Chattahocchee Tech

Before coaching lacrosse, however, Dennis had to learn the game. He laughs when he says, “The first lacrosse game I saw, I was coaching. I just kind of watched the other coach out of the corner of my eye and mimicked him.” He fell in love with the fast-paced game in no time. “I cannot say if I added a huge amount of knowledge of the game, but what I did offer was a relationship with these kids. I got to know them all every day at school, and many of them came into my classroom and ate lunch with me.” Over the ten years Dennis coached the Woodstock lacrosse team, he saw the team double in size, make it to the state playoffs three times, and advance to the Sweet Sixteen and then the Elite Eight. Most importantly, Dennis says, “We coaches were able to watch boys becoming men. We hope we helped guide them to be men of strong character.” He says it was a great ride full of beautiful memories and a few tough ones. When asked for standouts in all the different personalities that came through the program, Dennis laughs again. “It’s like asking who your favorite child is. They all are, for differing reasons.” Some of Dennis’s former players had great words to say about him as their coach and friend. Reagan Smith, a current City of Atlanta police officer, says, “Coach Conway taught me patience, mental strength, life lessons, and so much more. I would go to Coach for almost everything. He never asked for anything in return. He helped me with my senior project, which was having a fundraiser. We held the event at his beautiful home and raised almost two thousand dollars to donate to the Multiple Sclerosis Society. Coach is a friend, a mentor, a wealth of knowledge, and to me, he’s family.” Reagan continues to visit Dennis and Leana to catch up whenever he gets a chance.

uuu Conor O’Sullivan, M.D., recalls, “Coach Conway was beloved by all us guys who were lucky enough to be on a team with him. Learning about the struggles he had to deal with daily and setbacks we saw him go through was a big motivation for me to go into medicine.” Like many of the other lacrosse players, Conor spent many of his lunch hours in Dennis’s special-education classroom. The effects of those lunches were felt on many levels. Dennis and the boys were bonding and the players were also exposed to students they would not have met otherwise. Seeing their coach treat with dignity and respect kids who had been separated by society made the players see the kids in a new light. As Conor put it, “The positivity through adversity that Coach Conway demonstrates is something too powerful to be verbally taught.” Hunter Forbes is another of Dennis’s players who went on to play Division One lacrosse with the Jacksonville University Dolphins. He graduated in four years with an MBA and has a successful career in sports management. Hunter has a close relationship with Dennis, not only as a player but also as an employee. Hunter worked for two summers as Dennis and Leana’s personal assistant, or as Leana calls it, “the house elf.” Hunter did laundry, took Dennis to physical therapy, and worked at the Fair Trade Coffee stand, Coach’s Corner, that Dennis started at the farmer’s market in Woodstock. He was basically Dennis’s hands and feet. Hunter says, “For two summers I was with Coach pretty much every day. What stands out in my mind is that I never remember thinking once, “’Oh, Coach is having a bad day’ or ‘Coach must not be feeling good.’ Coach was always the same nice, joking guy

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