The Glue Guys; The Unsung Heroes Around KHSAA Football @khsaafootball, @KyHighFootball, @WYMT, @minguabeefjerky, @bigassfans, @LasatersCoffee, @BreathittFb, @HopHighTigers

’76 Walters has been a fixture around the Tiger sports programs for close to 50 years

All real programs have “glue guys.” A “glue guy” is the guy who does the behind the scenes work or the work which makes programs hum, keeps programs on track, and insures the success of their beloved schools and communities. These guys aren’t paid, they just do what is needed. These are the guys who do the things the casual fan doesn’t realize even needs doing. From conditioning footballs, to taking up tickets at the gate, to manning the “chain gang,” to operating the clock, to shooting off the cannon after scores, to addressing the public as the PA guy on Friday Nights. These guys are the volunteers. These guys do these things because their schools, their programs, their communities need them to do these things. They do these things because their programs, communities, and schools are important to them. They are completely “bought in” to everything for which the program stands and hopes to develop in the young people it serves. They are instrumental to the success of any program. God bless these men and the honorable and wonderful game which has both guided and stewarded our young men through these many years. This feature is for you!

HB Lyon, Scouting Director, “KPGFootball”

All Points Kentucky: We got an interesting note the other day from a guy who has scouted Appalachian talent for KPGFootball for several years. This guy has performed all kinds of services for the programs he has supported through the many years of his sports patronage.

His note told us the following: “If you want to condition a football the right way, use Wilson football cleaner on them first, then wet them down heavy with conditioner, and then mix the conditioner with the Football Mud till it is like a heavy paste and put it on heavy and let it sit two hours. After that, brush them out good, then put 50 strokes on the Wilson wax brush and brush them again. They will feel great.”

Now the mud to which he was referring is a product made by Big Game Football Factory. We have pictured it above with a link, below the picture, to a website where you can purchase the product should you choose.

We discussed this with an assistant coach from another staff and he appeared confused. This guy just sort of gave us a blank stare.

He said, “We haven’t conditioned a single ball since I have been coaching here.” Well, I would suppose that is why some coaches are counted among the commonwealth’s all-time greatest coaches and this guy is someone of whom you have never heard nor likely ever will.

You see, real football programs understand championship football is about doing all the little, minute things well in the hopes that, when finally brought together, the assembled mosaic of these little things equals a championship. You can’t just see the forrest while ignoring the trees in high school football.

Each and every tree matters! Colliding with a single tree can completely derail your entire effort, your entire program.

You can’t gloss over the little things in high school football. The little things are huge things when finally and ultimately assembled.

Getting back to the central point, we talked with our friend David Hendrickson from Hazard, Kentucky and he told us he had previously conditioned balls and helped out on the chain gang for Bell County, and its legendary coach, Dudley Hilton, for decades. He told us he had done similarly for some other teams he supported after leaving Bell County.

Now this is a guy with whom we are very familiar. Hendrickson has volunteered to coach on staffs, conditioned balls, and been on “chain gangs” for the programs he has supported for many, many years. Unlike some others of his ilk, Hendrickson has also been among the top money-giving boosters for all the programs he has served.

Point is, he does it all, without fanfare, without notice, and largely unthanked. Hendrickson’s service reminds us of another guy we know well. His name is Craig A. Walters.

Walters was nicknamed “Blade” in high school. The story behind the nickname centered around someone telling Walters, “You know, you’re as sharp as a switch-blade.” That should date the story.

Who even knows what a “switch-blade” is anymore? In my day, if you carried one, you were some kind of tough hombre; or so we thought.

“Switch-blade” was shorted to “Blade” and a local celebrity was born. Walters graduated from Christian County High in 1976. Walters has been awarded an honorary degree from Hopkinsville High School and a varsity letter, replete with letterman’s jacket, since.

There is also something else about him pretty special. Walters is a Hopkinsville High School sporting savant. A “savant” is a person with exceptional skill or knowledge in a specific area.

Lindsey Clark, a sitting member of the Christian County Public School Board, told KPGFootball the following, “Craig [Walters] can give you a play by play accounting, final score, and game statistics for any significant ball game in which the Tigers have played over the past 50-years. From [Fleming] Thornton‘s last year (1976) to the present, Walters has near perfect recall of each and every contest.”

That is remarkable. What else is remarkable is the fact that even should Walters have to walk, and many times he has, the Tigers do not take the field of play without Walters at that game, home or away, donning his orange blazer and doing his duty for his Tigers.

Every game, every practice, Walters is there. Go by the practice field and see for yourself. Don’t take our word for it!

Walters’s involvement with the program well precedes my enrollment in the Hopkinsville High School student body in the Fall of 1983. Walters involvement may precede my involvement with Hopkinsville High School football at any level, at any time, even before enrolling for my ninth (9th) grade year.

I don’t have a single memory of a Hopkinsville High School sporting event which doesn’t include Walters’ presence and service to our Tigers (his more than mine). Not a single one…and I am turning 57-years old in August (2nd) of this year.

I find that remarkable. It is simply an awesome record of service to a community, a high school, and a football program.

There is a final guy who, like Walters and Hendrickson, I believe to be at the head of the class of glue guys across the commonwealth. I would like to mention Breathitt High’s Larry A. Turner.

Turner, pictured above between Bobcat all-timers, Jon “Johnny Appleseed” Collins and the great Mike Holcomb, has spent a lifetime serving the Bobcats in every conceivable way his physical frailness permits. Turner has done all the “little things” people rarely notice and as much as his health has permitted.

Whatever the need, should he be physically capable, Turner comes through. You never have to ask Turner twice.

These are the guys every championship caliber program has to have to succeed, to thrive. Someone has to condition the footballs for game-play. We can’t just buy ’em off the darn rack at DICK’S Sporting Goods and take them to the field for use.

It is the little things, the individual trees, the bits and pieces which matter in the game of football. It is what makes a Mike Holcomb, a Sam Harp, a Dudley Hilton, who they are and what they represent. It also explains why the other coaches can’t touch the three we have mentioned in this paragraph, who have 13-state championships between them.

These guys; guys like Hendrickson, Walters, and Turner are the glue which holds together any football program. These are the guys any program of value, any program competing for championships, has to have to succeed.

These are your glue guys; and your program isn’t the same without these unsung heroes. We simply can’t thank them enough!

This is Friday Night Fletch, reporting for KPGFootball and KPI Newspaper Group, reminding you to PLAY THROUGH THE WHISTLE!

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