Jay Milligan
From 8-2-14
This is our 60th story, & I wonder just how many of you have seen all of them.
My cousin, Althea Nance, said that it looks like I have found a way to write a book, and that anyone who wants to read it can start anywhere they want. We knew we had a lot of different ways to substantiate them with pictures, videos, audios, stat books (& memories)! We realize that certain parts are more interesting than others, as you read about some of the 126 varsity teams, at 9 schools, during my 50-year coaching career.
Today we are going to talk about a "character" who assisted me with our football teams over a 12-year period. Jay Milligan always had a trick to show or a joke to tell, and was never at a loss for words to fit any occasion! He loved our players, and they loved him back! On one of our first days in pads, one of our football players got his thumb caught between two helmets, and it was bleeding heavily, when Jay pulled an injured "fake" thumb (which looked real) from his pocket & said, "That's nothing---look at this!" (Our players seemed more interested in Jay's thumb than they were in our injured player.).
One day after practice, Jay was showing a player's mother this "vicious animal" that was in a cage. (Actually it was a ball attached to a bunch of fur, which hung out as he shook the cage.) As they crowded around it, he shook the cage, & the "varmint" popped out as he screamed "watch out!" & the woman actually jumped up on the hood of a car! On another occasion, prior to our game, one of our parents who owned a funeral home, was in a heated discussion with an opponents' fan, when Jay walked up to the fan and said, "You'd better be careful! He's put bigger men than you in the ground!" One day he called my house, all excited, & said, "I was playing golf & had a hole-in-one today!-- (but I had already hit 3 balls in the lake before I got it!)!" In one of our games I had "gotten after" the refs pretty good, when the ref went over to a Coach Milligan & said, "You'd better settle your coach down." Jay replied, "You got him upset--YOU settle him down!" One day, when our twin sons were members of the team, we came home to an ugly sight! We came home one day and our twin sons had shaved, bald heads! We then found out that Jay had acted as a barber and shaved heads, or cut "Mohawks", on most of our players! (This united spirit no doubt helped us defeat a team which had beaten us 31-0 in the previous year!). We were undefeated going into the state championship game. Just before going onto the field, he ripped off his hat & his coat, showing his bald, shaved head, and a shirt that read "I gave my hair because I care!" No doubt, his show of comraderie helped lead to our State Championship win! After our big win, our players shaved the heads of the other coaches! The coaches & their wives were treated to a trip to the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Tx. Jay, a Georgia Tech man, was a "real sport" as he (& his wife,Polly), dressed in Red & Black--& entertained us for the entire trip! Years after his "coaching career" ended, Jay found out that he needed heart surgery, & it created many more stories when he was examined head-to-toe by his female cardiologist! (My wife will absolutely NOT let me tell you the great stories he told about what he said to the doctor when she inquired all about his "personal" life as she examined him head-to-toe prior to surgery, and what she told him he could do after surgery. I will say that Jay said to the doctor, "I'm looking forward to the surgery. I haven't been able to do some of those things you described before, & now you tell me I will be able to do them after my surgery!!" When the Milligans pulled up to the hospital the day before surgery, the doctor was coming out of the hospital & after recognizing Jay, pointed to a parking spot. Jay opened the window & said, "I thought I had a successful doctor!-- & here you are, out here parking cars, to make extra money!" There never was another "Jay" in our coaching life!!
