By Tim Gayle
Montgomery
Academy's Brown Headlines 2026 All-Capital City
Conference Boys Tennis Team
Jackson Brown fell short in his goal of helping Montgomery Academy to a Class 7A boys state tennis championship, but he did finish his career as the Eagles’ winningest tennis player in school history.
“We have a history of a lot of good tennis players,” Montgomery Academy coach David Bethea noted, “and for him to finish his career like this is pretty amazing.”
Brown finished a six-year career with more total wins (233) than any other player, breaking the record of 207 set by Brett Ialacci and tied last year by John Alford. He is first in doubles (128) and second behind James Torbert (115) in singles wins with 105. He joins Ialacci as the only MA players to ever record 100 singles wins and 100 doubles wins in a career.
“That’s a pretty good feat,” Bethea said, “but the thing about Jackson is he’s given all he had for six years for our tennis team. He came on as a seventh grader playing No. 6 singles and No. 3 doubles in Class 6A. He never played less than 6A tennis.
“He was the most valuable player for the South all-stars last year. And even better than his tennis, he’s just a great kid. He’s a first-class young man who goes down the right road. He’s going to be super successful at everything he does.”
Brown was voted by Capital City Conference coaches as the 2026 CCC Player of the Year, while Bethea was named the 2026 CCC Coach of the Year.
Brown competed as a seventh grader and eighth grader in Class 6A and the last four years in Class 7A, helping the Eagles to the 6A state championship in 2021 and to runner-up finishes behind Vestavia Hills in Class 7A in 2025 and 2026.
“He’s been part of some really, really
special teams at the highest level,” Bethea said. “We
could have had a schedule where we were undefeated,
but the history of our program is everybody wants to
play the best teams that we can. It makes you better.
I definitely think it helped us this year, playing the
teams we played. I think it just upped our game. By
the end of the year, we felt like we could compete
against anybody.”
ALL-CAPITAL CITY CONFERENCE
BOYS TENNIS
Jackson Brown Sr. Montgomery Academy
Michael Phan Sr. Saint James
Liam Baker So. Montgomery Academy
Anton Yang Sr. Montgomery Academy
Bo Johnston Sr. Montgomery Academy
Trevor Wilson Sr. Catholic
PLAYER OF THE YEAR -- Jackson Brown, Montgomery Academy
COACH OF THE YEAR -- David Bethea, Montgomery Academy
Honorable mention: Lawrence Dees, So., Catholic; Brayden Hampton, Jr., Catholic; Belvins Henderson, 8th, Montgomery Academy; Hampton Johnson, Jr., Saint James; Jiwu Kim, Jr., Alabama Christian; Duncan McInnes, So., Montgomery Academy; David Rees, Sr., Saint James; Jameson Sanders, Sr., Trinity.