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SPORTS
DawsonNewscom
Wednesday, May 16, 2018
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Love of
the game
By Jessica Brown
jbrown@dawsonnews.com
The Dawson County High School
Tigers will be putting on their hel
mets and shoulder pads Friday night
for their spring game against the
Pickens County Dragons.
I can’t say that I’m not excited to
see the Tigers in action for the first
time. I do love high school football
no matter where I am.
Before joining the Dawson County
News, I worked for the Barrow
News-Journal in Barrow County
where I was fortunate enough to
spend my Friday nights running up
and down the sidelines of my three
local teams’ stadiums. I photo
graphed their triumphs and tribula
tions for 10 years before saying my
goodbyes and relocating to Dawson
County.
There is something magical about
being on the sidelines of a high
school football game. As the sports
photographer I got to capture a lot of
great moments at Winder-Barrow
High School, Apalachee High School
and Bethlehem Christian Academy.
I saw stadiums overflowing with
proud parents, students and teachers.
I saw the spirit section painted up
with bright face paint and waving
flags to support their fellow students.
I saw parents with tears in their eyes
as their son made his first touch
down. I saw coaches in jubilant cele
bration when the team got their first
win during a tough losing season.
See Brown 12B
Spring
scrimmage
this Friday
From staff reports
Fastidious fans of Dawson County
Football will get a sneak peak of the
season ahead with scrimmage games
this Thursday and Friday at Pickens
County.
Spring practice marks the first time
the teams have come together for foot
ball activities in anticipation of the fall.
Practices began on May 7 and from
the middle school on up, teams have
been at work every afternoon from 3-5
p.m.
On May 17, rising sixth and seventh
graders will have a spring game at 5
p.m. and rising eighth graders will
have their game at 6:30 p.m., both at
Pickens High School.
Then on May 18, ninth graders and
the junior varsity team will play at 6
p.m., and the varsity team will take the
field to face the Pickens County
Dragons at 7:30 p.m.
There will be a charge for admis
sions. All proceeds go towards the
DCHS and Pickens County football
programs.
Pickens High School is located at
500 Dragon Drive in Jasper.
An con ret res
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Photos by Amy French Dawson County News
DCHS Athletic Director Grady Turner holds the Region 7-AAA All Sports trophy.
Dawson County Highs Grady Turner ends tenure as Tigers coach
By Amy French
For the Dawson County News
When August is sweltering and
Dawson County Schools begin another
year, there will be a notable void in the
hallways, the gymnasium and the ball
fields of Dawson County High School.
Grady Turner will be retired.
“I don’t think there has ever been any
body that has attended, coached, or
played in more sports events than Grady
Turner,” said Coach Chess Hamby. “He’s
been a part since I can remember. He’s
just always been there. It will be a big
change without him around.”
“He will not tell you this, but because
of his dedication and loyalty, DCHS is in
part what it is today,” said longtime friend
and colleague Coach Steve Sweat. “He
has poured his heart and soul into this
school and its people.”
With just under two weeks of school
remaining, the Dawsonville icon is wind
ing down a 30 year teaching career and
15 years at the helm of the Tigers’ athletic
endeavors as athletic director.
For all who know him and his love of
DCHS and its students, this is a bitter
sweet time. Though Turner will move on
to pursue other endeavors, his legacy will
undoubtedly live on.
“Coach Turner is completing 30 years
of service to the children of Dawson
County,” said Dawson County Schools
Superintendent Damon Gibbs. “It’s really
hard to put recognition of that kind of
commitment into words. He hasn’t passed
through Dawson County, nor has he just
worked in Dawson County. He has com
mitted a lifetime to Dawson County and
his legacy will live on for generations.”
Turner finished his own high school
career at DCHS with 23 varsity letters in
everything from baseball (in which he
still holds the school home ran record of
16) to debate and one-act play.
There isn’t much that Turner has not
participated in at Dawson County High
School. At one point he taught drama for
two years to help out while the drama
teacher bathed illness.
He jokes that he has had more meals
from the kitchens of Dawson County
Schools than from his own mother.
His personal accomplishments at the
school he laughs off with great humility,
citing the school being a much smaller
place when he graduated in 1976 with
284 kids from eighth through 12th grade.
Turner began teaching in Dawson
County as a middle school PE teacher in
1988. He would eventually move to the
high school where he would be an assis
tant football coach, golf coach and spend
12 years coaching basketball.
“He doesn’t get as much credit being a
good basketball coach as he should,” said
DCHS softball coach and teacher Jimmy
Pruett. “He won a lot of games and devel
oped a lot of good players out of here too.
He was a good basketball coach.”
Pruett and Turner first coached foot
ball together in 1991 when Pruett
began his DCHS career.
See Turner 12B
Player of the Week!
Frankie Muldoon
Track athlete and junior Frankie
Muldoon brought home eight
place in both the 1600-meter
run (with a time 0/5:36) and the
800-meter run (with a school-
record breaking time of 2:27) this
weekend at the GHSA Track and
Field Championships.
CUMMING
706-216-0992
We’ve Gone Green!
“We will be here when you need us. ”
130 Industrial Park Rd, Dawsonville
DAHLONEGA
Industrial Park Rd.
M-F: 8:00 - 5:00
Dawsonville’s Premier Collision Center
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Cooper
Freeman
DCHS junior Cooper
Freeman placed third in
the state in pole vault with
a school record of 12’6” at
the GHSA Track and Field
Championship this past
weekend.
Sponsored by:
At
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770-889-3640
6710 Mockingbird Lane,
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