Life Moves On

The Gryphon community is numb this morning with both Pat Smith and B.W. Holt both deciding that retirement is in their best interest.

As bad as all of us feel, both of them know what is best for their lives is more important than whether Rocky Mount continues to win ball games.

The Gryphon sports programs will continue and who knows whoever takes over both programs may be the next Smith and Holt of North Carolina high schools sports.

Whomever replaces them needs to be disciplinarians. Rocky Mount High School is an inner city school. In their time here as coaches, has either one of them had a player in trouble with the law? If they have, I have never heard about it.

All of this tells me is our students will respond when they are challenged to be the best they can be. They excepted nothing less than the best from each player. Those players responded. I only wish that the county administration would use their example and require all students to live the way our baseball and football players have.

I understand that 10 percent of those in school have no business being there because they don't want to be there. That 10 percent has the administration dropping standards for the other 90 percent.

Smith and Holt never dropped their standard and it showed in the classroom and ball field.

Other schools in the area are rejoicing today because they think the bottom has fallen out and Rocky Mount will automatically fall off the face of the Earth.

That will not happen if discipline will be one of the main requirements of the new coaches.

I see that Mike Mosley, basketball coach and athletic director at Nash Central, has annnounced that he is retiring. Big changes are happening at Rocky Mount, Nash Central and at Fike. We still may have more surprises coming across the county before the end of school.

Brian Goodwin, Ben Fish and Tyler Joyner will represent Nash County in the North Carolina/South Carolina All-Star baseball game being played June 12 in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Roman Kelley, former Gryphon quarterback, will be roaming the sidelines next football season as head coach at South Brunswick High School in Southport. I wonder where daddy George Kelley will be on Friday night's this fall as he is principal at West Brunswick in Shallotte. He might get to see him at least once when South and West play each other.