Sports Digest9 FALL 2015
PREMIER ISSUE
Clarence Morgan The Man, The Myth,
The Legend
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What’s Inside
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Editor’s Thoughts Publisher’s Thoughts Clarence Morgan: The Man, The Myth, The Legend Laine Moody Bragg Zach Quinney: Rising Star
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1995: The Last Year The Rebels Stood Alone
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SEHS Band
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High School Athletes
ECHS Band Effingham County Rec and Parks Turns 40
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contributors Natalie McAlister is a life long Effingham resident. She has a great love of photography. Taking photos of family and friends sparked Natalie’s desire to become a professional photographer. Since then, her passion has grown to child and newborn photography. She is a wife and mother of two. She volunteers her time weekly to a local food bank. Natalie is also a Avon representative. Casie Wilson is an Effingham County native and aspiring journalist. She’s a team player, and her passion for people and their stories is a driving force in her writing and studies. An honors student at the University of Georgia, Casie is pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism, a minor in Sociology and a certificate in Global Health. She has contributed to UGA’s independent student newspaper, The Red & Black, as a Variety writer and specialized in community events and lifestyle features. In her spare time she enjoys spending time with her young nieces and drinking lots of coffee.
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Julie Hales owner/publisher julie@idpmagazines.com Jeff Whitten editor jeff@idpmagazines.com
Lane Gallegos graphic designer lane@idpmagazines.com Lea Allen administrative assistant circulation lea@idpmagazines.com DiAnna Jenkins account executive dianna@idpmagazines.com
staff
Effingham Sports Digest is proudly produced by:
Lea Allen
Lane Leopard
DiAnna Jenkins
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Write to us and tell us what you think. Effingham Sports Digest welcomes all letters to the editor. Please send all letters via email to Jeff Whitten at jeff@idpmagazines.com, or mail letters to P.O. Box 1742, Rincon, GA 31326. Letters to the editor must have a phone number and name of contact. Phone numbers will not be published. ARTICLE SUBMISSIONS Effingham Sports Digest welcomes story ideas from our readers. If you have a story idea, or photo essay you would like to share, please submit ideas and material by emailing Jeff Whitten at jeff@idpmagazines.com Stories or ideas for stories must be submitted via email, and we only feature people, places and things in Effingham County.
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Effingham Sports Digest | FALL 2015 07
EDITOR’S Thoughts Julie Hales loves sports. I’ve covered a lot of them. That’s about the only way to explain how we got from a conversation back in late April to the magazine you’re holding in your hands right now. One minute, I’m working for a certain newspaper corporation. Two weeks later, I’m working for Julie at Independence Day Publishing and helping to produce Effingham Magazine, Pooler Magazine, Beaufort Lifestyle and Chatham Isles Living. And now this, the newest of the bunch: Effingham Sports Digest. ESD is a quarterly publication aimed at highlighting this community’s athletes, whether they play prep sports or rec sports, or run or jump or Jeff Whitten, EDITOR swim or - you get the idea. It’s digest-sized, not only to make it easier to carry around, but also as a tribute of sorts to those days when you could subscribe to such worthy publications from the 1950s, 60s and 70s as Baseball Digest and Football Digest and read feature stories about the top players in both the MLB and NFL. But while we respect those classic magazines, we’ve done ESD in our own way, because the goal always is to stay true to what made Julie such a success in the first place, and that’s to highlight the people who make a community what it is. Besides, most good sports stories are really about the people who play them. The living, breathing, beating heart of sports isn’t a statistic or offensive scheme or Georgia High School Association rule, it’s the running back fighting for an extra yard to keep a drive alive, the softball pitcher battling to keep a slim lead her teammates gave her, the runner who finds the courage to keep moving forward when every inch of his body is telling him to stop. That’s what makes sports more than just games. It’s what makes them important. We think you’ll enjoy this first lineup of stories. They represent some of the best Effingham County has to offer and this is just the beginning. We’ll do this again in a few months. To those we’ve included in this issue, my thanks for letting us into your lives. You’re an inspirational bunch. And in the interest of full disclosure, I was a reporter here in 1995 when the Rebels were the only team in town. That football season was something else, and it ended far too soon. To readers, I hope you enjoy this. It represents the hard work of a number of people, and in that regard I’d like to thank Julie, Lane Leopard, Lea Allen, DiAnne Jenkins, Peg Beekman, Penny Redmond and our intern, Casie Wilson, who is now safely back at UGA. I’d also like to thank my wife Beverly, for letting me give this a try.
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PUBLISHER’S Thoughts
INTRODUCING EFFINGHAM SPORTS DIGEST I honestly don’t believe that anyone could rain on my parade today. If I am at the point of writing this, it means it is only a matter of hours before the very first issue of Effingham Sports Digest is on the way to the printer. I remember about this time 9 years ago, I was working on the very first issue of Effingham Magazine. I was definitely one excited girl. But, honestly, I think I am more excited today with Julie Hales, PUBLISHER the “birth” of Effingham Sports Digest. I began playing softball in Effingham when I was 8 years old. It was a family affair. I played with my two sisters. My father was the coach. My mom was our biggest cheerleader, never missing a game. I also had the privilege of playing softball all 4 years of high school. I was very proud to be an ECHS Rebel...and still am. Once my “playing days” were over, I coached many teams in the county. From 8 year olds to adults. The 8 year olds were easier....not as much talking back. All jokes aside, the ladies team I coached were LADIES. We were fortunate enough to play in many places. From Springfield to Statesboro to Macon to Atlanta to Roanoke, Virginia, these ladies always represented Effingham County with pride. So, with the knowledge of playing both rec and high school sports, I know all too well the many people in this community that play huge roles in both. I also know that there are many unsung heroes amongst these groups, from athletes to coaches, referees to umpires, scorekeepers to concessions....the list is endless. Effingham Sports Digest will give us the opportunity to feature these people. This issue will be the first of many to come. We will be a quarterly publication, beginning with this fall issue. We will follow with a winter issue in November, then a spring and summer issue in 2016. I want to give a shout out to my staff. Each and everyone of them had a hand in this...and each of them deserve a pat on the back. Thanks Jeff , Lane, Lea, DiAnna and Peg...you guys are amazing and I appreciate all you do! We hope you enjoy reading this as much as we enjoyed putting it together for you!
Effingham Sports Digest | FALL 2015 09
Clarence M
The Man, The
THE LEG
Morgan Myth
GEND
story by jeff whitten photos by natalie mcalister
S
ome things are easy to do. Picking our very first Effingham Sports Digest Sportsman of the Year is one of those things. Clarence Morgan, come on down. Morgan, currently the director of Effingham County Recreation and Parks, has unselfishly given his time and talents to the people of Effingham County for more than 40 years and in a variety of roles. As athlete, teacher, coach, volunteer and as the longtime head of ECRP, Morgan has directly and indirectly affected the lives of thousands of children and adults since the late 1960s, forever enriching their lives through the joy of sport and by emphasizing the importance of fair play and fair treatment to all. That’s no small thing. One of the definitions of a sportsman is “a person who exhibits qualities especially esteemed in those who engage in sports, as fairness, courtesy, good temper, etc.” That’s Morgan in a nutshell. That’s Morgan from the top of his head to the tips of his toes. “When you’ve been around as many people as I’ve been around over all these years, you learn that everybody’s important,” Morgan said. A much abriged history It started in Shawnee. That’s where Morgan grew up, spending nights listening to broadcasts of the New York Yankees on the radio - he can rattle off the names of the players from those teams and remains a Yankees fan despite his deep Southern roots. Morgan attended Effingham County schools before graduating from Effingham County High School in 1964, having played a few
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years of varsity basketball and not much else. “I didn’t play any rec league sports other than church league softball in my early teen years because living in Shawnee made it impossible to play youth sports, because of the travel. It was just too far,” Morgan said, and it might be instructive here to note that he was painfully shy as a child because of a speech impediment. At 16, Morgan was asked by Eunice DeWitt to give a speech at his church, Turkey Branch Baptist and did, and found over time that public speaking was something he could handle. As for sports, Morgan made up for lost time at Georgia Southern College, as it was then known. He played every intramural sport he could in Statesboro, was even “questioned on why I didn’t go out for the basketball team. I told them it was because there were too many good ball players on that team,” he said. By 1967 Morgan, still a student, was part of a group of sports-minded Effingham Countians including Leon Zipperer, Noel Conaway and Porky Worrell, who had teamed up to run the Effingham County Youth Athletic Association, and a future recreation department guru was born. Morgan graduated from Southern in 1969 with a bachelor of science in education and embarked upon what would become a 30-year career as a teacher and coach and athletic director, first at Effingham Junior High School in January, 1970, coaching girl’s basketball, then at Springfield Central Elementary, and then at either Effingham Middle or Effingham High, while also serving in the Air National Guard. Morgan helped the system get through integration, coached teams at various levels - including a 12-year run as the ECHS baseball coach - and was a key fundraiser for various athletic projects, all while still working with the recreation department as a volunteer and coaching tennis classes in Springfield at the sug-
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gestion of former mayor Doris Flythe. He left his mark. “When I took over the baseball program at ECHS they didn’t have a field and we went to Pineora to play,” Morgan recalled. “So my goal was to build a baseball field.” They did. Effingham County High School’s first baseball field - by the bus shop off Highway 119 - was finished in 1977. “We built it, me and the parents, with the help of Dr. Moore and the county’s public works department.” Here it might be instructive to add that Morgan was, and is, a gifted fundraiser. He’s raised hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years for various teams, projects and programs. “I just had the knack,” he said. Two years earlier, in 1975, the Effingham County Recreation Department was formed. Morgan coached the county’s senior boys’ team to the state Georgia Recreation and Parks Association state title in 1976, the same year the Effingham County Midget Girls also won state (Effingham Sports Digest Publisher Julie Hales played on that team). That 1976 team stands out in Morgan’s memory because of the makeup of its players - kids who were white, black, and attended both public and private schools. “They became a team, they were friends,” he said. “That team meshed.” Morgan also began serving on the ECRD’s board of directors and took a leadership role, becoming a part time employee and serving a number of times as acting director as other directors came and went. It was a busy life. “I’d get up and drag three or four fields before I’d go to school,” Morgan said. “I always coached a football team, always coached a basketball team and always coached a spring sport. I don’t know how I did what I did, quite honestly.” Morgan’s career as a teacher and coach ended in 1999 due to health problems. He’s had a heart attack and some
“I love people, I love Effingham County. You put them together, that’s why I’m here.” Effingham Sports Digest | FALL 2015 13
scares - and open heart surgery, and 15 stents - but his work with the recreation department continued on, though he did take a job with the YMCA for six weeks and also served for eight months at the Rincon Athletic Department before returning to ECRD, where he’s loved. Yes, loved. When Brenda Bruner, office manager for ECRP, as it is now called, heard Morgan was being named Sportsman of the Year, she almost cried. Maybe she did cry. Her eyes definitely got a little misty. “What a great man and boss,” Bruner said. “It is an honor and privelege to work with him. He loves his job and Effingham County. He works harder than most but wants things done right for the County. Athletics are a big part of his job but he is all about family activites with special events offered throughout the year. Mr. Morgan gives 110 percent at all events. You will see him in the concession stand, working on fields and greeting coaches. When and if he ever retires, someone will have big shoes to fill.” Morgan plans on sticking around a few more years, wants to see the new recreation complex begun and can talk about that for hours. He’s still got his health, and his wife and kids have long ago resigned themselves to Morgan’s role as the man who oversees recreation in Effingham County. By the way, Morgan’s wife is Pamela, and they’ve been married 31 years. His daughter is April Lawson, son-in-law is Walt Lawson, and Morgan has two grandkids - Tyler Wilson Lawson, already playing rec soccer and T-ball; and Morgan James Lawson, who is only 2 months old but will get the hang of ECRP soon enough, perhaps. And Morgan might still be at the office, scheduling games or making sure things are done right. “I think I’m at a point now where if it ever gets to be a chore to come to work I’ll retire,” he said. “It hasn’t been yet, and I don’t think it ever will be. Once we get the new complex, I’ll see what
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my health is like, I’m still trucking, so the good Lord’s kept me around for a reason.” A player in his day For a long time, Morgan played adult softball until the cows came home starting when he was 15 and up until his early 40s. “I played with one group of players and my best friend, Lamar Allen,” Morgan said. “We were talking about softball and a few of us (Lamar most importantly) decided to start up a team. We only picked players who were good but that we also got along with.” The team started out as The Patriots, then the name changed to Arden Chevrolet, because sponsor Tommy Arden’s dad owned Arden Chevrolet, and wound up being B&B of Sylvania because Curtis and Sandra Brannen were sponsors and Curtis was a coach. “Lamar always coached those teams and I admire him for that,” Morgan said. “Where I love to coach youth because adults are the worst to coach - they love to get their feelings on their shoulder Lamar did not care, he just wanted to win.” The team included Allen and Arden and Tommy Allen, Porter Seckinger, Bobby Rahn, Al Allen, Darwin Webb, Mike and Don Wilson, BIlly Mingledorff and Arden Reiser, among others. “We would love to play and socialize as players and families. I was a single, old bachelor the majority of those years,” Morgan said. “During that time, I also loved to play in the Church League of Effingham. We played our games at the Fair Ground in Springfield. I played for Turkey Branch Methodist coached by the late Ronnie Weaver. I also enjoyed playing with different teams, such as Lakeside with Bob and Kitty Lipe. I played many a game in Oakridge, Marlow, Meldrim, Guyton, Oliver, Newington and Sylvania. And after B&B called it quits, I played
Clarence holding grandson Morgan James Lawson, 3 months old. His wife of 31 years Pamela, and grandson Tyler Lawson, age 4. with New Providence.” By the way, Morgan’s also a member of the Effingham County Sports Hall of Fame, which he started in 2003, and in the Effingham County High School Hall of Fame. Now he’s in ours. Kudos from, and too Ask Morgan to name names and he worries he’ll leave someone out. If that happens, it’s not intentional - and is probably the fault of the writer rather than Morgan, who begins with Cecil Usher and Joan Kessler, the former an assistant school superintendent, the latter worked in purchasing for Effingham County, Morgan said. “I had a great relationship with both of them. They talked me into going to revive the Central Junior High Athletic Department.” There are men such as Lamar Allen and the aforementioned Zipperer, both of whom were friends and teammates
and devoted to recreational sports in Effingham County. There is Dr. Franklin Goldwire, who was Morgan’s boss for 17 years and “very seldom told me no when I needed to do something.” Morgan also names DeWitt, and former county commission chairman George Allen and Noel Conaway and Jacan Brown, the former office administrator whose death in 2009 shook Morgan and still makes him sad. “She was the backbone of this place, and ran the office,” Morgan said. “People just don’t realize what happens at Effingham Recreation Department with so few people to work with, it’s people like her and Brenda - she kind of took care of the 8:30 a.m. to 5 part of the office ...” Morgan refused to single out athletes, citing a fear he’ll overlook someone and that’s not a good thing. But it’s not hard to find people to give Morgan a public pat on the back. Effingham County Tax Commissioner Linda McDaniel called him the county’s
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“Gentle Giant.” “I’ve known and worked with Clarence many years and found him to be true to his word, someone on which you could depend and a dear friend. He is always the same today as he was yesterday and someone I want on my team,” she said. Effingham County Principal Yancey Ford put it this way: “Coach Morgan has been very instrumental in the continued success of Athletics in Effingham County. His desire to see all kids be successful is evidenced through his tireless efforts and continued work with all schools and agencies. From a personal standpoint, I want to thank Coach Morgan for what he has done for our community and the children in our school system.” And then there’s this, from Bonnie Dixon, director of the United Way Coastal Empire - Effingham. “Clarence has been a committed volunteer since the establishment of United Way in Effingham in 1990. Over this 25-year tenure he has served in several capacities including Advisory Board member and Campaign Chair. His United Way campaign leadership for the years 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 produced a total over $977,000. These funds were instrumental in the success of so many vital health and human service programs that are helping to make Effingham County a wonderful community for all.” In addition to Morgan’s help in maintaining the partnership between the two agencies, Dixon said he’s also a willing volunteer. “We love Clarence because we don’t usually have to ask for his help - he sees or hears of the need, knows what he can commit to, and steps up to help. He has such a vast knowledge of this community, both business and people, that I am convinced he knows everyone. Trust me, when Clarence says ‘I can handle that’ – he will, he does, and in record time.” Dixon said she’s witnessed firsthand Morgan’s devotion to the people in Effingham.
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“Over the years I have seen so many examples of Clarence’s love and concern for this community and not only in the area of recreation and sports. He has been there for children and families at Christmas with Santa’s sack overflowing with toys and gifts. He has lent a huge hand to help individuals and families suffering with critical health issues. He has worked tirelessly to provide books to pre-school and elementary age children. He has helped to gather and distribute tons of school supplies for students. He has even donned some crazy costumes, like the Tin Man, Batman and a Baseball Player, in the name of United Way fundraising. So I end by saying I don’t think there is anything that Clarence Morgan would not do for his community. He is one of Effingham’s best.” Finally, there’s this, from ECRP’s Jeff Lonon, “Anything he can do to the betterment of this community, he’s going to do, he’s always strived to do,” Lonon said. “I think a lot of times he doesn’t get the credit he deserves for that.” There’s a reason for all this affection, of course. When you truly love something, it generally loves you back. And that takes us full circle, back to a quote from the man who actually embodies those qualities we look for in those we look up to. He’s an honest, forthright, caring man who rarely loses his temper and has a kind word for everybody, because he knows everybody deserves a kind word. “I love people, I love Effingham County. You put them together, that’s why I’m here,” Morgan said. “It’s like I said. Everybody is important to me. One thing I never wanted to be said about me is that I treated people differently because of where they were from or who they were. No matter where you’re from or who you are, I wanted you to feel important. And I think I did that over the years. I think I did my best with everybody.”
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Laine Moody Bragg story by jeff whitten photo by julie hales
I
f you see a certain blonde woman running through a certain subdivision on a certain day, you might be tempted to ask yourself what she’s doing out there, because she really doesn’t look like a runner these days, maybe never looked like a runner at all. But Laine Bragg is a runner all the same. She’s finished 27 races since her 40th birthday a few years back. She’s run 5Ks and 10ks and half marathons. She will run more races this fall, and this winter, and in the springs and summers to come. Bragg will run them for herself and for those she loves. She will run them to raise funds and honor loved ones and keep her sanity, all sometimes at the same time. But Bragg started running for the most elemental of reasons: after giving birth to her daughter Kaylan in 2010 she put on weight.
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“I had a baby at 40 and I felt I had to do something to get myself back in shape,” Bragg said. “I’d played team sports growing up, but I’d never been a runner in my life. But a race came up for autism awareness on Hutchinson Island and that hit me. That lit my fire. I have a nephew near and dear to my heart who has autism, and I wanted to do this for him. I didn’t know if I could run it or not, I just showed up with his mother and with Kaylan in a stroller. Though I did walk some of it, that was my first 5K. It took place in October of 2011. That was the beginning of an obsession.” Those who run know what Bragg means about obsession. You get hooked. “Once you feel it, once you experience it, you love it,” she said. Bragg finished the Watermelon Crawl, her first 10K, nine months later, on July 4, 2012. That led to something else, as running often does. “There was an amazing lady at the
10K who was 70-something, and she said she’d been running for 25 years. She told me about the Rock and Roll Marathon in Savannah. I didn’t know anything about it. She told me I should try it, and my first thought was there was no way I could do that. 13.1 miles. That’s crazy.” By the time Bragg got home that July 4, she’d made up her mind. “I told my husband I was going to do the Rock and Roll Marathon.” Bragg ran that race Nov. 3, 2012. She was one of thousands there. In the four months leading up to it, she trained by logging 543 miles. There was no way she wasn’t going to finish that first half marathon. “I ran five days a week every week,” Bragg said. “I over trained, but I knew if I got there and couldn’t finish it I wouldn’t be able to stand myself.” Bragg not only finished her first Rock and Roll half marathon, she weathered a leg cramp to complete the 13.1-mile run
in 2 hours, 43 minutes and 17 seconds, a more-than-respectable time for a woman in her 40s who doesn’t think she’s a runner. She also got another lesson in what makes running what it is. “There was this man who stopped and helped me when I got the cramp,” Bragg said. “I was worried about my time, I was mad, but he didn’t care about his time, he took time to make sure I finished the race. He helped me.” Running, you see, is a community all its own. And it doesn’t exclude. It includes. Bragg said she admires Savannah runner Michelle LaFluer because the two are close to the same age yet LaFleur is one of the fastest distance runners in the Coastal Empire. “At the end of one of my races I went up to her - I’d won my age group only because she won the whole race - and told her she was inspiring to me. She could’ve thanked me and went on about her day
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and that would’ve been fine, but she told me I inspired her because she’d seen me running and pushing a stroller. She said I didn’t have to be at her fitness level or run her time to be inspiring, that I was out there running was inspiring, too. She was very kind to do that, and that’s such a big part of what I like about running, the way people lift each other up.” The sport of running is competitive, but not cutthroat. Far from it. If you run, you matter, no matter how slow. “When you cross the finish line, whether you’re first or last, people are cheering for you even if they don’t know you, and I had never experienced that playing softball or basketball or volleyball. You cheer for your team but not the other team, oh no. My favorite part of running is to see people so supportive of each other, no matter their fitness level, their age, no matter what,” Bragg said. Running for a reason Many runs help raise awareness and funds for causes, whether it’s a charity or awareness or to honor heroes. Shortly after her first half marathon, Bragg ran her first run for pancreatic cancer, the PurpleStride 5K. “My grandmother passed away quickly from the disease,” Bragg said. “From the time we found out she had pancreatic cancer until she died was six weeks. It was horrible, we didn’t have time to be ready for that. So I decided to go do it for her, for sentimental reasons. The race was at Tybee Island, and it was a very emotional race.” In 2013, Bragg and her daughter ran the race again. This time, Bragg’s mother, Kay Moody was there. “Mama went with me to light the candle and have a prayer vigil, the whole nine yards,” Bragg recalled. “That was the race Kaylan ended up running with me for the first time out of a stroller and my mother witnessed it, and that was so special to me.” Kaylan, by the way, hasn’t even en-
22 FALL 2015 | Effingham Sports Digest
tered kindergarten yet and she’s finished three 5Ks. “She loves it,” Bragg said. And here is where this story takes a sharply painful turn, because Bragg’s mother was recently diagnosed with pancreatic cancer of the worst kind. “My momma is my rock,” Bragg said. “I just can’t imagine a world she’s not in. We’re seeking treatment and praying for a miracle” Not suprisingly, Bragg will run another PurpleStride 5K this fall, but it won’t be at Tybee since the race won’t be held there in 2015. There are a couple in Florida, and one in Atlanta, and Bragg intends to make one. She hopes Kay is able to attend as well. “I was really hoping they’d have it here at Tybee and we could do it as a team for my mother, have t-shirts made. And I
hope we’re still battling in November, I pray to God we’re still battling ... I hope this race is in her honor. She has four kids and 15 grandkids, 13 great grandkids, and we’re extremely close knit, so my goal is to get all my family who possibly can out to do this race with me, but if I have to go by myself, I will.” Just so you know: Bragg also hopes everyone who reads this story lifts up a prayer for her mother. “I don’t know if this is politically correct or not, but if 80 people read the piece of paper the story is printed on, that means I’ve got 80 people that day praying for her,” she said. If she can do it Sometimes, Bragg says she’s too heavy. She’s knows she’s not the only one. She knows some who read her story might be looking for a way to get fit. There’s no secret to it, Bragg said. Just do it. Take that first step. “If someone is overweight today like me and is thinking about doing what I did, my suggestion is to go out and do it. Just do it. The first step out the door is absolutely the hardest. But you turn that step out the door into a walk, then you become a brisk walker, then a walk-runner, then you become a runner. Most people aren’t going to walk out the door and go run a 5K. But you can walk it first.” And don’t ever let anybody tell you that you can’t be a runner. “I gaurantee you anybody who questions you on what you’re doing never went out to try it themselves, because if they’ve tried it then they’re not going to ask you why you do it,” Bragg said. “If they do it, they’ll know why you do it.” There’ve been two more Rock and Roll Marathons since Bragg’s first, and a fourth is on the way, because she’s gearing up for another half marathon, and some other races in between, perhaps. Once a woman who ran every race she could find, Bragg hasn’t run a single 5K since March.
“Life kind of got in the way of running, but I need to find that time to run whether life’s in the way or not,” she said. “Because there’s no better feeling in the world than when you complete that run. You start that first mile and your body’s telling you ‘not today,’ but by the third mile you’re saying ‘yeah, I got this.’” And so Bragg runs and will continue to run. She runs for therapy, for escape, for fitness and to honor and remember those she loves and help some she’s never met. She also runs to prove things to herself. “I had to get to a point I was running my own race,” Bragg said. “I told my husband this is not about me trying to beat the person next to me or somebody I went to school with. I’m beating me. The whole ‘starting-this-at-40 thing, and people telling me I couldn’t do it.” So if you’re driving in a certain subdivision some day and you see the blonde woman in her 40s out there running, now you know why. She runs because she’s a runner. “I’ll never be the fastest runner, the smallest runner, and I had to get myself to a place where I could call myself a runner, because I’d think I wasn’t really a runner,” Bragg said. “But I learned if you’re starting races, and you’re finishing them, you’re a runner.”
Effingham Sports Digest | FALL 2015 23
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24 FALL 2015 | Effingham Sports Digest
Zach Quinney:
Rising Star story by jeff whitten photos by natalie mcalister
I
f you’re a football fan and you haven’t heard the name Zach Quinney yet, don’t worry. Chances are you will. Quinney, from Guyton, is entering his junior year at Savannah Christian on a serious roll, having just been named the No. 4 prospect in the country by one recruiting service after he turned in an MVP performance in July at at NUC’s Elite Prospect Camp in Houston, Texas. Quinney’s camp heroics followed a sophomore season in which the offensive and defensive lineman was named second-team All Region 3-A and earned All-Area mention after helping the Red Raiders to a 10-2 record and yet another trip to the postseason. All of which is just another way of saying Quinney, a 6-foot-5, 265-pound tackle with room to grow, is getting noticed. “Zach is on the short list of every college football program in the country for upcoming 2016 -2017 offense linemen,” SCPS coach Donald Chumley said. “Zach’s hard work has put him into position to not only play in college but to play in college at the highest level.” Chumley, who has a career coaching record of 100-25-1 entering the 2015 season, knows of what he speaks. The former Groves Rebel standout went on to play defensive tackle at Georgia and played in both the NFL and the CFL before getting into high school coaching, first at BC, then at SCPS. where he’s kept the Red Raiders among the state’s elite and led the Red Raiders to the 2011 Class A title in 2011. And while Chumley seems a hardnosed, crusty sort, he practically waxes poetic when talking about Quinney, who Chumley said was clearly determined to be good from the first minute he showed up at SCPS after attending South Effingham Middle School. “Zach came in here as a tall, slender student athlete with a great desire to be the best he could be in the classroom and
26 FALL 2015 | Effingham Sports Digest
on the field,” Chumley said. “Right away his desire and commitment to excellence made everyone at SCPS realize this young man was special. In the classroom he has excelled in our college prep requirements and is one of the top students in his class. On the football field, he’s gone from a 185-pound starting offensive tackle as a ninth grader to a 265-pound starting offensive and defensive lineman as a rising 11th grader.” That’s not all Chumley had to say, either. “Colleges today are after the total package, the student-athlete that can excel on the field and in the classroom. “ he added. “Zach is the role model for every young student-athlete that has dreams to continue to play this great game in the future. He’s a great young man that is a pleasure to coach and he is only a junior. God has blessed me as a coach.” For his part, Quinney played for some fine coaches before stepping foot on the SCPS practice field. There was his father, “who got me into football when I was 6 and is the reason I am who I am,” and has inspired his son to no end by telling him through hard work anything is possible. There’s also Ken Walsh, who worked with Quinney when he played rec ball for the Effingham Jaguars, helping craft and shape his love of the game. “My Dad and Ken Walsh, if it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t be where I am now. They put me in a great situation, teaching me the fundamentals.” And now there’s position coach Wayne Munch and head coach Chumley, “definitely one of the best coaches in the state,” Quinney said. “He knows what he’s talking about. He played at Georgia, he’s played for some great coaches and I think that’s why he’s such a great coach.” Quinney, who’s always been tall but is now adding weight and muscle, may have been born with the frame of a basketball player but he’s an offensive lineman by both heart and inclination. “I’ve always loved the violence of the game, and it teaches great discipline,”
Quinney said. “And offensive tackle is definitely my favorite position, I just feel it’s a really important position to play. You protect the quarterback. It requires patience, but you also have to be really violent to play it.” That’s on the field. Off the field, Quinney is an honor roll student with a 3.5 GPA who rates math as his favorite class and is considering studying physical therapy when he gets to college. And if there’s one athlete Quinney considers a role model, it’s Tim Tebow, the former Florida and NFL quarterback Quinney admires as much for his Christian beliefs as for his on-field heroics. But Quinney’s still a teen, loves the movie “The Waterboy,” one of the world’s funniest football movies, loves to eat
hamburgers and drink vanilla milkshakes, and he could still be growing. Quinney said there are estimates he’ll reach 6-foot-7 and 280 pounds by the time he graduates from high school in 2017. Before that day comes, he’ll also play basketball and compete in discus and the shot put later in the year to help keep him in football shape while he works toward the college offers yet to come. So far, those have been surprisingly light, but Quinney’s still young and the pace is expected to quicken. On that note, here’s a quick memo to UGA coach Mark Richt. You might want to recruit this kid now, before it’s too late.
Effingham Sports Digest | FALL 2015 27
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30 FALL 2015 | Effingham Sports Digest
1995: The Last Year The Rebels Stood Alone
E
story by jeff whitten ven now, Hayne Brant thinks Effingham County High School’s 1995 football team would have made some serious noise in the 1996 state
playoffs. Brant, now headmaster at Robert Toombs Christian Academy, was a hard-nosed, hard hitting linebacker on the 1995 team - just one of a number of local kids who came of age playing football together, first on rec teams, then at Effingham County Middle School, and finally at ECHS, where they played under Hall of Fame coach Bob Griffth. Four of those local kids were particularly close: Brant, quarterback Shaun Helmey, receiver and defensive back Justin Redmond and defensive lineman Shawn Hunter. “We grew up together, played together and hung out together,” Brant recalled, and Redmond put it this way. “We definitely had a strong connection. We’d played together since we were 7, 8 years old. I still have a lot of good memories of playing football with those guys.” All four were juniors in 1995, and were among the nearly 30 on the ECHS roster that season who would help give the community a season to remember. The Rebels finished 8-2 in Region 3-AAAA (B) and then won the 1995 Region 3-AAAA title with an 8-7 win over Bendictine in the region playoffs. That set the stage for a first-round playoff game at the old Rebel Field against visiting Valdosta, and an estimated
10,000 people crammed into every nook and cranny to watch that game at a time when the county’s population was only around 30,000. Those at the game saw the Rebels keep it close before falling 28-14, ending the season and the program’s status as the only one in the county. Everyone knew South Effingham High School was slated to open in the fall of 1996, but no one knew exactly how the attendance lines would be drawn, not in the immediate aftermath of the Rebels’ final game. When South Effingham opened next fall, Brant and Helmey were among those who became Mustangs, while Redmond and Hunter stayed at ECHS. “We went from being best friends and teammates to instant rivals,” Brant said, putting it into a nutshell. But this story isn’t about what took place in 1996. It’s about now, and it’s about what that 1995 season looks like now to some of those who made it happen, and what they look back on and wonder. Success stories Both Brant and Helmey went on to play college baseball - Helmey, a star pitcher, signed with UGA and in 1999 was one of five Bulldog pitchers to combine for the school’s 10th no-hitter in program history. In his senior year at UGA, the Bulldogs advanced to the College World Series under the legendary Ron Polk. These days, Helmey covers
Effingham Sports Digest | FALL 2015 31
a 37-county area for Neff Motivation, which sells awards and sportswear, and he and his wife Amanda Denmark Helmey live in Rosewell have two kids, Grayson and Kenzie. Brant, a standout catcher, played at Young Harris, then finished his college career at West Georgia and embarked upon a career as a baseball coach that saw him back at Young Harris, where he coached current Atlanta Braves outfielder Nick Markakis. He eventually become head baseball coach at Brewton Parker. Seven years ago, Brant left Brewton Parker and started teaching and coaching at Robert Toombs Christian Academy. And after four seasons as an assistant headmaster, Brant is in his first year as headmaster at the school in Mount Versnon, where he and his wife Holly live. They have a son, Trey, and a daughter, Campbell. Though he was recruited by Presbyterian, Redmond didn’t play a college sport, though he thought about walking on at Georgia Tech. Instead, Redmond got an engineering degree from the school and then earned an MBA from Babson College in Massachusetts. Redmond worked for Sprint Communications while living in Atlanta and Washington, D.C.; he was there on 9-11, before moving back home to the Coastal Empire in 2006. He’s now president and co-owner of Distribution Services International, a logistics and shipping company in Port Wentworth. He and his wife Jennifer live in Southbridge and have a son, Tyler, and two daughters, Jaime and Ansley. Hunter, a defensive lineman, was good enough to play football at West Georgia, where he spent four seasons, studying sports management and kinesiology. He then went on to a post baccalaureate, premed program at St. Louis University, and is now an exercise specialist and training director for a club in Atlanta that specializes in fitness and martial arts. “The ‘95 season was a special one,”
32 FALL 2015 | Effingham Sports Digest
Hunter said. “Most of us started playing together at the age of 5 or 6. I still talk to the guys from that team, even though we were split that last year. There’s still that bond.” The team included a host of talented juniors such as star running back Levi Scott III, who piled up 1,600 yards and was the region’s top running back, and safety Donte Hunter. But the offensive line was dominated by seniors, including tackle Stephen Stanley, an All-Region and All Coastal Empire pick who played three seasons at Georgia Southern after walking on. Stanley graduated from Georgia Southern in 2001 and now works as a
health inspector for Chatham County, and he and his wife Crystal live in Bloomingdale with their children Gavin, Kayleigh and Corbin. Stanley remembers that 1995 season, including a meeting after the team got off to a rocky start, going 1-2 and suffering a 1-point loss to Benedictine and a 25-19 loss at Bradwell Institute. That prompted the players to pull a closed door meeting minus the coaching staff and hash things out. “We always had these team meals at Bobbi D’s (where Rusty Pig is today) and we had a team meeting that Thursday after the loss to BC, no coaches allowed, and said that was it, we’re done losing,”
Stanley said. “We were getting a lot of press and a bunch of people were playing as individuals, and we decided that night that we needed to start playing as team because this was our last season as the only team in the county. That’s when you really saw what teamwork was, because everybody started pulling together and really just doing what was best for the team as a whole.” The coach Griffith won more than 200 games as a high school coach and is now in the Georgia Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame. He set the bar for the Effingham
Effingham Sports Digest | FALL 2015 33
County program, turning it from one that struggled to finish .500 into a region powerhouse that in 1987 advanced to the state Class AAAA championship. Ultimately, Griffith wound up leaving ECHS and finishing his coaching career at Appling County, where he led the Pirates on runs toward a state title - including a 1999 trip to the Class AA semifinals - before hanging up his coaching spurs and taking a job with Georgia Tech as its director of high school operations. He finally retired for good in 2014 and now lives in Statesboro with his wife Stella, and his daughter Cat, son Bob Jr. and nephew Bob Massey live nearby. A Virginia Tech grad and a Vietnam veteran, “Coach Griff” recalls the 1995 team as a hard-nosed, blue collar group that did what it had to do to win in one of the toughest regions in the state at the time. The Rebels played in 16-team 3-AAAA, which at the time was broken down into two subregions, each of which had its share of topflight programs. “Everybody kind of talks about our region not being real good, but back in the mid and late 80s our region either played for or won the South Georgia championship three or four years in a row. It was a pretty good region and had 16 teams in it at one time, and if you’re better than 16 teams then you’re pretty special.” Like his players, Griffith remembers a team that went into the season with high expectations, but it didn’t start out acording to script. “That was a team that started off kind of slow, but they really came together and played well,” he said, pointing to hardfought wins over Brunswick, Statesboro and Camden County. That win, and a Savannah High loss, gave the Rebels the region title, but they still had to play Benedictine in a region playoff game after falling to the Cadets 14-13 in September. “When we got into that region it was all Benedictine,” Griffish said. “Other teams came on strong, but originally it was all BC. We told our coaches back
34 FALL 2015 | Effingham Sports Digest
then when you’ve got somebody like Bendictine, you’re not going to beat them unless you’re a lot better than them. If you’re just as good a they are, you’re still going to lose. It was a matter of they just mentally feel like they can win, and you really don’t know if your kids believe that.” Effingham won it 8-7 in overtime under the old Georgia High School penetration rule, earning the chance to host Valdosta. To sum up the penetration rule in a sentence is almost impossible, but basically if neither team scores in overtime, the team that moves the ball deepest into the other team’s territory is the winner. Brant said a play by Helmey to keep a drive alive still stands out from that game. “Shaun probably had a scramble that seemed like it was a 30-second scramble, he was dipping and diving against BC for what was maybe four yards, but it stands out in my head because it kept the drive alive and got us a first down.” Griffth said he recalls the Rebels were well ahead in terms of yards. It was a monumental win for a program that once celebrated a 35-7 loss to BC because it was the first time Effingham had managed a touchdown in the series. “I can’t remember how many yards we won by, but we had a pretty good cushion there I think, “ Griffith recalled. “I remember the first year we beat them one of our boosters told me ‘if you beat those guys I’ll give you $1,000. We ended up winning, got the $1,000, got a weight machine and it worked great for a lot of years for us.” Epilogue The 28-14 loss to Valdosta in the first round of the AAAA playoffs was closer than the score indicted. Different players have different memories of what happened, but all recalled the atmosphere, and the number of players the Wildcats brought with them.
Many of the juniors on the 1995 Effingham County High School team played together on the 1987 Mini Pee Wee Rebels, among them Justin Redmond (29), Hayne Brant (7), Shaun Helmey (8) and Shawn Hunter (30). “I’ve never played in front of a crowd like that since,” Brant said. “And that’s through my years of playing college baseball and everything. When they came out of the locker room to warm up before the game, they were lined up on every yard line. They had something like 140 kids. That was one of the few times when I came out of a locker room I actually had butterflies in my stomach.” Now, some of those players keep in touch, some don’t. It’s par for the course as teens grow up and move on. But that 1995 team and those days were special, those who were a part of it say. “I can remember when I was a junior and one of the position coaches made a pep talk speech that said basically, these are the days you’re going to remember the rest of your lives,” Helmey said. “You’re brothers, you went through summer camp together, you’ve gone through all that sweat and practice together, and I remember thinking ‘yeah, yeah, right.’ But now that I’ve played four years of college baseball, well, he was right. College had a totally different feel to it. In high school, it seems like you spent a lot more time with the same guys, you’re in school together, you practice together, you play together and you’re hanging around each other outside of school together. It was a great time.”
Redmond, the engineer, said it’s hard to appreciate the moment in the middle of living it. “After it was over, what I didn’t expect was how big of a void it leaves in your life,” he said “We spent so much time together, it’s such a big part of what you did in life. People tell you to remember it and cherish it, but it’s hard to do it in the middle of it when you’re just a kid. It’s only afterward you understand how big a part of your life it is, and how big of a change it is, not to play anymore.” Griffith, who loves to golf and is a big Georgia Tech fan, remembers his time in Effingham fondly. He said he still has a number of good friends in Effingham County and might’ve come back to Effingham to live after retiring had it not been for his kids moving to Statesboro. “We enjoyed all those teams back then, and ‘95 was one of the special ones,” he said. The old adage says that time heals all wounds, and that seems applicable when it comes to “the split,” as it was called, when half that 1995 team’s 28 juniors were sent to newly opened South Effingham in the fall of 1996. But those who coached and played through it say they still sometimes wonder how that 1996 team would’ve done if those 28 seniors had played together.
Effingham Sports Digest | FALL 2015 35
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Sports Digest9
“Sportsman Of The Year” Clarence Morgan
From Publisher Julie Hales
As the publisher, I had the honor of choosing our first recipient of Effingham Sports Digest’s “Sportsman of the Year” award. For me, the decision was not hard. If you have participated in sports in Effingham County in the last 40 years, you have heard the name Clarence Morgan. Clarence has been in the recreation department before it was even a recreation department. For a total of 48 years, Clarence Morgan has been involved in making sure sports were a part of this community. Having played and coached in this county for many years, I have had the pleasure of knowing Clarence. As a child playing, all I knew was he was the man sitting behind the desk. As an adult playing and coaching, I learned to respect and admire that man behind the desk. Clarence Morgan has touched thousand of lives in Effingham County, including my own. He is a man of strength, hard work, loyalty and dedication. He is also a man of passion....passionate to make sure every person in Effingham County is given the opportunity to be involved in recreation. He is also passionate about those who have helped him along the way and to those who have left their mark in Effingham County sports history. He is the man who had the vision of starting the Effingham Recreation Sports Hall of Fame...and he made sure this vision became a reality. In my mind, Clarence Morgan is a legend. I am sure he is to many of you as well. It is with great honor, pride and love that I announce the very first recipient of the Effingham Sports Digest “Sportsman of the Year”.....Clarence Morgan, Executive Director of Effingham County Recreation and Parks.
Effingham Sports Digest | FALL 2015 37
SOUTH EFFINGHAM HIGH SCHOOL BAND
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story by casie wilson photos by natalie mcalister
015 has proven to be a year of growth for the South Effingham Marching Mustangs. As the band has grown in numbers and reputation over the years, its musicians grow up with it, learning and making memories that last a lifetime. This fall, the Marching Mustangs will explore this journey of adolescent self-discovery in their competitive show, “BRAVE.” “To put it simply, it’s our story,” said sophomore drum major Kiyah Adkins. “It’s the changes that we all go through as teens, it’s the obstacles we have to overcome.” The word “BRAVE” is an acronym for each of the show’s five movements: Bold, Resilient, Adversity, Venturous and Extraordinary. The band hopes to portray each piece’s theme through a variety of song selection. “Bold” kicks off the show with flare and an arrangement of “We Are Young” by Fun and “Symphony No. 2” by Khachaturian. “Resilient,” the show’s ballad, is a mashup of Sara Bareilles’ “Brave” and “True Colors” by Cyndi Lauper. The baseline of Queen’s “Under Pressure” is the main inspiration for the drum break in “Adversity.” “Venturous,” which focuses on taking on responsibilities in the real world, highlights Billy Joel’s “Pressure.” Extraordinary is still in the works. This show will also feature some voiceovers using quotes provided by the Marching Mustang’s student leadership, so those words can kind of tell their story as teenagers. The abstract concepts of “BRAVE”
38 FALL 2015 | Effingham Sports Digest
depart from the band’s usual story-telling show style. Last year’s show, “Nightmare,” followed one main character as she navigated a haunted dreamscape, complete with secret endings and plot twists as the competition season progressed. Much like the band itself, Marching Mustangs are always changing, always evolving and always taking it that next step further. They have been known to rework and revamp parts of their show midseason in years past as a way to keep both the audience and the marchers on their toes. “Chances are that every time you see us play, our show is going to be a little different.” Director of Bands Sean McBride. “It helps keep the kids’ mind in it. They always have something new to work on, and you don’t fall into the pit of ‘Okay, we’ve done this a million times.’ That’s very easy to do in marching band. You have this competitive show that you’re constantly cleaning and trying to get ready. We’ve found out years ago that if we keep tweaking it throughout the season, we’re always going up and don’t plateau.” This past year the Marching Mustangs graduated a good portion of their musicians and will return this year with a band of mostly underclassmen. The band welcomed 40 freshmen to the field this year, and McBride is eager to watch them grow in the band program. “We’re seeing freshmen rookies who sprint back to their spots after water breaks,” he said, “and it’s nice to know
Effingham Sports Digest | FALL 2015 39
that those are going to be the kids leading this band in a couple of years.” Although some would see so many young, less experienced marchers as a hindrance, McBride looks forward to seeing what this year’s ensemble can accomplish. “Honestly, I’m looking forward to seeing the growth within our band,” he said. “With so many young marchers, it’s always great to see how far they’ve come in their time together. Also, a young band has a lot of energy behind what they do because they have something new to look forward to in each performance. Everything is so new to them.” Last year the SEHS Marching Mustang Band was the runner-up in every competition they went to, from the East Georgia Marching Competition in Statesboro to Effingham County High’s Coast Empire Classic to the Grovetown Warrior Invitational. “We even went to the Georgia Marching Band Series at Mercer University in Macon, and still placed second,” McBride said. “We were half a point from first place, but it was an awesome last performance of the season.” Despite the lack of Grand Champion-
40 FALL 2015 | Effingham Sports Digest
ship titles earned last season, McBride is not disappointed. “You don’t always win, that’s just a given,” he said. “It’s more important for the kids to walk off the field and feel like they’ve accomplished something great.” And while the Marching Mustangs hope to line the shelves and walls of their band room with even more trophies this season, they won’t lose sight of what’s important any time soon. “A lot of the time people are just like, ‘Oh, the whole point of marching band is to get trophies, right?’ No. It’s about taking the time to create that sense of family and improve yourself, and not just to win trophies,” said junior drum major Lizzie Nist. “Like we always say,” Adkins added, “time over titles.”
ECHS REBEL REGIMENT
MANIFEST DESTINY story by casie wilson photos by terri naber
W
hile the Effingham County High School band program has faced a fair share of adversity in recent years―on the field and off― they refuse to let it define them. They make it a point to meet each and every challenge with unrelenting optimism and their sights on bigger and better things. This season, the Effingham County Rebel Regiment hopes to channel this resilient, adventurous spirit into their 2015 competitive show, “Manifest Destiny.” Director of Bands Matthew Leff says he’s had this show in mind for a long time coming, drawing inspiration from classic movies about the American West, such as “Tombstone” and “Lone Ranger.” “I’ve thought about using ‘The Good, The Bad and The Ugly’ music for a long time, and how that would be a really cool theme to orchestrate for marching band and turn into a big production,” he said. The theme of this 1966 gunslinger flick will be highlighted in the show’s opening number, “Standoff.” “Wandering Nights,” the show’s ballad, conveys a sense of homesickness with forlorn melodies like “The Wayfaring Stranger.” The third and final movement, appropriately dubbed “Last Ride,” will reflect a feeling of triumph, accomplishment and homecoming after a successful cattle drive. This year’s competitive show echoes much of the same spirit of adventure as their 2014 show “Pathfinder,” which
celebrated different explorers in movies, video games and adventure stories. Last season they competed in the East Georgia Marching Festival in Statesboro and South Effingham High’s Marching Mustang Invitational. The Rebel Regiment received superior ratings in every competition they attended, with their overall highest placement as runner-up in South Effingham’s competition. “Pathfinder” marked the first competitive marching show the Rebel Regiment has written “in house,” with Leff composing the score and assistant director Will Alford writing drill. “It was a learning curve for us, and so this time around, we both feel immensely more comfortable with writing everything ourselves,” Leff said. This marching season, the Rebel Regiment is looking forward to competing in the Ware County Sound of Gold on October 24 and in the Walterboro Band Classic in South Carolina on September 26. They will also host their 34th annual Coastal Empire Classic on October 10. The show’s theme was originally announced to the band this past spring under the name “Western Skies.” Senior drum majors Jackie Carper and Trent Woodard admit that when the show was first revealed, they were concerned that judges and their competition would not take them seriously. “Now that we’ve seen and worked through the music and drill, we think it’s going to be a lot cooler than we originally
Effingham Sports Digest | FALL 2015 41
42 FALL 2015 | Effingham Sports Digest
thought,” Carper said. “I have a feeling we’re going to have a good time with it.” “I’m looking forward to competing with this show,” Woodard added. “It’s definitely going to turn some heads.” “It’s something that the crowd is going to expect to be very cheesy, but then we’re going to wow them because it’s serious and deep,” Carper said. While this coming competitive season holds much promise for the band, the Rebel Regiment has faced a good deal of hardships to get to this point. A sudden bus wreck on the way to the Garden City Classic in Orangeburg, South Carolina in October forced the band to bow out of the competition, though the directors are just glad that no one was injured in the incident. The Rebel Regiment is still recovering from the loss of esteemed bandmate Raheem Morris to a fatal car accident last December. “Last year was tough, and we had a lot of things to overcome,” Leff said. “But that important thing is that we did, and the band is closer now than it’s ever been before. That’s for sure.” “We’ve become more of a family this year,” Carper said. “We’ve always been a good band family, but this year the leadership has been so inviting to our
rookies. We feel like we’re more together than we’ve ever been.” With a newfound sense of unity, an energetic competitive show in the works and the largest group of musicians ECHS has seen in years, Leff is optimistic in the band’s ability to make a comeback. “In terms of bouncing back, I think we already have,” he said. “Morale and work ethic through band camp has just been unreal. The kids are trying super hard and have taken everything we’ve thrown at them. They’re very quick learners and seem to be excited about the music and the drill. I feel very good about this year.” As for the students? There’s no place they would rather be. “I can’t think of any better place to be than here, really,” said Woodard. “I’m good right here,” Carper agreed. “I love this band too much to leave.”
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Effingham County Rec & Parks
TURNS 40
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story and photos by jeff whitten
ome October, Effingham County Recreation and Parks will celebrate its 40th year of existence with a party timed to coincide with another auspicious event -- the starting of work on the county’s new $18 million recreation complex off Highway 21. “We want to tie this celebration in with the groundbreaking on the new complex,” said ECRP Director Clarence Morgan. “Everybody can come, and we’re going to try to get people from the old days. We want to honor recreation board members and those volunteers who’ve been with us in the past, and the present.” The celebration, which will include what Morgan called “ball food” - i.e, hamburgers and hotdogs - is set to take place from 6 to 8 p.m. Oct. 15 at the ECRP Rec Gym, which formerly belonged to the Effingham Academy Chiefs. It became the Rec Gym in the early 1980s and is still in use. What’s more, the Rec Gym is the only gym ECRP actually owns, and it holds a good bit of the department’s history - such as plaques honoring the department’s many Hall of Fame players, coaches and volunteers. The Hall of Fame was founded by Morgan, who in addition to being the department’s director is also very probably its chief historian and keeper of its flame. He said it’s important to remember those who came before while there’s still time to do it. “We don’t ever remember the past, but
that’s why we’re here,” he said. “None of what we’re doing today happened on the spur of the moment or came just out of nowhere. It took a lot of hard work, a lot of long hours and a lot of volunteer hours.” In that regard, it’s worth noting the department’s roots go back a good bit further than 40 years. But Effingham County’s first “official” foray into establishing recreation took place in December 1974, when a George Allen-led board of commissioners established the county’s first recreation commission. It’s purpose? “To provide, establish, maintain and conduct a county-wide public recreation program for the benefit of the residents of the county and to disseminate informaation concerning development and progress of the movement.” A movement, indeed. Sports have long been a high priority in Effingham County because there was often no other form of recreation - and from the outset it was clear ECRP was in demand. For example, 1,250 Effingham County residents showed up to Effingham County Night at the Savannah Braves on June 26, 1975. That’s when the county only had about 17,600 residents, and among those who made the trip to Grayson Stadium were Morgan, Effingham County Recreation Commission Chairman Noel Conaway, Effingham Youth Athletic Association member Leon Zipperer, 45 coaches and more than 400 players. Within a year, ECRP was winning state Georgia Recreation and Park
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Effingham County All-Star Midget Girls 1976
“None of what we’re doing today happened on the spur of the moment or came just out of nowhere. It took a lot of hard work, a lot of long hours and a lot of volunteer hours.” Association titles - both the 1976 Midget girls and the 1976 Senior Boys won state titles that year. They were the first, but wouldn’t be the last. While it’s impossible to include every area, district and state champion ERCP and its volunteers and athletes produced over four decades of sports in a single magazine story, it’s important to get those first ones in. After all, they broke the ice. So, without further ado, here goes: Midget Girls: Sharon Wilson, Penny Redmond, Karen Lane, Donna Thomas, Lisa Bolen, Gina Wilson, Angie Bolen, Julie Wilder, Marla Moody, Deanne Helmly, Melanie Mays, Julie Hales,
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Annette Layne, Donna King and Becky King. Coaches were Donald Hales and Susie Smith. Senior Boys: Glen Conaway, Mitchell Williams, Mike Glisson, Mike Jenkins, Herbie Hodges, David Baker, Wayen Joyner, David Gnann, Tommy Hooker, Drexel Duke, Harmon Parrish, Bobby Bruner, Craig Johnson, Jerome Wiggins. They were coached by Morgan, Noel Conaway, Cheyenne Jackson and Steve North. Take a bow, wherever you all may be. As good as 1976 was, 2003 was off the charts. Effingham County Recreation Department teams won five state cham-
pionships and had two state runners up: champs were 14U girls’ fast pitch softball; 12U boys’ baseball; 12U girls’ fast pitch softball, 10U live pitch boys’ baseball; and 10U live pitch girls’ softball. Take another bow, ECRP. More than sports There is baseball, and softball, and t-ball. There is basketball and football and more. But it’s also important to realize ECRP has done far more over the years than offer traditional sports. In the 1970s, there were disco classes and theater groups - the Little Theater under the director ship of Sue Sena put on the play “Li’l Abner” in 1978 with a cast of 65. Jesse Baker played Mammy Yoakum and Glen Conaway was L’il Abner. There were also crochet classes, and a Baton Class which in 1978 was taught by Tina Burns, and a half rubber tournament, and more gems. So, a Thanksgiving Turkey Contest and a “Picture Contest --draw picture contest of some aspect of America” were also a part of ECRP’s varied, colorful history, along with street dances, Halloween contests and more. In ECRP’s annual report for 1979, it was duly recorded that 3,045 people participated in ECRP offerings in 1978. Of that number, 900 were adults. There were 42 youth basketball teams, and 78 youth baseball and softball teams. “We had more people participating than they did in Chatham County Rec Department or the City of Savannah,” Morgan said. “We’ve always had high participation rates.” That’s putting it mildly when one considers there were an estimated 18,000 people in Effingham in 1979. The numbers have stayed consistent over the years - about 3,000 are currently enrolled in ECRP offerings - and so has Morgan, who’s been in the background or in the forefront for each of ECRP’s 40 years and is thus a walking history
lesson. He can tell you about everything you might ever want to know about ECRP, such as when a former director who shall remain nameless resigned after he was spotted “tatooing a lady’s behind at the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Savannah” so many years ago. The lesson there: Don’t embarrass Effingham County, or ECRP either. There have only been a handful of directors at ECRP over the years, perhaps because Morgan has been a director or acting director himself a handful of times over the years, and up to 1999 he did it while working full time as a teacher and coach and athletic director at one of the county’s schools. Rec is imporant to Morgan, you see, because it’s important to people. “First, it gives an avenue for people who are good or bad talent wise to play. It’s for everybody. Good athletes will always find a place to play. You don’t have to be good, you don’t have to be a star, to play rec ball. And you’ve got to have a place for all people to play and socialize, and this is it,” he said. “And it not only gives them a place to play, but it gives mammas and daddies and grandmammas and granddaddies and aunts and uncles a chance to see their grans, or their neices or nephews, play. They get a kick out of it. I’ve seen four, five generations play now on some of these ball fields.” But the value of recreation goes beyond what one can see if one goes to Baker Park and watches as joggers circle the track, or Sand Hill Park, where t-ball and football teams ring in their respective seasons, or at the Rec Gym, where countless seasons have come and gone, and will come again. “It’s what’s in your heart,” Morgan said. “And if we didn’t offer sports county wide, what percentage would be able to play sports? Some people don’t think recreation is important. I think a lot more people do recognize its value.”
Effingham Sports Digest | FALL 2015 47
40
Celebrating
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EFFINGHAM COUNTY
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• Soccer • Cheerleading • Baseball • Basketball
On-Line Registration Now Available
www.effinghamrec.org
(912) 754-6339
808 Hwy 119 South Springfield, GA 31329 (located behind Effingham Co. Health Dept.)
48 *FALL 2015 | Effingham Sports Digest Jeff Lonon at 754-6339 Ext. 4404 Officials Needed, Contact
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UNIQUE SCHOOL ITEMS Effingham Sports Digest | FALL 2015 49
High School Schedules South Effingham Mustangs Aug. 28 (H) vs. Jenkins Sept. 4 (A) at Southeast Bulloch Sept. 11 (H) vs. Effingham County Sept. 18 (A) at Statesboro Oct. 2 (H) vs. Brunswick Oct. 9 (A) at Coffee Oct. 16 (H) vs. Richmond Hill Oct. 22 (A) at Bradwell Insitute Oct. 30 (H) vs. Ware County Nov. 6 (A) at Glynn Academy * Game will be televised (H) - Home game (A) - Away game 50 FALL 2015 | Effingham Sports Digest
7:30 p.m. 7:30 p.m. 7:30 p.m. 7:30 p.m. 7:30 p.m. 7:30 p.m. 7:30 p.m. 7 p.m. * 7:30 p.m. 7:30 p.m.
l Football s 2015-2016 Effingham county rebels Aug. 21 (H) vs. Liberty County Aug. 28 (A) at Bluffton Sept. 11 (A) at South Effingham Sept. 18 (H) vs. Brunswick Sept. 25 (A) at Coffee Oct. 2 (H) vs. Richmond Hill Oct. 9 (A) at Bradwell Institute Oct. 16 (H) vs. Ware County Oct. 23 (A) Glynn Academy Nov. 6 (H) vs. Statesboro
7:30 p.m. 7:30 p.m. 7:30 p.m. 7:30 p.m. 7:30 p.m. 7:30 p.m. 7:30 p.m. 7:30 p.m. 7:30 p.m. 7:30 p.m.
(H) - Home game (A) - Away game
Effingham Sports Digest | FALL 2015 51
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g n i om
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www.EffinghamSportsDigest.com
Effingham County
HIGH SCHOOL
ATHLETES
Tyler Pullum
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yler Pullum’s football debut came when he was 6. It almost made him give up the game. “I really didn’t like it,” Pullum said. “But my dad (Brandon Pullum) got me into the sport and kept me playing, and I’m glad he did. He’s definitely made me the man I am today.” Now, more than a decade after Pullum first strapped on helmet and pads and almost took them right back off, the strong-armed senior is heading into his third season as starting quarterback at South Effingham High School, where his aim is to lead the Mustangs back to the playoffs for the first time since 2012, when the team made a run all the way to the Class AAAA quarterfinals. Pullum’s also got the memo about quarterbacks being leaders and shouldering the responsibility for wins and losses. South Effingham coach Donnie Revell said Pullum’s done what it takes in that regard. “He has been a great leader this summer, he has led by example not just words,” Revell said. “He continues to try and elevate his play each day. He has been a student of the game, coming in to watch film on his own and with Coach Farley.” Pullum doesn’t back away from pointing the finger at himself for last season’s late game losses. “Last year, we were in a lot of games coming down to the fourth quarter, and I felt like I didn’t step up like I needed to do for us to win games,” he said. “We had chances to beat teams we were weren’t picked to beat last year, played really close but couldn’t finish the game. Against Brunswick, our defense played a great game, but I threw those two late picks and that let Brunswick down into our territory, and they ended up scoring off both of them to win the game. My goal this year is to finish the games and help us put ourselves in a position to get back in the playoffs.” Pullum, who is 6-foot-2 and 190
pounds, possess a good arm. He has passed for more than 3,000 yards, 15 touchdowns and 18 interceptions in his first two seasons as a starter, while running for two more TDs, and has gotten looks from smaller schools such as Division 2 power Valdosta State, Gardner Webb and Stetson. What’s more, Pullum is a natural athlete who’s played every position on the South Effingham baseball team except pitcher. He’s also a fan of one Brett Favre. Favre, you may recall, played 20 seasons in the NFL and was renowned for his gunslinging style of play. Favre could pass and run, and Pullum sees himself as similar in terms of what he wants to accomplish on the field and how he plays.
“My goal this year is to finish the games and help us put ourselves in a position to get back in the playoffs.”
“It’s kind of why I wear the No. 4 jersey. I try to do a lot of things like he does,” Pullum said. “I’d rather pass first, but I can run too.” In addition to a playoff appearance, Pullum also wants to atone for the loss to Brunswick and beat rival Effingham, something that hasn’t happened in his career. “I haven’t beaten them yet,” he said. “So that’s definately a goal, too. Our thing this year is to finish games. That’s what we’re working on. That’s what I’m working on. Finishing games out.”
Effingham Sports Digest | FALL 2015 55
Phillip Brown
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f Effingham County High School quarterback Phillip “Pj” Brown has his way, the Rebels will win Region 3-AAAAA, get into the state playoffs and, oh yeah, beat rival South Effingham this season. “That’s my three big goals for us as a team,” Brown said. “I believe we have the talent to do it.” Brown also has a few personal goals. The senior, who earned All Region honorable mention last year while helping lead the Rebels to a 6-4 campaign, wants to make first-team All Region and earn some state recognation as well. If it doesn’t happen, it won’t be for lack of effort. “He’s worked very hard in school to improve himself on the football field in the last year and a half,” said Rebels coach Buddy Holder. “He’s just one of those kind of special athletes who runs very well, he’s very strong, He can do a lot of things for us at quarterback, and he can also do things for us as a receiver.” Brown has been a starter since the tail end of his sophomore year, and he doesn’t lack for confidence heading into the 2015 campaign. In himself, or his team. “I feel like we can beat anybody in the region with our talent,” he said. “We just need to cut down on mistakes. Cut mistakes in half, we can win some games this year.” That doesn’t sound like boasting coming from Brown, who seems an easy going sort off the field. He’s played football since second grade and also plays basketball for ECHS, but football’s clearly No. 1, just like the jersey number Brown wears. “I play basketball for fun, but football’s the game. I like the big lights, the fans, and making my mom proud,” he said. Brown’s mom is Gina Brown, by the way, and her son said he’s gotten looks from schools such as Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Troy and Reinhardt, among others, but isn’t certain whether he’ll draw any offers.
Still, Phillip Brown clearly has a preference or two. He’s already studying logistics at ECHS and Southern has a good logistics program, so there’s that option, if it becomes available. “But the school I’d really like to play for is Georgia State,” Brown said. “It’s still a new program and I believe I can help change it around, make it a winner.” Brown grew up watching game-changing quarterbacks such as Michael Vick, Vince Young, Terrell Pryor and Colt McCoy, and likes the way they play the game. “They’re diverse, they can throw the ball and make plays with their legs,” Brown said. “I feel like I’m like that. I’m pass first, but if you give me the opportunity to run I can hurt your team.” Brown, who lists math as his favorite class, also likes beating adversity, which is why he admires Cam Newton, the Carolina Panthers quarterback who had to overcome off field issues to win a national title at Auburn. Brown would also love to talk to the late Sean Taylor, a Florida State and NFL star who eventually stopped talking to the press. “He didn’t say a word to the media, and I’d want to see what the deal was there,” said Brown, who learned inspiration sometimes comes when you least expect it. Like over the summer, when he broke a pair of cleats and someone he didn’t even know - and who didn’t know Brown played football until they met bought him a new pair. “He said he wanted to impact my life so I could impact other people in the same way down the road,” Brown said. “He said he didn’t want anything in return except for me to do well and then, later on in life, return the favor and help someone body else.” That, Brown said, he intends to do. “He’s a great kid,” said his coach. “He’s got a wonderful mother and she raised him right. It’s going to be a joy to see what he does for his team this season, and then what he does down the road.”
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Autumn conaway
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swing of beauty is a joy forever, and that could especially be true in Guyton, where Autumn Conaway enters her senior season as one of the Coastal Empire’s purest hitters. The South Effingham High School standout has a swing that just won’t quit, as her .409 batting average, 15 doubles and 40 RBIs attest. In other words, Conaway can flat-out hit. “She’s a line drive machine,” says Lady Mustangs coach Chuck Smith, who will rely on Conaway’s bat and leadership this fall. But it’s not just Conaway’s talent with the bat that has folks taking notice. She’s also pretty good with a glove in her hand, and in other departments as well. “She’s just a great second baseman and an unbelievable defensive player. She’s got such a phenomenal work ethic,” Smith said. Away from the diamond, Conaway enjoys going to the pool with friends, eating pizza and the TV show “Grey’s Anatomy,” and the future nurse wants to major in nursing for the best of reasons: “I like to help people,” she said. Conaway certainly has the grades to get to the next level. Because as good a player as Conaway is, she’s been a force in the classroom. Conaway has led the team in GPA in each of the past three seasons, averaging well over 94 percent each year, and is not surprisingly drawing looks from schools such as Villanova, Brenau University and Piedmont College. But that comes later. More immediate plans for Conaway, a second-team All-State performer last season who also bagged first-team All Region 3-AAAAA honors, include working to help the Lady Mustangs win the Region 3-AAAAA title and “eventually winning the state championship,” she said. “For myself, I want to achieve first-team All State and get a state ring.” That seems a fitting way to end a prep career for a player who first picked up a
bat when she was 8. “I got into this sport because my dad signed me up for a T-ball game and I have loved the game ever since,” said Conaway, whose enjoyment stems at least partly from that most elemental of duels, the one between pitcher and hitter. “I love this game because I enjoy the challenge between a hitter and a pitcher,
“I love this game because I enjoy the challenge between a hitter and a pitcher, facing off at the plate.”
facing off at the plate,” she said. And if it’s a challenge in which Conaway usually has the upper hand, so much the better for the Lady Mustangs, who will spend this fall looking to a girl named Autumn to lead them. “She’s got such a phenomenal work ethic. Autumn leads by example and she’s just a great, great kid,” Smith said, “To me, she really represents what South Effingham softball is all about. That’s the best way I can put it. She represents what South Effingham softball is about.”
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shelby wilson
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ffingham County High School senior Shelby Wilson may give nightmares to opposing coaches, but she’s the kind of player coaches dream about coaching. Just ask ECHS head softball coach Matt Huntley. “There are several things about Shelby that make her stand out,” Huntley said. “First of all, she’s got God-given talent. The girl is an excellent athlete. She’s also strong, and she’s worked hard to get strong, because she’s got a great work ethic. You put that work ethic together with her natural ability and you’re going to get a great player. She’s also a good student and a leader on the field and in the dugout. She’s a special player.” That’s not hype. Wilson, who hit .360 with 11 homers and 37 RBI as a junior and is already committed to Georgia Southern, has been an All-State and All Region 3-AAAAA performer since her sophomore season and is the reigning Savannah Morning News Best of Preps softball player of the year. And when it comes to individual honors, that’s just scratching the surface. Yet for Wilson, who has already committed to Georgia Southern, there’s room to improve. “My goal is to have a higher batting average, less errors and a more successful year overall,” she said. “Off the field, I want to be a better role model to my younger teammates who will one day be in my shoes as a senior and a leader in the classroom and on the field.” She also wants to get the Lady Rebels back to the state playoffs, but that’s not all. “Winning isn’t everything, so we also want to grow as individuals to make the team a stronger entity. ‘Big team, little me.’” Growing up as part of a family that loves sports, Wilson got an early start at the sport she’s come to excel in. “I have been playing softball since I was 6 years old. I got into playing this sport because my father and mother played slow pitch softball,” Wilson said.
“My family has also grown up around the sport of baseball so softball was as close as I could get. Playing this sport gives me joy in many different ways. The friends I have gained through this sport have been incredible. It’s amazing to know that if I had never picked up a softball I wouldn’t have the relationships I have with so many people who have impacted my life. Another way is that I play for God, and he gives me all the joy I need.” Down the road, Wilson intends on becoming an orthopedic surgeon, in large part because as a freshman she had to have shoulder surgery on her rotator cuff in order to keep playing, “so I aim to give other children the same opportunity when I get older,” she said. In the meantime, let’s end this story by noting the county’s biggest rivalry isn’t exactly a bitter one for Wilson in part because it includes a large dose of perspective and an ever bigger one of friendship, and that’s a good thing. “The team I most love to beat is South Effingham High School,” Wilson said. “This is not just because it’s our county rivalry, but because all my friends who I have grown up playing recreation softball and travel ball with are a part of the Mustangs. We get the biggest kick out of playing against each other because it is a very different experience being in opposing dugouts. However, no matter which team wins or loses, we always find a way to laugh at what happened in the seven innings of this county rivalry game. We have a special bond that will never be broken.”
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hile senior and a-list runner Bryce Griggs may be a newcomer to the local endurance running community, he feels right at home on the South Effingham varsity cross country team. “Cross country here is a lot like it was back in Kansas,” he said. “There were a lot more kids running in Kansas, but I still like the cross country program here a lot.” Griggs says his decision to pick up the sport was a simple one. “One day I decided to run just to run,” he said. “It turns out that I was pretty good at it, so I tried it out as a sport. I’ve been at it ever since.”
“One day I decided to run just to run,” he said. “It turns out that I was pretty good at it, so I tried it out as a sport. I’ve been at it ever since.”
year, he aims to lower his personal record time from 17 minutes and 59 seconds to somewhere in the low 17s. He also hopes to make it to state playoffs in both an individual level and as a team. He admits that since he is new to the southeastern Georgia cross country scene, he isn’t familiar with local schools and their reputations on the track. Based on his experience in last year’s regional playoffs, he believes the runners from Richmond Hill High School and Savannah Art Academy will be the SEHS boys cross country team’s biggest competition this year. In terms of high education, Griggs has considered attending Armstrong Atlantic State University and the University of Georgia after graduation. He’s looking to receive a cross country scholarship, and would like to study somewhere local. To anyone looking for a simple way to stay healthy, Griggs suggests that they take up endurance running. “It’s just really good for your body,” he said. “If you can get out and run, it’s an easy way to stay fit. I’d recommend it to anyone.”
The decision of whether or not to stay was even easier. “I started doing well and placing well,” Griggs said with a shrug. “When I made varsity my freshman year, I wasn’t really expecting it.” Last year, Griggs placed ninth in the 3 AAAAA region championships with a time of 18 minutes, 24 seconds. This
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noah mcintosh
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lthough it would be easy for ECHS junior Noah McIntosh to slow down and take it easy after such a successful cross country season last year, he’s not slowing down any time soon. Instead, he has his sights set on broader horizons, both metaphorically and literally. “If I could be anywhere in the world right now, I would be in Australia,” he said. “We took a three-week vacation there two summers ago and explored the whole east coast. To be honest, I fell in love, and I want to go back someday. Everything is so nice and tropical during their winter. It’s perfect running weather.” McIntosh originally intended to play soccer for Ebenezer Middle School his sixth grade year. He didn’t make the team, but he still sought a way to stay in shape. Fortunately for him, his mother had recently taken up running as a way to stay healthy. “I thought that since I wasn’t doing soccer, I might as well join her,” he said. “Five steps in and I was way ahead of her, so I just kept going from there.” With his newfound passion for long-distance running, McIntosh found many new opportunities to make new friends. He joined Coach Mark Weese’s running club and the Ebenezer Middle School track team his seventh grade year. “I loved every minute of it, so I decided to stick with it,” he said. “It’s as simple as that.” This year McIntosh is aiming to shave off at least 30 second from his current record of 17 minutes and 50 seconds. “I also need to work on staying positive when I run,” he said. “Staying positive can be really hard when I feel like I can’t give any more, but having the mindset of ‘I can do it’ can take you far. If you set your mind to something, it’s going to happen. It may take forever, it seems, but you can do it.” After placing eighth in the region in the 2014 season, eight points away
“I also need to work on staying positive when I run,” he said. “Staying positive can be really hard when I feel like I can’t give any more, but having the mindset of ‘I can do it’ can take you far. If you set your mind to something, it’s going to happen. It may take forever, it seems, but you can do it.”
from advancing to state, the boy’s cross country team expects to step up their game this year and turn some heads region-wide. “To improve this season, we’ll need to be dedicated runners and to be more aggressive when we run,” McIntosh said. “And of course we want to improve our times, train hard and eat well.” McIntosh says he has always enjoyed the sense of comradery the team feels by the end of the year, regardless of whether they win or lose. He wants to see more of that this coming season. “As a team, I hope we secure a closer bond among all of us,” he said. “You know, becoming more of a family instead of just a bunch of acquaintances who run together. I want us to be one big happy family.” Any other goals for this year? “Well, a state title wouldn’t hurt either.”
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ricilla Cartwright, senior at South Effingham High and cross country all-star, couldn’t give up on her love of endurance races even if she
tried. “I stopped running for a while in tenth grade and I didn’t know what to do with myself. I didn’t run for that whole year, and I didn’t have anything to do,” she said. “I wasn’t exactly lost, I just didn’t
“I stopped running for a while in tenth grade and I didn’t know what to do with myself. I didn’t run for that whole year, and I didn’t have anything to do,” she said. “I wasn’t exactly lost, I just didn’t have anything else I wanted to do besides run.
minutes and 14 seconds. When it comes to competing against local teams, Cartwright says she enjoys stepping up to a good challenge. “My favorite team to race against is Richmond Hill,” she said. “Their girls are pretty good, so it’s always a tough competition. They are a challenge to beat. They’re probably going to be our biggest competition this year.” If Cartwright could be anywhere in the world right now, she says she would in Rio de Janeiro, training for the Summer Olympics in 2016. However, her inspiration to pick up running originated closer to home. “My sister ran a lot, so I just followed in her footsteps so to speak,” she said. This season, Cartwright is looking to break her personal records and work toward receiving a cross country scholarship. After graduation, she plans on attending college in-state and majoring in environmental science and prelaw. Still recovering from a stress fracture sustained in October, Cartwright says that with careful training and dedication, she can bounce back this season and perform better than ever. “If I can get through the season without putting too much stress on my leg,” she said, “I think I can improve a lot this year.”
have anything else I wanted to do besides run. I started back my junior year and felt like I was doing something productive with my time.” Cartwright has made the varsity cross country team every year she’s tried out for it, since her eight grade year. Last year she achieved the third best time in the region, with a time of 21 minutes and five seconds. She placed fourth in the region 3AAAAA meet with a time of 21
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CHS junior Marina Van Sickle has many talents. A cross country all-star since eighth grade with a black belt in karate and nearly a decade of experience playing piano, she is as at home on the track as she is working out a math equation or on an art project. While she had to drop karate to juggle all of her schoolwork and extracurricular activities, Van Sickle still plays piano for her church occasionally, maintains a high grade point average in advanced classes and is committed to cross country. “It can get a little overwhelming to do all the things I love,” she said. “There are never enough hours in the day. It’s taught me to prioritize, though.” Van Sickle’s passion for endurance running began early. While she had been raised in a physically active household, she didn’t realize her knack for cross country until her third grade PE teachers held a race called the Reindeer Run. “That’s when I discovered that I really loved running,” she said. “I just really like the competition of it and staying fit.” Since then, Van Sickle has taken part in countless public road races like the Rock and Roll Half Marathon and the Savannah River Bridge Run. So when she met Coach Mark Weese’s Ebenezer Middle track team, the decision to try out was a no-brainer. While she placed third in the region and 48th in the state last year― beating out nearly 150 runners in the process― she’s not one to stay content where she is. This year she hopes to improve her record 5K time from 20 minutes and 41 seconds to the low 20s. By the end of her high school career, she wants to bring her time down into the 19 minute range. While she admits that this will be no small task, Van Sickle is willing to do whatever it takes to get there. “Getting there will require constant work and training, eating right, getting enough sleep… all the things they usually tell you to do, really,” she said. “With
Coach Weese’s help, I’m sure I can get to where I want to be. He’s been a great source of motivation since the start.” Van Sickle is still unsure as to what
“Getting there will require constant work and training, eating right, getting enough sleep… all the things they usually tell you to do, really,” she said. “With Coach Weese’s help, I’m sure I can get to where I want to be. He’s been a great source of motivation since the start.”
she wants to pursue after high school, but she hopes the wide variety of classes she’s taking this year will help her decide. She says she’s leaning toward a career in engineering and mathematics. Regardless of where her interests take her, she plans to keep running and improving herself in every way she can, from her record time to her knowledge of the world. “The world is a big place,” she said, “but I think I’d like to travel to Europe and see all the famous landmarks. I’m mainly familiar with Effingham County, but I’d like to see more of the world someday.”
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faith harris
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ophomore outside hitter Faith Harris may be young, but don’t let that fool you. She’s tough as nails on the court and more versatile than most volleyball players of her age and experience. While South Effingham High School’s athletic department has undergone some changes in the past year, Harris says the SEHS varsity volleyball team will bounce back this season and play better than ever. “This year, you should expect to see us as first place in the region and getting a lot farther in the state playoffs,” she said. “Quite a few of our girls from last year and improved a lot. We’ve got some big hitters in like every position. Our libero has gotten a lot better, so we have a strong defense. We’re just looking really good.” South Effingham High recently transitioned from AAAA to AAAAA, bringing on bigger and tougher competition for
“I’m trying to hit different spots on the outsides,” she said. “I’m trying to be more versatile than ever.”
This season, Harris plans to improve many of her techniques and add a new, sharper cross-court serve to her repertoire. “I’m trying to hit different spots on the outsides,” she said. “I’m trying to be more versatile than ever.” Harris knows a thing of two about flexibility, if her performance on the SEHS varsity team, Savannah club teams and in honors classes has anything to say about it. She’s committed to constantly bettering herself in all these areas over the next year in hopes of snagging the attention of four-year universities and eventually medical schools. Despite her status as one of SEHS most valuable players, Harris admits that she took up the sport with some reluctance. “In middle school, we had to play volleyball in order to play basketball,” she said. “I really, really wanted to play basketball, so I didn’t really have a choice.” However, her apprehension didn’t last long. “Once I got the hang of it, I had a lot of fun,” Harris said. “So I just kept playing, and now I wouldn’t give it up for the world.”
all sports programs at the state level. Instead of chalking the year up as solely a learning experience, the varsity volleyball team powered through, placing second in the region and making to the first round of state playoffs.
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maddie weiss
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or the past two years, Effingham County High junior and 5AAAAA All-Region outside hitter Maddie Weiss has been part of the backbone holding the ECHS varsity volleyball team together. While her constant emotional support and drive has helped the ECHS Lady Rebels to advance in regionals, she hopes that stepping up to a leadership role will improve the team’s chances of making it to state. “I want to become a better leader,” she said. “That’s been a challenge for me in the past because I don’t like to step on anybody’s toes. But this year, that’s what our team really needs: a strong emotional leader. Somebody to pick the team up, and I think I’m a good fit for that.” Despite the fact that this year’s varsity team members come from all walks of life, Weiss says the Lady Rebels should be able to overcome their differences and improve on last season’s fifth place finish. “We have such a diverse team this year, and we have so many different people,” she said. “It’s crazy how well we work together on the court. When we’re on, we’re on. So this year, I want us to have even better chemistry and work hard.” Her love of the sport started early, playing beach volleyball by the lakeside with her childhood friends. She went into try-outs her sixth grade year with much enthusiasm but little experience. When she didn’t make the team, she decided to try soccer and ended up playing in a club league throughout middle school. It was her eighth grade year before she made the Ebenezer Middle School volleyball team, but she says she learned a lot that season. Weiss made the Effingham County High School varsity volleyball team her freshman year, which is no small feat for a team as competitive as ECHS’. However, Weiss didn’t use this as an excuse to slack off. In fact, she did the exact opposite. Weiss attended Ron Sweet’s Volleyball Camp at Wofford College the summer before her tenth grade year and
worked hard all summer to improve her technique. “After that, I decided I was going to work hard, and that this is something I’d want to do in college,” she said. “I don’t know why or how, but something clicked. Now volleyball is going to be my main focus this year.” Weiss is not afraid to take matters into her own hands, on and off the court. She adores chemistry and the chance to problem-solve not just on paper, but handson in a lab setting. After graduation, Weiss plans to pursue a career teaching science on a middle school level. She says the transition from childhood to adolescence can be tough, but a good teacher can make all the difference. “I feel like my middle school teachers had such a big impact on my life, especially my seventh grade year,” she said. “In sixth grade I was still pretty immature, but seventh grade is when my teachers set up the building blocks of my maturity. I want to have that same feeling they must have felt, doing so much for a child and helping shape their life.” She would like to further her education close to home if possible, especially given the outstanding volleyball programs at colleges like Georgia Southern University and USC Aiken in South Carolina. The biggest deciding factor for staying local, though, is her love for Effingham County. “If I could be anywhere in the world, I’d be right here,” Weiss said. “I love it here. I love how Effingham is so tightknit. Everybody comes together when trouble comes, and I love that. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere but southeast Georgia.”
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014 was a year of changes for SEHS sports, and with those changes came obstacles. However, senior backspot, SEHS competitive cheer team captain and Savannah Sharks All-Star cheer team veteran Ashley Schwartz is unfazed. She sees this coming season as a clean slate. “All the possibilities for this year are really exciting,” she said. Schwartz started out cheering on recreation teams when she was younger. She always loved the roar of the crowd at football games, and when middle school cheer try-outs rolled around, she was content to cheer from the sidelines. “Back then, I didn’t even know what competition cheering was about,” she said. “When I went to try out, I thought I
“This year I hope that as captain I’ll be able to inspire our girls to work hard,” Schwartz said. “I want to see us come together as one team and pull out a big win this year.”
might as well give the competition team a shot just to see how I would do. I ended up making the team, and everything branched off from there.” Schwartz’s dedication to the squad has not gone unnoticed. Head coach Cayte Vickery expresses nothing short of admiration for Schwartz’s work ethic.
“She is consistently giving 100 percent, motivating her teammates and striving to be the best that she can be in cheerleading and in the classroom,” Coach Vickery said. “She strives every day to be better than she was the day before. As a new mom to a little girl, I can only hope and pray that my little girl turns into the young lady that Ashley is.” With the 2014 season came many changes not only to the SEHS varsity competition cheer team, but to the school’s athletic department as a whole. South Effingham High’s transition from class AAAA to AAAAA brought on new challenges to many of its sports programs. Between that and the introduction of a new head coach, the competition cheer team had to make quite a few adjustments and learn to adapt. Despite the setbacks, Schwartz believes the team came out alright. “We went through a couple of tough transitions, but our team pulled it together in the end,” she said. That being said, Schwartz expects the SEHS varsity cheer team to make a name for itself this coming season. “This year I hope that as captain I’ll be able to inspire our girls to work hard,” Schwartz said. “I want to see us come together as one team and pull out a big win this year.” After graduation, Schwartz plans to go to college, though she hasn’t decided where yet. She aspires to become an aerospace engineer, pursuing a passion she’s had since she was a young girl daydreaming about rocketships and airplanes. As for the near future, Schwartz will focus on her schoolwork, cheerleading and making the most of her senior year. “I’d like to branch out to more people and make more friends,” she said. “Even though I’ll be going off to college soon and I’ll end up missing everybody, I want to make the best of it. Especially with all the new freshmen and underclassmen, there’s so many people to meet.”
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allyson porter
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llyson Porter is a girl with a plan. When she sets her mind to a task, she puts her whole heart into it until it’s done. Now, as a senior backspot with three years of varsity experience on the Effingham County High School competition cheer team under her belt, she’s determined to make this season the best yet. “I don’t really have that many goals personally, but I want to be able to work better with my team,” she said. “You really can’t get anything done in cheerleading unless the whole team is in it. It’s all about teamwork, and it’s important to have good leadership skills to make that happen.” Porter began as a gymnast when she was young, and tried out for cheerleading at Effingham County Middle School at her mother’s suggestion. She fell in love with the sport instantly and has committed herself to it ever since. She made the varsity cheer squad her freshman year, a rare accomplishment considering the ECHS competition cheer team’s high standards in years past. After ranking third in the state in 2013 and a nearly undefeated season in 2014, the team was disappointed to only place seventh in the state last year. Porter isn’t discouraged though, and is hopeful for another top-tier placement this season. “This year, we’re practicing more than we ever have before,” she said. “The girls are practicing at other gyms in their free time and working on skills outside of practice. Everyone is so dedicated this season, and I’m excited to see what we can do.” Last October, Porter sustained a serious ankle injury while staying after practice to perfect her technique. Despite this midseason setback, she powered through the next three competitions, including the team’s performance for the state title. Porter says her secret to maintaining her drive is a consistent and rigorous practice schedule. Her sophomore year alone,
she juggled training for the ECHS varsity competitive cheer team while also competing on a Cheer Savanah All-star team and taking tumbling classes. “It was a lot of work, and I didn’t have a lot of free time,” she said, “but it was worth it.” Porter also attributes her success to the constant support of her peers and coaches.
“The girls are practicing at other gyms in their free time and working on skills outside of practice. Everyone is so dedicated this season, and I’m excited to see what we can do.”
“When I first started, Coach Ward would come over and help out at the middle schools,” she said. “So she’s always been a good influential person for us through cheerleading. She played a major role in why I stayed in cheerleading.” Porter says her favorite school subject is English, especially when it comes to poetry and self-expression. She already has big plans for her pursuits in higher education. She plans to major in Psychology with a minor in art before receiving her master’s, specialist’s and doctorate degrees in art therapy. “I just want to help people,” she said, “and I think that’s the best way I can.”
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