Upson beacon. (Thomaston, Ga.) 2008-current, June 10, 2021, Image 8

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Upson beacon., June 10, 2021, Image 8

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Newspaper Page TextPage 2B The Upson Beacon Thursday, June 10, 2021 Happy Anniversary Erik and Hayley Rechtorovic celebrated their 22nd anniversary June 5. John and Sherry Brazelton celebrate their 2lst anniversary June 10. Jay and Doris Pippin celebrated their 18th anniversary June 1. Bill and Kim Newell celebrate their 22nd anniversary June 12. Johnny and Amanda Greene celebrate their 2lst anniversary June 17. Brent and Shawn Daniel celebrated their 14th anniversary June 2. Scott and Sarah Harper celebrated their 2lst anniversary June 3. Todd and April Wall celebrated their 20th anniversary May 22. Thomas and Cassie Jennings celebrated their 13th anniversary May 31. Jason and Laura Weems celebrated their 2lst anniversary June 3. Andy and Ashley Landers celebrated their lgth anniversary June 8. Nash and Shelley Austin celebrate their 13th anniversary June 14. Michael and Lacey Anthony celebrated their 10th anniversary June 3. Dr. Steve and Natalia Bell celebrated their sixth anniversary June 7. Josh and Holly Shelley celebrate their sixth anniversary June 13. Jonathan and Lauren Hall celebrate their fifth anniversary June 11. Chris and Jamesan Gramme celebrated their second anniversary June 2. 1971 By Jim Fowler It was 50 years ago that I was finishing my first year as a teacher/coach at Yates- ville High School. It wasn’t actually a full year as I had come to Yatesville to finish my student teaching assignment from West Georgia College. My soon-to-be brother-in-law Mike Purvis was the head coach at Yatesville, but had to leave to fulfill his active service in the National Guard. I stepped in in November. Yateville High School was established in 1926 and was a strong Class C high school. Class C was the lowest classifica tion of the Georgia High School Associ ation at that time and we would normally have between 30 to 40 gradu ates each year. It was great place to start my coaching career. Mike had the boys’ basketball team going well with a 3-2 record when I coached my first game. It was a road game to Senoia to play East Coweta. Yes, East Coweta was a Class C school at that time and is now one of the biggest schools in the state and is in the AAAAAAA classification. We beat East Coweta 70-62 and I was on my way. We finished the year with a 9-11 over all record but had built a strong base for a team that would go to the state Class C semifinals in 1972. Oddly, our girls’ team, which I also coached, came on strong and finished in third place in a re gion that had 13 teams. Only two teams from a region went to the state tourna ment at that time so we didn’t earn a trip to Macon. The guys from my first team included Stone Fagan, Larry Ferguson, Dexter Davison, Kenny Gulledge, Tommy Dan iel, and Tommy Rouseau. Our top girls were Mary Watson, Kerri Allen, and Kitty Young. At that time there was only one coach at Yatesville, which meant that if we fielded a team, I was the coach. So off we went to baseball and track. Now, I knew a good bit about baseball, but track was a mystery. You would never have known this by looking at our teams’ outcomes. Our baseball team was not very good. I don’t remember what the record was, but we struggled in every game. I re member beating Woodbury twice and Pike County once but I’m not sure we beat anyone else. We played at Silver- town Ball Park and had fun, but not much success. I do remember Mr. Char lie Brannon umpired all of our home games. What a wonderful man. Track was an interesting situation. We had no track to practice on, so we let our distance runners run around a large field where we played baseball. I didn’t know the exact distance, so I just told them to run around it a couple of times. Yates- ville’s library sits on that site now. I don’t remember us participating in a single track meet before we were off to the region meet at Barron Stadium in Rome. I carried a great bunch of guys up there and we surprisingly did very well. Dexter Davison was a very good triple jumper. Now you know that I didn’t know anything about triple jumping but I just didn’t get in his way. Roy Wilder was a quality runner and ran the mile for us. Larry Atwater threw the shot put and discus and did well. Our relay teams had never practiced a baton handoff until that day. The guys looked kind of funny out in the middle of the field practicing those handoffs for the first time. Surprising, we did well in the relay races. We finished fifth in the region meet in a 10-team field. What all of this means is that we had a good group of athletes who overcame the lack of coaching that they got. I still remember them fondly. 50 years is a long time. It has surely gone by fast and remembering that first year as a coach brings back wonderful memories. I loved Yatesville and all of the kids who played for me at that school. There would be other wonderful years to follow, but there is only one first year, 1971! Photo by Jacob Stewart Milique Smith was a key athlete for the football and basketball teams last season. Upson Beacon’s 2020-2021 Male Athlete of the Year By Jacob Stewart sports@upsonbeacon.com Milique Smith was the motor behind Upson Lee’s football and basketball teams last season. Smith was a leader on and off the field/court and excelled every night. Smith began the year playing receiver for the Knights on the gridiron. When at running back, De- travious Mathis suffered a season-ending injury, and Smith had to slide into his role. Smith spent a lot of time playing running back his junior season but was faced with the challenge un expectedly. The senior did what he has always done; he took the role and ran. Smith became the cen terpiece of the Knights’ of fense. He rushed for 825 yards and nine touchdowns during the regular season. He added 83 receiving yards and one touchdown through the air. Smith averaged 12.5 carries per game, including the five games that he did not start at running back. The senior took many carries when he was less than too percent physically. He battled through multiple injuries during the season but never sold his team short. He was a key part of the Knights' first playoff win since 2005. As soon as football con cluded, Smith changed uni forms and loaded on a bus to play basketball. The sen ior was the undisputed leader of the Knights 17-8 season. Smith led the team in scoring on almost every night, including a 33-point explosion against Taylor County. The Knights played a few games before Smith fin ished football and when he showed up, the entire team changed. He was the floor general from the beginning. Throughout the year he obtained many accolades. He was named to the First Team All-Region list for football, Region Player of the Year for basketball, and an honorable mention for an all-state basketball team by both the Atlanta Journal- Constitution and Sandy’s Spiel. Smith is what AAA ath letics are all about: A pas sionate multisport athlete that leaves everything on the field each night. Upson Lee will surely miss such a solid leader not only on the field, but in the halls as well.