I had a
recent visit back to my hometown. I was there to celebrate the life and passing
of the Mom of one of my best buddies growing up, one of the “Three Amigos.”
Growing up,
we were inseparable. We were as close as brothers, without the sibling
conflicts. Oh, we had rivalries, but those were all on the tennis court.
Ronnie the
handsome one, Teddy the best athlete, Joe the smart one. Or so it would seem.
Truth is, we all had more in common than in difference.
We are
friends to this day, and although we don’t see each other often, that deep bond
is always there. You may have friends
like that—you can go forever without seeing them and then, when you do, it’s
like time hasn’t passed.
It’s rare
when all three of us get together, but when we do, it’s special. We remember
good times and bad, telling many of the same stories. It always comes up that we were involved in a
food fight in college, each of us blaming the other for starting it. Truth be
known, it was probably Marty from Oak Ridge, but that was a long time ago (a
REALLY long time ago) and maybe the memory is fuzzy.
I was also
able to chat with one of my high school football coaches. Coach Gary Dutton was a Loudon native that
played football at Maryville College and then coached football at Maryville
Junior High. He and Alcoa’s Clint Abbot remain best friends to this day.
After
coaching the 1967 MJHS team, he returned to Loudon to coach football there.
That ’67 team is notable because that was the team that went on to win the 1970
State Championship at Maryville High.
I played for
the Loudon team that Maryville beat on the way to the state championship in
1970. Loudon had won the ’69 championship so it was definitely the game of the
year for both teams, as the winner was the odds on pick for a championship.
Here’s the
sidebar that makes for an interesting story—since those were the boys that
Coach Dutton had coached at the junior high, we knew their names. Johnny and
Joe Emert. Tommy Beaver. Jim Allison.
Gary Burchfield. There were more.
I was a
linebacker/guard on the Loudon team and I made a point of calling out the
Maryville players by name. You can imagine their surprise, hearing their name
called out. I guess it was a bygone era
type of trash talk but it was fun. Going into the fourth quarter, we were up
28-21 but two scores by Maryville, the second coming in the last minute, won
the game for the Rebels.
I’ve now
lived in Maryville for 46 years and have made great friends from that ’70 MHS
championship team, including Coach Ted Wilson. It’s been a blessing.
But here’s
the point to all this. After that game, a broken hearted Loudon linebacker was
walking off the field when Coach Dutton came up to him and put his arm around
him and told him that he was proud of him.
It was almost
55 years ago and I remember it like it was yesterday. It’s hard to explain why
or how, but it truly changed my life.
Thank you Coach Dutton.
Coaches,
teachers, folks that interact with kids and teenagers—you can make such an
incredible difference in lives with the most innocent of comments. Never forget that.