in the post for the Warrior basketball team, Law led Cherokee County to a 26-6 record his junior year. The Warriors followed that season up with a 29-1 season and Class 3A state runner-up.

The highly-recruited Law went on to play tight end at Auburn, where he played with Heisman Trophy winner Pat Sullivan and helped the Tigers earn a berth in the 1972 Sugar Bowl against Oklahoma.

Law’s remarkable career has now come full circle. He is one of three inductees into the 2010 Cherokee County Hall of Fame.

Joining Law is former Cherokee County football player and Sand Rock coach Jack Green and former Sand Rock basketball and football standout Eddy Norris.

The Class of 2010 will formally be honored at a banquet on July 17 at 6 p.m., at the Gadsden State Cherokee campus in Centre.

“One of my goals when I was 6 or 7 years old was to be an athlete at Cherokee County High School, and I wanted to be a good athlete,” Law said. “Maybe this kind of confirms that I was a good athlete. It’s a great feeling.”

Former Warrior quarterback and fellow Hall of Fame member Paul “Shorty” Trammell recalls Law as someone who was “determined to do what it takes to win.”

“B.T. was a leader for us, and he always came through in the clutch,” Trammell said. “He had a quiet demeanor, but he was the person we looked up to on the basketball court or the football field to take charge. He would pretty much take over anything. I could get the ball to B.T., and he would make things happen.”

It was a role in which Law thrived for, according to former football coach Bobby Joe Johnson.

Johnson will present Law into the Hall of Fame.

“When you had to have that third down and 13, he would catch that third down and 14,” Johnson remembered. “He loved to catch the ball across the middle, and he loved to see those little defensive backs try to tackle him.”

Law thrived in the role because he knew “the rewards for doing something good were just so much more than any criticism you could get for doing anything bad.”

“That’s the way I looked at it, and that’s the way I played the game,” Law said. “I’ve heard other athletes talk about when it comes to crunch time, they wanted to be the one who had the ball. In my case, being a receiver, if we needed a first down, a touchdown or a third-down conversion, I was not scared at all for the ball to come to me. I knew I was going to catch it. I had a lot of confidence in myself I was going to catch the ball if it was thrown to me. It never occurred to me I might miss the ball, or I might make a mistake and not do what I needed to do.”

While being a possession receiver was what many know Law for, it was defense in which he made a name for himself early his junior season.

After losing to Coosa 12-7 a season earlier, Law made sure that wasn’t going to be the case in the opening game of the 1967 season as a defensive end. His constant pressure on the Coosa backfield led to the Warriors capturing a 27-0 victory.

“I think I had four or five quarterback sacks that game,” Law said. “I think I started one game my sophomore year, but that was the first game I was actually a (full-time) starter.”

After his successful Warrior football career came to a close – in which he was a First Team All-State performer – Law was honored as a selection on the 1969 Alabama North-South game in Tuscaloosa, coached by Johnson.

Johnson played Law both ways in the game. He caught several passes and made several tackles in the contest in which he was named the Most Valuable Lineman.

As valuable a football player as Law was, he was equally as valuable in basketball – particularly the 1968-69 season.

The Warriors won 29 straight games that season to clinch a berth in the Class 3A state title game against Austin. It wasn’t an easy feat for the Warriors to accomplish.

After defeating Pisgah in the regional championship, Law had a car wreck which –according to former basketball coach Gerald Cardin – “almost cut his ear off.”

“When we got to the state tournament in Tuscaloosa, we had a trainer who fixed his ear up, put a bandage on it and he played the entire state tournament without any problems at all,” Cardin said.

To reach the title game, the Warriors had to get past Russellville in the state semifinals. There was a sense of revenge the Warriors had in the Russellville game. In football the previous season, the Golden Tigers had beaten the Warriors in their first-ever playoff game, 20-6.

Revenge served the Warriors well.

“Russellville had this guy named (Arthur) Burr,” said Johnson, who was an assistant to Cardin on the Warrior basketball team. “He was about the same height as B.T. Ronald Rooks was on our team., and him and Burr would talk about that game. We all eat in the same chow line down there (in Tuscaloosa), and Burr said ‘Tomorrow night’s it. Tomorrow night I’m going to set a new rebounding record.’ Ronald said ‘No, B.T.’s going to put you in the third row of the bleachers. You just think you’re going to set a rebounding record.’”

Law may not have put Burr in the third row of the bleachers, but he was instrumental in the Warriors’ 95-79 victory over favored Russellville (28-3). He scored 22 points and grabbed 15 rebounds. Teammate Mike Stimpson scored 22 points and had eight rebounds. Rooks finished with 21 points and 19 rebounds.

Burr led Russellville with 21 points and five rebounds.

The Warriors would eventually fall to state champion Austin of Decatur and head coach Joe Jones, 69-58. The much bigger Black Bears got Law into early foul trouble, which helped them secure the state title. Law finished the state title game with seven points and 16 rebounds.

Charles Lee Martin, the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, led Austin (23-5) with 26 points.

“When he (Law) had to come out of the game, we weren’t as strong as we had been all season,” Trammell, a guard for the Warriors, recalled. “That just proved what a key component, a key player he was to all of our teams.”

Cardin remembers Law being one vote away from being chosen the state tournament’s Most Valuable Player.

“If we would have won, I think he would have been the Most Valuable Player,” Cardin said.

Although disappointed with the outcome of the Austin game, Law said he still cherishes that season, as well as his entire athletic career.

“It was a great season,” he said. “As it went on, we come together. We had some ball players that we didn’t have the year before, and we just all came together as a team.

“By being an athlete, I got to do a lot of things, meet a lot of people, and have some great friendships over the years. I’m not too good about talking about my athletic career. I just loved doing it. I wanted to be the best I could be. After we got through playing, I just wanted the other team to know who I was, and I think in most cases they did.”