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Chamberlain coach's game: touch football
© St. Petersburg Times, TAMPA -- There is much to be learned by looking a man in the eyes. So, for the moment, we'll let Billy Turner's tears do the talking. They will explain what it truly means to be a high school football coach. To care more about pupils than points. To devote your life to a profession that pays a homely wage, requires an obscene amount of hours and, if you're lucky, is recognized about as often as a wayward comet. This is what you get after 40 years in dinky stadiums. A spot in your first state championship game. And the type of phone calls, letters and hugs that bring a 64-year-old man to tears in the assistant principal's office. The winningest football coach in Hillsborough County history won his first playoff game a few weeks ago. His second came a week later and his third after that. So now, Friday night, Turner and his Chamberlain High football team will play Naples for the Class 5A state title in Tallahassee. They say the game is his reward for all the years spent working with youngsters, but Turner is beginning to see it differently. All the years spent working with youngsters? That actually was the reward. The phone calls, the e-mails, the letters have convinced him of this. "Hundreds, if not thousands, of young men's lives have been positively affected by you. By your spirit, your fair play, your tenacity and your infectious smile. I consider it a rare privilege that my (child) had the good fortune to be one your athletes. God bless you and your wonderful family and good luck on the remainder of 2001, the year of coach Turner's opus." Listen to Turner talk about letters of this sort and the realization slowly arrives. He is George Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life. This trek through the state playoffs has given him the gift of understanding how many lives he has touched. How many personalities he has helped to mold and how many children of children are better off for having known him. "If we win it all, it'll seem like a reward for all the years I've been in coaching. And if we lose, it's still a reward," Turner said. "No matter what happens, I've been fortunate. The fact that all of these people have called me, and there's so much interest. I know it's about Chamberlain High and it's about the kids. But, for me, it's about the friends. The friendships I've made. "The people who think enough of you to call and wish you well. That's why I've been doing this. The state championship is just a dream and most people never get that chance at it. The relationships are what matter." There are dozens of Billy Turners in this area, and thousands across the country. For every lamebrain prep coach who cares more about winning percentages than winning personalities, there is another who believes his or her job means a little bit more. "He is a good man," Chamberlain principal Henry Washington said. "Coach Turner does whatever he can for his kids, but he will never cheat or break policies. He does everything the right way. That's what makes this so wonderful because everybody is truly happy for him right now." Truth be known, Turner had given up on the state playoffs a few years ago. He had been a head coach since 1969 and at Chamberlain since '79. He had his share of talents and district titles and assumed his time had passed. A few years back, he enrolled in a school benefits plan that will require his retirement as a teacher after the 2002-03 school year. Friends and family insist retirement will be the first step he takes toward insanity, but Turner says he has plans. He can tend the yard. He can tend to his golf game. And he can tend to a special family matter. The Turner clan accounts for a good portion of the traffic in Northwest Hillsborough. Billy and Lucy had eight children and now have 18 grandchildren. Seven of the Turner children live within five minutes of his house and the other is 90 minutes away in Bradenton. Every Sunday afternoon is a family reunion with about 30 children, spouses and grandkids around the house. After all the years and all the children, Billy and Lucy thought they understood love, faith and family. They discovered there was still more to learn. Their granddaughter Megan was born a little more than two years ago with Down's syndrome and already has had two heart operations. While she has a 2-year-old cousin who is running and talking up a storm, Megan is just now beginning to take her first steps. "She is such a special part of our lives," Lucy said. "When it happens, your first reaction is to say, "Why us, why our daughter?' But she is like an angel who has been given to our family. We love all of our grandchildren dearly, but there is something special about Megan. "Every day, in some way, is a struggle for her. But when that child smiles, she can just melt your heart." So this is the Turner plan. After more than 40 years as a football coach, and a lengthy tenure as Chamberlain's girls golf coach, he plans to devote his retirement to working with Megan. Help develop her motor skills. Perhaps teach her to play golf. They say she is a quick learner. She already has mastered the tomahawk chop at Chiefs games. Megan will be in Tallahassee Friday night along with maybe a dozen of her cousins and close to a dozen aunts and uncles. They will gather to cheer for a team, for a man, and maybe for the ideals he represents. You know, people have been stopping Turner for weeks now. Just to say hello, good luck and, remember, you're in our prayers. When he heard it again at church on Sunday, Billy turned to Lucy. "With all the important things going on in the world," he said. "Do you really think God has time to look down on us in practice?" Oh, you surely hope so.
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Times columns today John Romano Susan Taylor-Martin |
