Newspaper Page Text
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18, 2017
BARROW NEWS-JOURNAL
PAGE 7A
The multifaceted life of Harry Downs
There were so many facets to Harry
Downs’ altruistic life, with his becom
ing accomplished at any activity or
interest he pursued, it was
a challenge to determine
what he was best at over
his 91 years.
A native of Conyers, he
principally was an edu
cator who was familiar
with the needs and wants
of small town classrooms
filled with kids from
austere upbringings to
dealing with multi-mil
lion dollar budgets for
the University System of
Georgia.
Perhaps, his friend Jim Minter,
former editor of the Atlanta Jour
nal-Constitution said it best when he
noted that the one negative in Harry’s
life was that “he did not become pres
ident of the University of Georgia.’’
Harry never sought such a position,
but Minter was saying that Harry run
ning the state university would have
moved Georgia faster and further on
the road to excellence with his lead
ership and cogent management style.
Once when the three of us were
having lunch, Jim brought
up that omission on the
Regents’ part, and Harry
almost choked on his salad.
A modest man, Harry was
embarrassed by Minter’s
lament, regarding Minter’s
alma mater. Minter, howev
er, never retreated from his
stance of “what might have
been’’ if such an appoint
ment had come Harry’s way.
Harry did advance the
idea that a campus should
be created in Morrow which
led to what is now Clayton State. It
began as a junior college and today
has an enrollment of over 7,000. Harry
was pleased with the rapid growth of
the college which offered convenient
educational opportunities for boys and
girls in the counties which were figu
ratively speaking a stone’s throw from
metropolitan Atlanta.
Harry reveled in the environment
where the institution is located.
Clayton State sits peacefully on 192
acres of wooded grounds. There are
five lakes, which give the campus a
refreshing atmosphere any time of the
year. What Harry enjoyed most was
Spivey Hall, which, upon opening,
presented a variety of musical options
including jazz and classical selections.
He was an aficionado of the big band
era. He and his wife, Melba, took
great delight in bringing friends to
concerts on campus.
Harry was button popping proud in
2011 when the Clayton State wom
en’s basketball team won the NCAA
Division U national championship.
He always felt athletics on campus
were important. When he was a stu
dent at the University of Georgia,
Harry was a devoted friend of Bulldog
athletics. His affection for Georgia
football, in particular, was heightened
by the close friendship he enjoyed
with quarterback John Rauch, who
was inducted into the College Football
Hall of Fame in 2003. Even though
their career paths brought about sep
aration geographically with John
coaching in places like Buffalo, N.Y.
and Oakland, Calif., the families kept
in touch and frequently visited each
other.
It was through John Rauch that
I came to know Harry Downs, one
of those serendipitous developments,
which spawned a pleasant relation
ship, which was enhanced with grate
ful feelings with the passing of time.
If you were a friend Harry Downs,
you enjoyed a special relationship
with a selfless and accomplished man.
It was my good fortune to work with
Harry on producing a book on the
Ty Cobb Foundation. He was proud
of his affiliation with this particular
organization in that he gained a deep
and abiding respect for what Cobb
had done to provide educational
opportunity for needy kids in our state.
Interestingly Cobb had a reputa
tion for being mean spirited, which
Harry thought was erroneous and
overcooked. He saw Cobb’s good
side. He grasped the baseball great’s
genuine commitment to helping kids
earn college educations. In the last
year of Harry ’s life, a book by a
Brooklyn based author, Charles Leer-
shen, “A Terrible Beauty,” refutes all
the lies and untruths written about
Cobb. Lccrshen will visit the UGA
campus in a few weeks. If only Harry
could have lived to participate in this
forthcoming seminar.
The Cobb episode speaks poi
gnantly to the life of Harry Downs.
He believed that education brought
empowerment to people. When it
came to education, Harry gave of him
self to make the world a better place.
Not sure if there will be a tribute to
Harry at Clayton State, but one spring
day, I am going to invite Jim Minter
to have a Varsity hot dog with me by
one of those pretty lakes on the Clay
ton State campus with Harry’s spirit
hovering about. No tribute could be
more appropriate for this humble son
of Rockdale County.
Loran Smith is a columnist for the
Barrow News-Journal. He is co-host
of the University of Georgia football
radio pre-game show.
loran
smith
Dear previous generation
Let’s have a little chat. It’s
been awhile.
As a member of the gener
ation you loathe so
much, let me take
a moment to say
that you and I are
in the same boat.
I, too, share your
frustrations with
the imbeciles I’m
forced to call peers.
I look at my
fellow Millenni-
als and think to
myself, “you’re
about two brain
cells away from
forgetting how to breathe,”
and that wouldn’t necessarily
be a bad thing.
Let me make it abundantly
clear that I am referring to the
members of my generation
who would (and probably did)
protest the blue sky because
blue is Patriarchal oppression
and put “cat” as their gender
on tax forms, should they have
any.
Whenever Millennials are
mentioned in the news, notice
it’s never a good thing. We get
headlines like “Mil
lennial triggered by
gluten, demands
gluten banned.”
It’s not a good
thing to be a Mil
lennial. We, and I
hate using the term
“we,” get blamed
for the problems
of our nation. It’s
always the Mil
lennials’ fault for
mining the coun
try. We’re the ones
destroying the fabric of soci
ety with our gluten free bagels
and Tumblr posts.
Previous generation, I agree
with you. My generation has
a lot of bad eggs. However,
we can’t take the blame for
them. In fact, it was members
of your generation that gave
birth to these airheads. We all
like to think these beings just
hatched out of pods and are
awaiting the Mother Ship to
take them home, but it doesn’t
work that way. The Mother
Ship isn’t coming to take them
away. They’re only interested
in intelligent life forms.
Sadly, we are stuck with
these beings that members
of your generation bestowed
upon us. Somewhere down the
line, some of your members
failed as parental guardians,
as teachers, as professors, as
media personalities. Along the
way you’ve given these chil
dren the world which means
you’ve given these children
the world.
Now I know you are sit
ting there thinking “I didn’t
mean to create spineless jel
lyfish,” and I am sure that
was not your intention. All
parents strive to give their
children more opportunities
than they had, and I can’t fault
you for wanting your children
to have the best life imagin
able. Somewhere, and I can’t
pinpoint where, some of you
have made it too perfect for
your kids and doomed us all.
My generation is rife with
entitled, pretentious, vapid
members with no responsi
bility or accountability who
take after their parents and
significant influences. Now let
me tell you something that’s
scarier than any Stephen King
novel.
In the next twenty years,
it is very well probable that
one of these people will be
president. Just let that sink in
like the Titanic for a moment.
It’s equal parts depressing
and horrific. For you, my pre
vious generation, you don’t
have as much reason to be as
alarmed as my comrades and
I. Time is a cruel mistress,
but you are blessed as you
have the luxury of shuffling
off this mortal coil before my
generation. Therefore, my
generation is stuck with my
generation until we are six
feet under. We have to put up
with them for the rest of our
lives, so thank the members of
your generation who caused
this blessing for me. Contrary
to popular belief, there are
many of us who don’t want
to be associated with the hea
thens running around policing
everyone’s thoughts. I know,
that sentence was probably a
micro-aggression, much like
this entire column.
My dearest previous gener
ation, there was a time when I
would beg on my hands and
knees for you to embrace me
as your own, that you would
adopt me and dissociate me
from the monsters on Maple
Street. Upon reflecting I have
realized that the people like
myself must stay and fight
for our generation. We can’t
abandoned the Millennial
generation, even though we
desperately try to escape it.
We’ve got to stay here and
prove to you all, dear previous
generations, that we are com
petent and intellectual. Those
of us who snuggle each day
balancing work and school
to make the country a bet
ter place must through our
actions, take back the term
Millennial.
You will all be gone one
day and we, your children,
will build the nation for your
grandchildren. I shudder at
the thought because I know
those who yell the loudest are
the ones with the emptiest of
minds, and right now those
empty minds hold too much
power.
Dear previous generation,
it is too late for you to clean
up this chaos. You had your
chance, but now it’s our turn
to step up. It’s time we take
the reins to ensure we don’t
have a president who identi
fies as a polyandrous-dodeca-
hedron.
Jessica Brown is the staff
photographer for the Barrow
News-Journal. You can reach
her at picsbyjessical@gmail.
com.
This past week
end, my two young
er grandchildren
came for a sleepover.
This doesn’t hap
pen nearly as much
as it used to, and
certainly not enough
for Greemaw! We
ran out to grab
something to eat,
and on the way
home, I pulled into
the parking lot of the
newspaper office,
and had Leyland get a paper
from the dispenser out front.
On the ride home, she was
thumbing through the paper
to find my article from the
previous week. From the back
seat, and from out of the blue,
Corey asked if the article was
about him. When I told him
that it was not, he asked me to
write an article about him. And
then to write one
about all the grand-
kids, going from
youngest to oldest.
Which, of course,
would mean his
article would be
first. He’s the most
interesting little
fellow. He loves to
know what makes
things work. I took
them to the jumpy
place at the mall
when they were
smaller, and Leyland ran to the
slide, climbed up and immedi
ately started having fun.
Not Corey. He went around
behind the inflatables, check
ing out the fans and motors,
trying to figure out what made
them work. Once he was satis
fied with his investigation, he
was then able to enjoy the fun.
One thing that seems to be
cathy
watkins
bennett
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Little man
missing with many kids today
is imagination. Not so with
my little man. He can play for
the longest time with his Lego
figures, or even an empty box
with some random toys, and
can entertain himself for hours.
I’ve eavesdropped on his
“narrations” at playtime, and
he has quite the imagination!
Of course, like most every
other first-world kid, he has his
electronic devices as well, and
spends far too much time (in
this Greemaw’s opinion) with
his eyes glued to the screens.
In his defense, though, he
enjoys watching videos on
how to build things, or how
things work. So, at least all of
his device time is not watch
ing mindless videos or play
ing games. He actually learns
things and will tell me about
stuff he has learned.
He is very observant, and
misses little. His observations
are sometimes hysterical. His
mom was preparing the turkey
for Thanksgiving, and he said
something about the turkey’s
butt. His mom said, “It’s not
the turkey butt, it’s the breast.”
After taking a closer look,
he said, “It is not the breast.
Where are the nipples?”
He and his sister are always
trying to one-up each other,
and prove the other one wrong.
They were talking about snakes
recently, and Leyland told him
she had seen a king snake. He
argued with her that it wasn’t a
king snake, (though he hadn’t
even seen it.) When she insist
ed that it was, indeed, a king
snake, he asked her, “How do
you know it was a king snake?
Was it wearing a crown?”
After the disappointing
snowfall we had earlier in the
month, I teased him and asked
him if he built a snowman.
With an exasperated little sigh,
he said, “No, we got less than
one centimeter of snow in our
yard.” He cracks me up. I had
never heard of a centimeter
when I was in third grade!
He’s like a little sponge, and
it makes me so happy to see
him eager to learn. Because
of ADD and a weird kind of
dyslexia, he requires some
modified teaching techniques,
but seems to be doing well
with this.
At the sleepover, he was
telling me about FDR and his
wife, Eleanor, and he is always
saying “Did you know that...”
and then tells me something he
has learned either at school, or
from the videos he watches.
He is an amazing little boy,
and is loved very much by so
many. We are blessed!
How’s that, Corey?
Cathy Watkins Bennett is
a Barrow County native and
a graduate of Winder-Bar
row High School. Send com
ments about this column to
bencath@aol.com.
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