Sports was something I always love, but had little time to enjoy. I played football basketball, and ran track during my freshman year in high school. But with the death of my father  I started working odd jobs since I was fifteen years old and when I turn sixteen I started working forty hours a week.  However,  I did enjoy playing softball for our church and coached the girl’s team because my two sisters love softball. Later on in my years as a store manager I took up and fell in love with golf.

One of the questions I was asked during my interview for my teaching was if I ever played basketball or coach. My answer was yes but, it had had been a long time ago since I played . However, the school needed an assistant coach for the boy’s basketball team and if I got the teaching position I was asked if I would be willing to coach the seventh grade team. At that time an assistant coach was paid two hundred dollars a season, The answer of course was yes, since I really needed a teaching position.

During my eight years at Herschel Jones I coached all but one year, It was during the years I was an assistant under Coach Johnson that I learned the true art of coaching. During the five of those years my wife also coached the seventh grade girls so basketball became a big part of our life during November thru February. Two of our daughters even had cheerleader uniforms made by their grandmother and would cheer with the school’s cheerleaders during the season. The friendships I made with the players and other teachers and administrators during this period were great. As I look back on these years I realized that the relationships I developed with the students as a coach made me a better teacher.