Trisha
From 7-17-14
Our 3rd year @ Loganville HS (as we finished the season with our boys' basketball record of 22-4, had won the Jefferson Inv. & the sub-region championships) & it was that spring that I received the most prestigious award to date, my induction into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame! We knew that we would probably never again receive better support than in Loganville, but a change was necessary in order to meet our retirement needs.
In the spring, Mr. Johnny Smith, the headmaster of Piedmont Academy in Monticello, Ga., called, needing a coach/AD to be responsible for their athletic program. I took the job (with a 2-year agreement), knowing that if we lived on our state teachers' retirement, we could take our other income & pay back a loan we had for our teacher retirement. Our most exciting team there was our '98 girls basketball team that had a record of 25-3 & were Region Champs. We were led by Amanda Tyler, 24 ppg., Caroline Crawley, Jami Smith, & Rebecca Evans, 12.3ppg. Our boys team's biggest excitement was created by Tommy Yancey who averaged 24 ppg. My head assistant, Danny Camp (who was in his first year of coaching), was one of the finest baseball coaches around. His dedication & effort toward his program & baseball field, led to his successful 16 years there. When UPS flew in their crew from Canada to do a segment on me on the subject of "Attaining Excellence", it created a lot of excitement in the school for a couple of days. I had a friend in Monticello that I had visited with through the years, who was president of the local bank. Jack & his wife, Gwen, had always been supportive of the neighborhood school.
Even though, in earlier years, their daughter had played against our teams, I didn't know her story until I was "surrounded" by it. When she was in the 8th grade, she broke her ankle & was quite depressed. Her father wanted to cheer her up, & purchased her a guitar, as she had always loved music. Every night she slept under a sign on the wall in her bedroom, "Don't EVER give up on your dream!" When she graduated from H.S. (as Valedictorian), she attended college for a while, but her heart wasn't really in it. One day she told her parents she had something else in mind and said, "I want to go to Nashville, get a job as a secretary, and be around music. (She already knew she wanted to pursue her dream!). Her mom was afraid harm would come to her daughter & said "NO" to her plans. She then "paralyzed" her mom when she replied, "Mom, you've always said I could do anything I wanted to do!" With that, (& her parents' trepidation & blessings), she set off. In the country music capital of the world, where many young singers' dreams die, she faced, what most people consider, unbelievable odds. She got a job as a secretary, & was always ready & available to sing at every opportunity. She met a new friend. One evening she told him if she ever made it in music, she would let him sing "lead in" for her. This young man enthusiastically offered to do the same for her! Well, this young girl, who had what appeared to be such an "impossible dream", had a goal & never waivered from it! And if you ever hear or see the great Trisha Yearwood sing or perform, you'll know she NEVER gave up on her dream! By the way, the other guy did pretty well, too. His name is Garth---(yes, that Garth Brooks)!
