Recognitions
From 9-9-14
We are nearing our 100th post in which we have been sharing some of the stories about our players, teams, fans, & others. On our website we have stat books which give the statistics on every player & team which I coached in varsity basketball & football. The stats accurately cover every one of the 2,000 games I coached in basketball & football combined! (Actually, in all sports, I coached a total of 126 varsity teams, and there are articles on teams other than basketball & football.) As we " dug into our memory bank" to put stories together, it created a lot of emotions---some made us smile, some made us laugh, & it was hard to not shed a tear or two as we wrote about Billy Dean Rutledge, Keith Henderson, George Hearn, & others. We have received a lot of recognition in our career, but without our players and the others of you who supported our program, none of the honors or awards would have been possible. It is hard to describe the feelings I had when I was named to various Halls of Fame, being honored by a gymnasium being named for me, receiving several National Coach of the Year awards, and many other honors too numerous for space to list. Each time I received one of these honors, I realized I was "standing on the shoulders" of our players, fans, teachers, coaches, & others who had made it possible to receive such recognition. The Atlanta Sports Hall of Fame states on my award plaque that I have received almost every honor available to a high school basketball coach. I have received many rings, medallions, etc., commemorating the prestigious awards. I usually wear two of the rings,which stirs up a lot of interest & gives me a chance to tell about the young people with whom I shared a major part of my life. I rotate the rings & medallions so that I will have the correct one when I attend the annual ceremonies at the different Halls of Fame (to which we are always invited)! The rings that I am not wearing are kept in a bank vault. One of the major benefits that come with being a member of a Hall of Fame, is the opportunity to be around many of the "greats" in athletics who I have read about, listened to on the radio, & watched on television! I wish I had the space to share some of the stories that I have heard from some of the "greats" such as Herschel Walker, Pat Sullivan, George Rogers, Charlie Trippi, Deion Sanders, John Smoltz, Coach Erk Russell, & literally hundreds more with whom I've been privileged to spend quality time! Most of you who have helped earn these accolades, have not been able to be with me on some of these special occasions, so I will make available the videos from my induction into the National Federation of High Schools Hall of Fame. I am the only Georgia High School basketball coach to ever be inducted into the NFHS hall of fame. The NFHS Hall of Fame 2012 class of Inductees was flown into Nashville from around the U.S. for a 4-day affair, which culminated with the induction ceremonies.
