Boots Ellett, Jr.
Class of 2014
For decades in Huntsville, the name “Boots Ellett” meant two things: rugged football and a restaurant where everybody knew your name. Boots Jr., a two-time All-City lineman at Huntsville High in the late 1980s, carried both legacies forward—on the field with toughness and at home with the work ethic forged in a family business.
The son of Boots Ellett Sr.—HHS and Alabama lineman, Army veteran, brief CFL pro, and the face of Boots Restaurant (1961–95)—Boots Jr. grew up sweeping floors, cutting croutons, and learning that excellence starts with the jobs nobody wants. He wrestled and competed in track at HHS, earned the school’s All-Sports Award, and parlayed his physical gifts and agility into a scholarship at Livingston (now West Alabama).
Thrown into the lineup as a true freshman, he started at right tackle and stayed a mainstay on the Tigers’ front. Teammates voted him player of the week nine times; he served as team captain seven times. “A big man with exceptional agility,” coach Sam McCorkle said, “and a dominant player.” The praise echoed his father’s creed—character, hard work, determination. Boots Jr. didn’t just block; he set a standard.
He welcomes comparisons to his dad. The elder Ellett’s influence “had the most impact on my athletic accomplishments,” Boots Jr. says. The lessons weren’t complicated: outwork everybody, treat people right, and keep your standards high. Those principles translated seamlessly to his professional life. Now a project manager at H.C. Blake Company, he and his wife, Suzan McKenzie Ellett, are raising Boots III, Tabory, and Mary McKenzie with the same playbook that shaped him.
From Friday nights at Milton Frank Stadium to busy nights at Boots Restaurant, the message never changed: show up, do the hard thing, and do it well.
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