Newspaper Page Text
November 30, 2016
PAGE 4B
■
Reporter
Lee Belknap has been on
both sides of semi matchup
McIntosh High head
coach Lee Balknap
played for both MP
and Cartersville.
t5Y W1L/L/ UAVIS
publisher @mymcr. net.
When Mary Persons and
Cartersville meet for just the
second time ever in the state
semis on Friday night, there
will likely be only one person
in the stands who’s played for
both schools.
Lee Belknap played football
for Mary Persons in 1989 and
1990, starting several games
as quarterback for Dan Pitts
his sophomore year. But
then Georgia Power moved
his dad from Plant Scherer
in Juliette to Plant Bowen
in Cartersville. So Belknap
spent his junior and senior
years with the Cartersville
Purple Hurricanes, which
moved him to defensive back.
So it was somewhat awk
ward the last time Mary Persons
traveled to Cartersville for a state semifinal
game, in 1991. As the Bulldogs looked to the
other side of the field, the starting strong
safety was one Lee Belknap, their quarter
back from the year before.
“It was a very unique situation,” laughs
Belknap, now the head football coach at
McIntosh High School in Fayette County. “I
grew up with all those [MP] boys. I’ll never
forget when the PA announcer called out the
starting lineup, I got applause from both sides of
the stadium.”
Belknap said his Cartersville coaches asked him
if he had any inside information from his years as
quarterback in Forsyth to help the Hurricanes.
Belknap said he couldn’t provide a whole lot.
Besides, it was no secret what coach Pitts
planned to do.
“We’ve just got to stop them from running
the ball,” Belknap said. “But everyone knew
that!”
Belknap laughed recalling Pitts’ mantra:
“We’ll throw the football three times. We’ll
throw it off the bus, we’ll throw it in pre
game warmups, ancl tnen we ll tnrow it back on tne bus.'
Even knowing that, Belknap and the Hurricanes trailed
by 10 at the half. But MP uncharacteristically turned the
ball over several times and Cartersville came back to win
21-17.
Belknap and the Purple Hurricanes would go on to the
win the state title in 1991.
Belknap said playing for Pitts was a great experience
that has shaped his life into this day.
“I would not be a teacher and coach if not for the great
experience I had in both programs,” said Belknap.
Belknap said the thing that strikes him now about Pitts
is that he was the gold standard for consistency.
“I don’t think I realized at the time how hard that is to
be consistent day in and day out,” said Belknap. “He was
an excellent role model for a young man in how to do it
right. I loved him to death.”
Belknap said he was a sixth grader when his Little
League baseball coach Aubrey Stewart introduced him
to Pitts as a kid with a promising athletic future. Pitts
invited Belknap to work out with his quarterbacks once
a week. And so he did. Then Belknap’s school bus began
dropping him at the fieldhouse every morning so he and
Pitts could watch film and talk football and then Pitts
would carry him in his Chevy S-10 to his first period class.
“He was just special to me,” said Belknap.
Belknap said he’ll never forget how players had to drink
salt water at summer camp, allegedly to replace salt lost
while sweating.
“We had a lot of good times,” said Belknap. “For a young
man who loved football, it didn’t get any better.”
Belknap just finished his sixth year at McIntosh, where
he’s developed a reputation much like Pitts for his integ
rity. He gained notoriety in 2013 when he saved a man’s
life at the Italian Oven restaurant using the Heimlich
maneuver. He said he talks with another football coach in
Fayette County with MP roots, Chip Walker, nearly every
week.
While his team didn’t make the playoffs, Belknap said
he and his wife will head to Cartersville on Friday for the
game. Belknap said he knows the Hurricanes are on a roll
and boast the No. 1 quarterback in the country. But he
doesn’t count out the Bulldogs as two tradition-rich pro
grams clash.
“It’s like I tell our team,” said Belknap. “That’s why they
turn on that scoreboard, especially in Round 4 of the state
playoffs. You never know.”
Sparks named FCA area head
Monroe County native Landon Sparks, pictured with wife Kelley,
daughter Laney and son Cameron, is the new area representative
for Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
BY WILL DAVIS
p u blisher@mym cr.net
A Monroe County
native has come home,
leaving the security
of his corporate job to
spend his days encour
aging local coaches and
high school athletes to
follow Jesus Christ.
Landon Sparks, 37,
has been named an
area representative
for the Fellowship of
Christian Athletes
(FCA). He is starting
now full-time as his last
day with his corporate
job at NCR, where he’s
worked for 11 years, is
this Friday.
A graduate of Monroe
Academy and Georgia
Tech, Sparks returns
home from Henry
County with his wife,
Kelley, and children
Cameron, 11, and
Laney, 9 after purchas
ing the home where he
grew up on Hwy. 18.
Kelley is a teacher in
Bibb County. Sparks
ministers to students
and coaches in Monroe,
Jasper and Lamar coun
ties on behalf of FCA
with his female compatriot, April
Willingham Cassell.
Sparks left Monroe County in
1997 to attend college and then
began his corporate career liv
ing in McDonough. The Sparks’
church in Henry County had a
strong recreation program and
Sparks said he was feeling drawn
to do more with kids. A few years
ago, he learned that FCA needed
baseball coaches for a week-long
summer camp. Sparks said he
had an extra week of vacation
he hadn’t used and decided to
give it a shot. He loved it, shar
ing the gospel with kids while
teaching them about baseball,
and he began wondering if the
Lord wasn’t leading him in a new
direction. But he was scared to
tell his wife, who doesn’t love
change. “I didn’t expect her to
understand,” sighed Sparks.
But when their church’s recre
ation pastor left, she was the one
who asked him if that’s a job he
would like. Sparks said he was
stunned that she was sensing
the same thing he was, and it
prompted him to seek more ave
nues of ministry related to sports.
Still, Sparks was hesitant. He
wasn’t real comfortable talking to
strangers, which is one of the jobs
of an FCA associate — to share
the gospel with kids. He shared
his concerns at an FCA retreat
in St. Simons. On the way home,
they stopped to see a friend.
There was a girl parked in a car
nearby and when Sparks came
by, she looked at him and said:
“Do I look like a bad person?”
That prompted a deep 30-min
ute conversation about spiritual
issues where Sparks was able to
minister to a hurting young per
son. They eventually got the girl
to a local hospital because she
had some drug problems and was
in a bad place. But the encounter
convinced Sparks that God would
take care of his shyness. He
increasingly saw that as his poor
excuse to do what God wanted.
“I don’t believe in coincidences,”
said Sparks. “I realized how
much I was getting in the way of
His plan. That’s when I pursued
going on staff completely full
time.”
For the last three years Sparks
has been part time with FCA in
Henry County. But starting in
January, Sparks will begin living,
like a missionary, full-time off of
donations by supporters commit
ted to his efforts through FCA.
Sparks said FCA is a great orga
nization that focuses on build
ing the kingdom of God. Rather
than seeking
to supplant the
local church,
FCA strives to
build it up, said
Sparks.
“The FCA
vision is to
impact the
world for Jesus
Christ through
the influence
of coaches and
athletes,” said
Sparks.
Sparks will
help with regu
lar FCA Huddle
meetings,
including the
Mary Persons’
meeting which
is at 7:30 a.m.
on Fridays in
the MP library.
Sparks said he
wants to reach
out to coaches
and teachers
and help them
realize the
impact they
have on kids.
He said sports
has changed a
lot since he was
a kid. With the
advent of travel ball, kids are on
the field a lot more — and par
ents are more demanding. Sparks
said he loves sports but he wants
to remind parents and coaches
that nobody will care in 20 years
how many wins their U10 team
had. Yet the example coaches set
will be remembered. Sparks said
he remembers all his coaches
growing up — men like Whit
Maples, Kenny Walker and (now
superintendent) Mike Hickman.
“I pretty much remember all
of my coaches growing up,” said
Sparks. “I remember the ones
who invested in me. I remember
the ones for whom it was about
more than a game — it was about
life. I want coaches to think about
how to coach in a way that play
ers play for something bigger
than winning?”
Sparks said he’s been impressed
with Monroe County schools and
he has enrolled his kids there.
He said he looks forward to get
ting to know all the people who’ve
moved into Monroe County since
he left 20 years ago.
To help support Sparks with
a tax-deductible donation, mail
checks to Landon Sparks, P.O.
Box 5971, Forsyth, GA 31029 or
call (678) 770-8538.
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