2007

WEEK OF~(,· ;;)1

Page 2B • lt.e N.ewtun I go back a long way with new Here's part two of the East Central Community College coaching story from the view of this old editm: O n Tuesday, Steve Cheathambecame the new head football coach at East Central Conununity College after servingas defensive coordinator for one year. I breathed a not-so-nice word under my breath - not necessarily at him but just in general, hones t, but he thought '

it was directed at him. This part I remember vividly. "What did you say?'' he asked. "Nothing sir," I responded. "What did you call me? What did you say?

I've known Steve Cheatham since I was in the seventh grade, but gotto know him better as an eighth grader at Neshoba Central. Steve was the ninth grade football coach at Neshoba and unlike some junior high football programs, I remem– ber it being pretty intense. As a matter of fact, we had spring training and even played a spring football game. This par– ticular year, the game was against West Point. The night before, the high school team had played a good game against the Green Wave, winning a close game. Then we played that Saturday morn– ing in West Point. Now to put this in per– spective, this was 1985 and this was the class of West Point that went on to win three straight state championships. I remember little from the game except for West Point running up and down the field on us. They had a little running back, a Barry Sanders like kid, that we couldn't seem to get our hands on. In the end, they beat us 42-Q and it really wasn't that close. We were really outclassed and it was a total beat-down. It's not that we were that bad. they were just that good - as they went on to show in later years. That's easy to say now, but it wasn't so easy to say then. To say the least, Coach Cheatham was not a happy camper. He told us we had embarrassed our– selves, the school and all of the coaches.· He then said the words I'll never forget. he was going to fmd out "who wanted to play football." The next few weeks were rough as he ran our hind ends off and put us through all sorts of rigorous physical tasks. At one point, during one workout,

Robbie Robertson

Come on. be a man and say it to my face." So I bucked up and repeated the word. Since this is a family newspape1~ I won't repeat it but something about a son comes to mind. At that point. he sent the rest of the group in. My classmates since first grade looked at me like I had been given a death sentence. The next week or so was pretty rough as he attempted to run the swearing out of me, which I think he did at some point. And for that skinny eighth grader– and for those who know me now. yes. I was once skinny - with a smart mouth. I learned to keep my mouth shut. It was a tough lesson to learn but one that has served me well to this day and one I \\On't forget. Even though Steve and I didn't always get along, 1 realize now he was just doing his job, trying to help young punks become young men. After I became a sports writer at The Meridian Star, we made our peace when he was head coach at Philadelphia. He even seemed glad to see me during media day at East Central this year. He did make me feel a little bit old when he told me his daughter, whom I remember as a lit– tle thing, had graduated from college and was working as a dental hygeniest. Oh, how time flies. Now here we are, some 20 years after that episode and I'm running a newspa– per and Cheatham is the new head foot– ball coach at East Central. ,

A. F.

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