While I was in Atlanta, I decided to find a track. I needed to do a little “speed” work and thought it’d be fun to run at my old high school. So I drove over to Sprayberry High only to find that the track was closed for resurfacing.
Bummer.
So I went to my other high school, Pope High School. When I pulled into the parking lot, I noticed a ton of construction going on. You couldn’t get back to where the track was, so I parked the car and walked over to where the football team was doing some conditioning. I approached one of the coaches and said, “Excuse me, I used to work here as a janitor but now I live in Mississippi and wondered if the track is open?”
He looked at me warily and answered, “No. It’s being resurfaced (apparently several of the high schools in the area are getting new tracks.)” Then he asked, “Where in Mississippi?”
I answered “Jackson.”
His eyes brightened, “Really? I grew up in Jackson. I coached at Jackson Prep and Madison Ridgeland High School. You know Rob Futrol, the pastor at Broadmoor Baptist Church?”
I said, “Yeah, ran into him at the C-L’s Best of Preps banquet. He gave the prayer and I emceed.”
He said, “My dad used to the be the pastor there.” He then asked,” Do you know Joe Mack Dove? Our wives are very good friends.”
I answered, “Yes. I worked with Joe at The Clarion-Ledger.”
He smiled. I think we both realized that if we kept on that we’d be kin.
You see, that’s Mississippi for you. No matter where you go, you’ll run into someone you know. Just like three weeks ago when we were in Manhattan at Carmine’s Restaurant, the OB who delivered my three sons was three tables over.
Anyway, it was good to meet Coach Jerry Mahon. To quote Joe, “You met one of the best coaches in America. Nothing to do with Ws or Ls, but who you would trust your child with to learn about values and character.”
And I had to drive all the way to Atlanta to do so.