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playoffs in football, even though they had only 13 guys who ever saw the field. They also had successful programs in girls’ and boys’ basketball, gymnastics and tennis.
My husband, who went from Jefferson to Virginia Military Institute on a football schlarship, says he had the best teachers at Jefferson that he’s ever had, including his three years of graduate school.
Philanthropist Worked Wonders
My husband’s father, who was athletic director at Jefferson H.S., says that the vision and generosity of the town’s mill owner “made Jefferson a wonder.”
“It became one of the best schools in Georgia. It is still recognized as a quality school in-every way — academically and athletically,” says my father-in-law, whom I’ll refer to as Coach Lofton to distinguish him from my husband and son who have the same first and last name.
The mill owner recruited Coach Lofton to turn around Jefferson’s losing athletic teams and gave him the resources to do it. This philanthropist built a track, weight room, and lowcost housing for coaches and teachers. He built a library, too, and put books in it.
Coach Lofton says that once a topnotch football program is in place, it will more than pay for itself. “Football generally supports all the other sports in the school, except basketball, which tends to break even." With football, you’re more likely to have a top-notch track, a weight room, a larger pool of athletes, and so forth.”
In the absence of a miracle-philanthropist like this mill owner, can RCHS ever hope to rise to the height attained by that small, rural Georgia school?
Coach Lofton says “definitely.” Of the seven schools where he has been athletic director, one was brand new and six had dismal sports records before his arrival. Within three years of his taking over, his football teams and most of the other sports teams had winning records. He has racked up
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