Loganville People

From 6-18-14

This is a continuation of a story previously started. When Walton County Administrator, Dan Digby called me, and Coy Baker challenged me to come take the boys basketball job at Loganville High, the timing was right. I was ready to stop trying to coach several sports at a time, and get back to my first love-basketball. I also needed 3 years in a public school in order to buy back my retirement years from the Georgia Teachers Retirement System. When we began summer practice I was concerned about some of my ways, as I was coming from a small Christian school where prayer was not only allowed, but encouraged. The first day of practice someone came in to one of our players and Said,"your sister just swallowed a pin, and you need to come home!" Immediately Keith Wages said,"coach we need to have prayer together." At that point I knew I was somewhere special. After our summer practices ended,I could tell that we had some talent, and I was excited about our teams future. Then the real test began, school started. I had a student in my 2nd period class that refused to take part for the third straight day. I was trying to get him involved as it made others think they didn't have to participate. The unruly student looked at me while showing me his arms, and saying,"I'm on drugs, I've been in jail and I'll be back soon, and you can kiss my a--." I was shocked, so I called the principal and the student repeated the exact words that he had said to me. Our Principal looked at me, and said,"coach, you can't do anything with crazy people!" At the end of class, I called my wife, and said,'don't worry about being here 3 years, I'm not going to make 3 weeks." Our girls PE instructor had been observing the conflict, and before the next class, she came over to me. She put a firm hand on my shoulder, and said,"coach, you just need to get thru the day, don't worry about tomorrow, next week, or next year, just get thru the day. I found, over the next 3 years I could go to Linda Hobbs for advice and help. She was an excellent basketball player in high school, and had a thorough understanding of young people. I don't receive a retirement check today, that I don't think of Mrs. Linda Hobbs. One day I asked the brother of the unruly student what they would do with him if he still lived in Iraq. He said,"they would get rid of him, they wouldn't put up with his behavior." I couldn't talk to troubled student in class, he was too mucho, but anytime I had the opportunity , I would say positive things to him, about his talent, his ability, and would tell him," he could make something special out of himself." He disappeared from school, and one day his brother told me that the unruly student was back in prison. Several months later the young man that had harassed me, was waiting for me when the school day ended. He said to me,"coach, you told me I could make something out of myself, and I've decided I'm going to be a truck driver." Several months later, a big truck pulled up next to me, and a guy yelled out,"Coach, I told you I was going to make something out of myself." I had a hard time seeing, as my eyes became misty. Jan and I had decided that even if no one cared about basketball at Loganville, we did, and we were going to do the job in a first class way, even if we had to pay the bill. The places I had been, once the parents and community found that you cared about their children, they would step up and help.That fall we would have the players dress up in coat and tie, and take them to a nice restaurant. Some of the guys didn't possess a coat and tie, so we had to borrow some in order for them to join us. It was expensive, but I wanted to get to know each person, and find out what made them tick, and to let them know I cared. Long ago I found out you don't have to do big things, but the players need to think great things can happen if they are successful. They don't really care how much you know, until they know how much you care. One day a lady came to me and asked,"coach where are you getting the money that you are spending on our boys?" I told her that My wife and I believed that it helped to do things in a first class manner, and that we were paying for the things we were doing. That special lady was Mrs. Ginger Stephens, and she said,"I'll see that the booster club and I will supply the funds for you from now on, and she added, you are not going to have to pay your money on our boys anymore. When I left 3 years later ourbasketball account had plenty of money left in it, thanks to the leadership of Mrs. Stephens. Everything was in place to give our Loganville youngsters a chance to be winners. Tomorrow we'll have our final part of the Loganville story.