By Joe Joe Wright

joejoe.wright@cordeledispatch.com

Many days I sit around wondering about this very subject mainly because I write about old ball coaches.

Now here in Cordele many have stayed right here and we see them regularly. Let’s see there is Coach Henry, Smith, Denham, Sampson, Clack, Pickens, Hunt, Peeples, Ward, Clements, Kennedy and Harris that’s about all my mind will allow me to remember that are living here now. Many have moved to other counties outside of Crisp, Dooly and Wilcox and I am sure some will be back. Nearly all of them are still active to some degree in our local sports programs.

I see Coach Peeples still giving   tennis lessons and at ball games all over the place. Friday night you can catch Henry, Denham and Smith at a football game. Coach Clements has for a great deal of time now remained very active in our booster clubs and many others still attend games and support our local programs. This is long after their retirement. I have heard rumors that others who have moved away will be retiring back to our area.

It is good to know that after 30 plus years in the education system that we still have educators / coaches who still have a vested interest in our community and in our athletic programs. This is in my humble opinion is something that we should EMBRACE! When you take the years of experience of all these coaches combined have in dealing with issues such as gender equality, budgets, planning, teaching sports, techniques, sportsmanship, ideology, character building, humility, courage, honesty strength building, younger coaches, race relations, school work, irate and unreasonable parents and scheduling officials to just name a few, then you have what one might call a RESUME. We here in Crisp, Dooly and Wilcox have a very large stockpile of brains still working on our problems and issues and ways to fix them.w Many times the problem we all have is our inability to listen.

We also have an abundance of old ball players in all of our towns. Some I hate to say just don’t get involved with our sports programs and then some you couldn’t run them off. Let’s take the Crisp County Booster Club. If you go to a meeting on any given night you will see a retired superintendent of our school system Jay Brinson there, our Chief Superior Court Judge John Pridgen , Football Superstar Jamie Chambliss  , basketball star Charles Felton, Commissioner Larry Felton, retired coaches and on and on. I hesitate saying names because I am bound to leave many off but you get my point.

Our kids deserve to have the very best coaching staffs we can get them and as much financial and civic support as we as a community can muster. To me that’s our job. Kids studying and getting their lessons and practicing their sports that’s their job.

There is an old cliché that goes along with this line of thinking. If you are going to build a house you don’t need your Preacher you need a carpenter if you want to get saved go find your Preacher. You ask those who KNOW.  We are all in this together trying to build winning baseball, basketball, football, soccer, tennis programs you name it we play it. Old coaches are here and will always lend a hand if you don’t mind asking and you just might learn something. Well let me rephrase that I am certain you will learn something. “ Ask and you shall  receive.”