Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, everybody, welcome in to go Fight Win the show
with all the high school football stories you love. On
this week's episode, I'll speak with Marty Smith. If not
for Marty, I may not be doing this show. But
he shared Coffeetown with a lot of his audience and
it helped my audience grow as well. So I can't
wait to hear about Marty's time playing high school ball
(00:22):
in the state of Virginia. Here in Georgia, a team
that gave all it could in the face of tragedy,
and it's state championship game. I want to tip my
cap to them, shout out a coach who never punts
and who Bill Belichick says is the brightest mind of
every high school football coach alive. So yeah, that's making
(00:45):
the cut. And the real Coffee Town. Someone sent me
a story about the real Coffee Town. We'll put it
up next to the facts and see what we can find.
Plus Coffeetown that I actually know about. They're playing in
their state championship game too, so you won't want to
(01:05):
miss that broadcast any of these stories. Right here on,
Go Fight Win, put your mouthpiece in, get your feet chopping.
It's a state Championship edition of the show.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
If you get the ball to Donnie Pug and let
that pudge you know.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Thanks to so many of you who already subscribe to
the show and follow it, keep up with it on
YouTube and all the podcast platforms. If this is your
first time checking it out, hit like, hit subscribe, follow along,
and just because high school football is ending and we
move into the winter months doesn't mean we won't have
stories to tell here on Go fight win, so follow
(01:54):
along right now. Thanks to everyone as well who orders
and keeps their closets hat racks stocked with apparel from
gocoffeetown dot com and the team's store. Y'all pointed out
to me that Brandon Walker from Barstool Sports was wearing
a gray Coffeetown hoodie that you can get yourself. A
(02:16):
lot of you said, hey, he's repping the brand. I said, well,
that's the most intelligent thing that he's ever done, and
more than one of you said it's the only intelligent
thing he's ever done. I'm not going to get into
all that. I'm just happy that he is being smart
supporting Coffeetown and you can be smart too. Just head
(02:39):
on over the store. Let people know that you're a
fan of the Copperheads. All right, I want to start
out with a story right here in my backyard in
the state of Georgia, in the Class A Division two
state championship game, Boweden beat Manchester seven. Now you may
(03:02):
look at that and say, wow, what a great game
from Bowden. They survived a close one and got the dub.
What you may not know about is the fact that
Manchester lost one of its players the day before the
state championship game, Brandon Smith passed away. And obviously, when
(03:23):
you have something like that at any time in the year,
it will rock your high school community, not just the
sports teams. For Bowden, quarterback Kyler mcgrin became the second
player in Georgia history to throw for two thousand yards
and rush for two thousand yards in the same season,
and they defended their Class A Division two title twenty
(03:47):
eight to twenty seven over Manchester and avenged their loss
from earlier in the season when they lost by a
point to Manchester. But for me, the story here, congratulations
to Bowden. You can't take anything away from those guys,
and no one ever will, No one will be able to.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
To me.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
I was just moved by Manchester's refusal to quit and
the fact that, look, this is a bunch of human beings.
Forget that they're high school kids. You have something like
that rock your town, rock your community, the day before
the biggest game that many of these guys will ever
play in, and you have a slow start, Bowden starts
(04:35):
really hot, and you think, maybe, you know, maybe Manchester
just isn't there mentally enough for this game, given the circumstances.
But they don't stop, and they fight and claw all
the way back. They cut the lead to fourteen to
seven when Jade and Terry caught a twenty eight yard
pass from Darius Bryant and then tied it on a
(04:58):
nine yard run by Quay Cooper after Terry intercepted a
pass and returned it to the twenty six. This is
from Georgia Public Broadcasting. Manchester actually took a lead in
the game when Terry hauled in a fifty five yard
touchdown pass from Bryant. Bowden then tied it back up
with a minute twenty three left in the half from
(05:19):
MGrid and that came after a long run down the sideline. Now,
this one looked like it might be heading overtime. It
might be a little extra Free State Championship football. Manchester's
Darius Favors scored on a four yard run with seven
twenty three left in the game to make it a
(05:41):
one point game, but officials called Manchester for an illegal block,
which took away Jack Underwood's successful extra point. So you
have a fifteen yard penalty backs the pat up to
a thirty five yard field goal. For a lot of
high school football teams around the country, that is a
(06:01):
low percentage play, a thirty five yard field goal. It
is what it is. Kicking a football is really hard.
Just watch college game day and what Pat McAfee's trying
to get normal fans to do. So Bowden decided to
run a fake field goal instead. That pass was unsuccessful
and Bowden ran out the clock. But I'm just really
(06:23):
struck by this team, this Manchester team. They carried Brandon
Smith's jersey out to midfield, who's number fifty two jersey
to honor him, And when it looked like their heads
were anywhere else other than that Mercedes Been Stadium turf,
(06:43):
they decided that they were there to play, and they
were there to play for Brandon, and they were there
to give it their all and do everything they could
to honor him. And I don't care that they lost
the game. I think that they did a lot more
than anybody could ever expect him to do and honoring
him and that's just what they did. So great job, Manchester,
(07:07):
great job Bowden. Y'all played a hell of a game,
and you left a legacy behind, not only for Brandon
but for yourselves. I know it's really hard right now,
and I know there's not a lot that seems to
make sense, probably in a lot of those homes and
(07:27):
and in that town certainly, but you can't take anything
away from what y'all did. So great job. You move me,
and I'm sure I'm not the only one. Congratulations. Let's
move on to another story here in Arkansas. Kevin Kelly.
(07:48):
This is from a high school fn empowered by SB Live.
I don't know what all these letters mean, all right,
Kevin Kelly, a football coach that never punts, returning to
Arkansas high school sidelines. Sheridan hires Kelly, who won nine
state championships with Pulaski Academy. So I didn't really know
(08:10):
much about this guy. I did a little bit of
research about Kevin Kelly, and I learned that not only
are a lot of people excited that he's coming back
because of his championship pedigree. Newly England Patriots head coach
Bill Belichick, an eight time Super Bowl champ, referred to
Kelly as probably the top high school coach in the country.
(08:33):
That was, according to The Boston Harold, a really cool
story here where Belichick would actually consult with Kevin Kelly
to learn what he was doing coaching in Little Rock.
When you got the seal of approval from Coach Belichick there,
(08:54):
you're doing something right. And when you're never punting as
a high school football coach, you're doing something right, at
least in my book. I heard a radio call the
other day just driving around town heading back from the
grocery store and picked up a radio call, and the
(09:15):
radio broadcaster, so here comes old Jack leg Jones whatever
his name was, on to punt in the state championship game.
This is his fifty six punt of the year. Well,
Coach Kelly ain't going for that, and obviously it's working.
Kevin Kelly one of the most successful and innovative coaches
(09:36):
to ever roam the sidelines in Arkansas High school football
was announced for the same position at Sheridan during a
school board meeting Monday evening. He will be the program's
third head coach in the past three seasons. So you
want a fixer, you want a program repair man, Bring
the guy in who's never gonna punt. Coach Kelly's unique
(09:59):
approach in va knowledge of the game have led to
many great achievements. Sheridan School District Superintendent Carla Netheri says,
So Sheridan has been struggling. Obviously, haven't been winning many ballgames.
But here's how he gained his attention during his eighteen
seasons leading the Pulaski Bruins for consistently on side kicking
(10:24):
and never or rarely punting. This is crazy. I didn't
know about this when I was putting the Coffeetown script
together for this week's show, but he reminds me a
lot of talent junction the team that Coffee Town's going
up against. Really aggressive guy. After six seasons as the
(10:46):
offensive coordinator under Kirby Norwood at Pulaski from ninety seven
to two, Kelly took over and became the fastest head
coach in state history. To eclipse two hundred wins the
feet in just two hundred and thirty games. This guy's
a maniac and he did it by onside, kicking all
(11:06):
the time and rarely punting. Maybe he knows something here.
Maybe this is the key to the game that people
are just too scared to unlock, too scared to put
on their key chain. Well it's working for coach Kelly
was in twenty fourteen when Pulaski Academy went from a
highly successful program to a juggernaut, as it won six
(11:31):
of the next seven Class five A state championships through
twenty twenty. So where'd he go? He received college interest
through his high school coaching tenure, but finally decided to
make the leap in May of twenty twenty one when
he went to Presbyterian College in Clinton, South Carolina. That
(11:51):
brings us to a connection point with the we Need
More Dogs coach that retired after getting his start, David Bennett,
coach at Presbyterian. So place obviously as a turnstyle for
legendary innovative motivators in the sport. But after that stop,
(12:17):
he couldn't help but want to come back to the
high school football field and who could blame him, along
with the nine state championships, each one tattooed on the
inside of his right bicep told you this guy's not human.
Kelly's bruins appeared in the state final twelve times, along
with eighteen trips to the quarterfinals and fifteen to the
(12:39):
semi finals, while compiling an overall record of two hundred
and sixteen twenty nine to one. Former USA Today National
Football Coach of the Year in twenty sixteen, and inducted
into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame in twenty twenty one.
And just because he's in the Hall of Fame doesn't
mean he's kicking his feet up. He's back, and he's
(13:01):
back for blood and we'll see what he does. Obviously,
there's a lot of work to do at Sheridan where
he's taken over now, but things weren't the best at Presbyterian,
and he briefly worked on the Patriots staff under coach
Belichick following his departure from Presbyterian in twenty twenty two.
(13:21):
So now he's learned from Belichick, not just sharing things
with Belichick. That circle has been reciprocated. This is scary.
This is scary stuff. He returned to Little Rock with
no plans, and that is when he was contacted about
(13:42):
Jim Idea and he created a curriculum for kid Champion
and then one thing led to another. All that to say,
he's back where he needs to be, and that's on
a football sideline, telling that Punk to work on long snapping,
(14:03):
work on being a fourth stream wide receiver, work on
being a six string quarterback because puntin ain't something we
do here at Shared in Son. And that's a Coach
Kelly guarantee. Be keep in my eye on Coach Kelly there.
It's terrifying proposition for a lot of Arkansas high school
(14:23):
football teams. Don't count them out just because they've been struggling.
Now Kelly's going to get him back.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
All right.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
Here's one thing that y'all submitted to me through the
portal on gocoffeetown dot com. You've got your own stories
about your high school football glory days that you want
to share, you can do it there. We're at go
Coffeetown on Twitter or x and Instagram. So this is
from Peyton Snyder. It's a very short message. A lot
(14:52):
of these are several paragraphs long as people pontificate about
how they dominated their high school football careers. But this
is just a quick little summary out of the state
of Mississippi from Peyton Snyder. In rural Mississippi, there is
a town by the name of Coffeeville. The Coffeeville Pirates
(15:16):
were outscored on the gridiron this year three hundred and
sixty five to sixty two to end the season oh
and nine. There is no deeper story here, just thought
you should know. Peyton, thank you for letting me know
so I can let everybody else know that that Coffeeville
(15:37):
team does have a story.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
It does.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
You say there's no deeper story. I disagree. You go
oh to nine, three hundred and sixty five to sixty two,
and you're still showing up because you know what's going
to happen one day.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
Peyton.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
I don't know if you're telling me this because you know,
maybe you're a fan of a rival team out there
in Mississippi. But there will come a day when Coffeeville
and the Pirates they get their own coach, Kelly to
come through. They get their own guy to show up
who nobody knows. He's a walking legend, a living, breathing titan.
(16:21):
Of the industry, and those Coffeeville Titans are gonna win.
Maybe it's one game next year, maybe it's two games
the next year. But if there's one thing I know
about Coffee Town, Coffeeville, Coffee County, Coffee Bluff, wherever you are,
you can't hold a good coffee team down. And that's
(16:46):
what we're gonna find out. As Coffeetown takes on talent
junction in the state championship.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Coffee Town taking on talent junction in a state champion
ship game. Man alive, I'm more nervous in a tattoo
artisan an earthquake. Talent Junction wins the tass elects to
the fur. They'll kick off to Tumbleweed Taylor back from
his three game suspension for CBD. Tumbleweed takes the five
yards back in the end zone and runs right into
their wedge Buster at the eighteen. Maybe he should have
(17:18):
knealed it, but Tumbleweed knock their Special Teams Captain flat out.
I like the gumption we're sending a message first and
ten Reptile Henderson play action, rolls out to his right,
takes a lick, and throws a pick right to a
Tornadoes linebacker, and now reptile's down holding this throw and
shoulder talent junction took it all the way back to
our one. We'll take a radio timeout for injury, and
(17:40):
I'm fixing the go fut Fellas, do you feel like
your slave can't get off the ground as good as
it once did? Are you having trouble keeping your stocking full?
Lacking that jingle in your holiday bells? Running low on
reindeer antler spray and typical ointments. Call in the zone
testosterone for a free appraisal holiday season. Well, we're having
(18:02):
a reptile dysfunction here at state talent junction goal to
go on to one. They got the biggest quarterback in
all the two way tide Zimmerman. They call him tid Zilla,
six four to two hundred and thirty two pounds, and
todd Zilla runs right through Mount Everest, Michaels and both
out of linebackers before head button the gold post talon
junction going for two. Now to set the tone, Zimmerman
(18:24):
and the pistol fakes the toss and runs right up
the center's tail and tidd Zella's stumping all over our hearts.
Not even ten seconds in the ballgame. Prince Rockwall and
the gun now are reptile out. Rock Wall is one
of eighteen on the season with three interceptions and four fumbles.
Lord help us verse and ten on our twenty rockwail
at a toss sweep right to Krocpott Peters and kroc
(18:46):
Pott's cooking him on like a microwaved tonight. Nobody's gonna
touch him. Thirty twenty ten nine eight, seven, six, five
four three two one touchdown Cayrad and now we'll go
for two. Just get down if it ain't open. Prince
rockquaill looking. He throws and it's tipped at the line,
running to the hands of one of that linebackers, and
now he's gonna take it back ninety eight yards. We're
(19:07):
chasing that tornado like hell and hunting Bill Paxton, but
they got away with a couple holes behind the return
and nobody was gonna catch him. And a score like
that on a pat counts for two points. It is
now ten six talon junctions, So here come the tornadoes again.
Kaminski sends it away and it's a touchback. Todd Zella
back out there, and he crushed us with a short
(19:28):
field and his legs the first time out. Let's see
what he does here. His arm has been up and
down this year, ten touchdowns and nine interceptions. Zembraman and
a gun. We press him out of the pocket, rolling
right and throws it all the way across his body
to the far end of the field of one on
one ball and it is caught for a talent junction
(19:49):
touchdown eighty yards on the score man alive, two point conversion.
Now they're running in the round wide receiver pass to
guess who Tornado tid Zella a alone in the back
of the end zone, just reaching arm up there and
caught it with one hand like a dad playing backyard football.
It is eighteen to six talon junction. Tornadoes line up
(20:11):
to kick it away and it's an on side tick.
We're not prepared for this. They recovering. Now we are
riddling like a drunk on a deep sea fishing trip.
Todd's Zilla in the gun. We blitched, but he still
got all day back here and he's just toying with us.
Throws watching down by the back of the helmet, spins
out of elcrow Vaughn's arms and takes off down the sideline.
(20:32):
Rock Web chasing them down. Zimmerman spins out of an
arm tackle and back pedals into the end zone. Talon
Junction fans are throwing popcorns and drinks all over there
at their corner of the stadium, giving me flashbacks of
opening the night at the Taylor Swift movie with my granddaughter.
I took my granddaughter once again. They'll go for two
and Toddzilla hands that ball off the nail gun. Nickels
(20:53):
who walks in untouched Talon Junction up twenty six to
six heading to halftime, and this time for coach Swansea
to pour kerosene on in whiteboards and light a match.
Because the plan ain't working all right, Let's turn the
spotlight to our academic athlete student equipment manager Hook Mantigo Hooks,
You've done an atrocious job keeping up equipment this year.
(21:16):
Our team has one water bottle, several starters have to
share helmets, and I've seen a bunch of guys using
duct tape on their cleats since the shoe string fire.
Now your loan contribution this season, as you took over
the equipment job after we lost our first game in
the season. We've been undefeated since coach is superstitious, so
we won't fire you, but I'll get your resume together,
(21:38):
get a LinkedIn started up, just in case we don't
close it out at State, because things may not work
out for you from here. I'm just being transparent with you, Son,
Talent junction up twenty six thirteen. Here in the third,
after that punt return touchdown from love Ex, Houston got
a stop in some momentum and Ti Zella's starting to
look more human than monster down there. Tornadoes on their
(21:58):
twenty and they just hand it off like they did
the last drive, three plays in a row, just trying
to milk that clock. You can't do that to this
Coffee Town team. I don't care how big you are
or how big the lead is. Third and seven, yep,
Annistey's Andrews gets inside and forces a fourth down. Imagine
they'll kick away from Houston this time and we block it.
(22:20):
It's bouncing down there around the nine and we fall
on it out of bounds, but it's our ball, and
look who is coming back out to play. I just
got the chills. Reptile Henderson is not gonna miss his
last game as a Copperhead due to some injury. I
don't know if it's a collar bone or a rib
or a da gun funny bone. But you better in
(22:41):
for the hark if you want to take out number five.
Is he just a decoy? We'll find out. Henderson and
the gun fakes a toss. It runs his own TV
keeper through three tack horse for a Coffee Town touchdown.
Reptile looked like a raccoon running through a junk yard.
Just lowered that shoulder and could have took on eight
more tons. He comes up out of the pile and
(23:02):
his arm is dangling like a worm on a hook
out of that shoulder pad. So here we go. We're
down twenty six twenty two minutes left? What is tides?
They are gonna do here? He's in the gun now
looks to the sideline and they snuf it. He ain't
paying attention. It hits him in the face. Bask in
Mount Everest, Michaels' back air to fall on it. We
(23:22):
have the ball on that thirty Henderson hands it off
the crock Pop there, there's nothing there. Time is bleeding
out like we cut the clock open with a knife.
Tacond A long reptail got a little throw out there
to the tailback in the flats and he hits the
duct tape on his cleats. That arm is just not
looking good. Third and long, we try a little trap draw.
(23:43):
It picks up maybe four yards, so we got a
fourth down. Need a touchdown for the state tattle or
it's probably over Henderson and the gun. How far can
he throw it, Kenny, even throwing it all tornadoes crashing
in on him. He spins away from one, getting pulled
down by two mu and Reptile flips up all to
his left hand. That throws it to a wide up
(24:05):
and look that you stide for our coffee tired touchdole
Reptel Anderson. You got more guts in a government mule Son,
and now we gotta play defense. Kamenski sends it away
and talon junction sets up a return. Squirts Munos is
dangerous and there he goes right up the middle fifty
forty five forty all the way down to our fifteen
(24:26):
yard line. One minute left. All they need is a
field goal to win and make me slam my face
in this sliding glass window. First down, ta Zella zips
a dart right down to the three yard line. I
can't take it. First and Gold. They try to run
zimmerm in on a snake and he picks up one.
I'm sick, ain't got no time out segging and gold
Tizilla with a play fake, straightens up with throes of
(24:48):
the four batt it's too high off his fingers. We
die for an interception and drop it and that stops
the clock. I picked a bad night to forget my
goal bond. Third down now zimmern rolls out on a
boot looking his tight end. It ain't dead. He tucks
it and runs and pine Shaw him and Way launches
like a missile to keep him out of the ends
(25:08):
on him and a Way with spine Todzilla and match
them step for step. Pine Shaw ain't much to look at.
He's an undersized middle linebacker, but cut him loose and
he can really cover some ground. Just a gritty hustle
play that could have saved a ball game for us
and saved our season. Talon Junction Trail in twenty seven
to twenty six, fourth and goal from the one, they
(25:31):
can kick a field goal and win it. They were
aggressive to start this thing, and we just kicked the
horns nest the tornadoes want to win with a statement.
Todd Zilla takes a snap from the gun that big
quarterback is gonna die and try to get the ball
over the goal line. Every single cover heading is zip coat.
Meets him there and we pick him up. He throw
them down on the turf. It took seven or eight
(25:53):
of our boys to pick him up like a piece
of furniture. Then they dropped him so hard his kids
are gonna come out Disney. Talon Junction thinks he crossed
the plane, but there's no way to know and no
way to review it. Reptile Henderson is gonna kneel this
thing with about an inch of real estate to work
with and comfeetown wings. State Covidtown wins steak. The Copperheads
(26:13):
are carrying Reptile and tal Injunction head coach bart Billingsley
off the field against his will, but he chose not
to do the field goal like Oedipus. He just flew
too close to the Sun's son and it burned him.
What a game? And if that don't light a fire,
your on's went woo.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
Then Copperheads is hell? Don't they coming up? A man
who encouraged inspired me to share that Coffeetown story with
you all time and time again. His name is Marty Smith.
He may have heard of him over on ESPN and
the SEC Network. Well, he loves high school football too.
(26:55):
He played it, won a state championship himself, and he's
got some yarns to spend.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
Now you know them from the Marty and McGee show.
See him on the SEC Network on ESPN. You seen
him at the Masters. Marty Smith, Before you did all
that stuff, you earned a state championship in high school
in the great state of Virginia. Tell me about your
time wearing that number nine for Giles.
Speaker 4 (27:25):
It was a long time ago.
Speaker 5 (27:27):
This is actually the thirtieth anniversary season of that nineteen
ninety three state championship that my friends and I won
back in in Virginia, and I thought a lot about it,
especially this year.
Speaker 4 (27:44):
I'm one of those never graduate guys.
Speaker 5 (27:46):
I mean, I'm sitting here thank somebody handing me a
basketball and I just have to I'm always there's a
ball around, I'm going.
Speaker 4 (27:53):
To be throwing it, hitting it, passing it.
Speaker 5 (27:56):
And in my town, Parisburg, Virginia, you're a Friday night
lights town. We're one of those towns that if you
want to rob somebody in town, Friday nights in the
fall are your best bet because everybody's at the game
and nobody locks their doors, and it's this caravan mentality.
There's a great scene in Friday Night Lights where they're
(28:18):
going to State and there is a line of cars
for miles following the school bus that's carrying the team.
Speaker 4 (28:26):
That's our town.
Speaker 5 (28:28):
And so to grow up in a town like that
when you're like, we had heroes that played at Virginia Tech,
and we had heroes that played for at the time
the Washington Redskins, of course now the Commanders, but our
real heroes were the spartans that were older than us.
(28:50):
And the dream that was understood that if you were
a boy that was born into that town, you were
going to place bart football and to deliver a championship
meant to deliver purpose and to deliver a positive identity
and bragging rights, because if we won on Friday Nights,
(29:14):
they won on Monday morning when they got.
Speaker 4 (29:16):
To the office.
Speaker 5 (29:18):
And you carry a lot, it's you don't realize all
that you're carrying as a sixteen seventeen year old in
that energy until you're older and move on from it,
but I'll never forget Wes.
Speaker 4 (29:32):
I remember my senior year.
Speaker 5 (29:34):
It was a cold day, it was a Wednesday, and
we were doing special teams practices. I was the pump returner.
I was a field goal holder, so I was like
on all the special teams too, And we were practicing
field goals and my brother, Maurice Milton, who was our kicker,
was kicking.
Speaker 4 (29:53):
I was holding, and I'm belly aching. I'm just bitching
and moaning.
Speaker 5 (29:57):
I can't wait to get out of here, go see
my girlfriend, and I'm tired of practice. And our coach,
who was also my defensive backs coach, a guy named
Jeff Williams, walked over to Maurice and me and he said,
shut up, stop.
Speaker 4 (30:13):
Talking like that.
Speaker 5 (30:16):
Someday when you leave this, you would get you're gonna
be in a position where you would give anything to
come back and strap up one more time and do
it again. And we kind of looked at each other
and rolled our eyes. But man, if he wasn't right.
And there's a great speech that Sean Payton gives in
(30:37):
Kenny Chesney's Boys of Fall music video where he's back
at his alma mater twenty seven years later, and he
says when he walked in, he was just taken back
immediately by the smells, by the sounds of when.
Speaker 4 (30:50):
He was there.
Speaker 5 (30:51):
And he said to those young men in that moment,
you're gonna go be fathers, You're gonna go be husbands.
There's gonna be amazing moments in your life as you
progress forward, but there's never gonna be this again.
Speaker 4 (31:03):
And damn if he wasn't right too.
Speaker 5 (31:06):
There's an energy that comes with that brotherhood and that
experience under those lights that is not replicable ever again.
And I'm so grateful for it, and I truly would
give anything to go back.
Speaker 4 (31:20):
And just do it one more time.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
You're so impressionable of that age. And I've had athletes
come on the show that played college Ball NFL and
they have, to a man, photographic memories of scores and
guys that lit them up and guys they lit up.
Tell me about the night that you won the state championship.
I've heard you tell this story a couple times, but
(31:42):
it does sound like something out of Friday Night Lights.
Speaker 4 (31:46):
It really is a movie script.
Speaker 5 (31:49):
We actually hosted the state title game at our field,
and at that time, that's how Our governing body is
called the Virginia High School League the VHSA.
Speaker 4 (32:00):
Well they allowed that.
Speaker 5 (32:03):
And so we are thirteen and zero and we are
getting ready to play Central High School of Lunenburg, which
had won twenty seven consecutive games, and they were the
runaway favorite to beat us. And we went in there
and you could tell very quickly that they wanted to
(32:25):
try to impose their will. They ran the football and
the hitting in that game. And it was bitter cold.
I mean bitter cold. There was damn blizzard, snow and sideways.
It was straight out of a movie. There were our stadium,
Spartan stadium probably at the time held a thousand people.
Speaker 4 (32:48):
Maybe, I don't know. It's like a Paul Bunyan story.
These days. There were ten thousand people there exactly.
Speaker 5 (32:54):
And it really was packed, like people came from all
over the state to see this game against these two
undefeated powerhouse programs. And I think it was the second
drive of the game. Maurice Milton, the guy that I
just mentioned who was our kicker, he was the fastest
(33:16):
player on our team, faster even than his twin brother Rayfield.
Rest in peace, my brother who recently passed away. The
greatest athlete I've ever been on any field, within any sport.
Speaker 4 (33:28):
They went to throw.
Speaker 5 (33:31):
This little kind of flat pattern to the running back
and mow read it perfectly, stepped in front of the
pass and housed it like a fifty yard pick six,
and it was a rap from there. The hitting in
that game was serious, and it was like our bones
(33:52):
were brittle. I remember they had a kid named Michael
Hurt who played tailback and was an All state superstar
running back, and they ran a simple sweep away from me.
I was the left cornerback, and I remember running as
hard as I could run, and I had the angle
on this guy. And there's only been two players that
(34:14):
I can ever remember who did this. He was so
fast he outran because I mean I was a slow
farm boy, but he outran the angle, and I remember
being so embarrassed by that, but also so the game
ends and we went.
Speaker 4 (34:33):
And I remember.
Speaker 5 (34:36):
Channel's WDBJ seven was the CBS station in our region,
our area. They were out of Rowing, sixty plus miles away,
and they had the first high school wrap up show
I think anywhere now they're ever in every town, but
it was called Friday Football Extra, and the host was
(34:57):
Mike Stevens, and they were there that day to cr
our state championship victory. And I'll never forget they put
they put the camera in my face of all people,
and I'm like crying and it's really embarrassing. But I
remember saying like, I remember all those tears, and I
(35:18):
remember all that sweat, and I remember all of that shit.
We hated so much to get us to that place,
but it was all worth it because we were number one.
And that makes me think about I will never forget.
I wrote about this in my first book. I remember
distinctly and vividly. We didn't have a field house. We
(35:43):
had the Agg Building, and I remember sitting we had
this overhang thing, like a like a walkway carpoard thing,
and between two a day practices in August of nineteen
ninety three, I remember leaning leaning up against this steel
post pads, shoulder pads on back then. You could take
(36:07):
a damn nap on our shoulder pads. They were so
huge on one of them, on one of them, that's right.
And Peter Jeney was an All State linebacker for US,
an All State running back for US, one of the
greatest players in the history of our program, and Peter
and I were buddies, and I remember saying to him,
(36:28):
looking at him, I was eating a soggy peanut butter
sandwich made by the Booster Club that they would put
in those We didn't have those ziplock bags that you
zip locked. It was the ones that you fleck folded
over themselves and made the sandwich extra soggy. And I
remember taking a bite of that soggy PBJ and then
(36:49):
looking to Peter and go going, I can't do this, man,
Like screw this man, I'm quit, dude, And Peter just
took a bite out of his peanut butter sandwich and smiled, goes,
oh you're not.
Speaker 4 (37:04):
And it was this. It was so funny.
Speaker 5 (37:07):
And now with the perspective I have as a forty
seven year old man with gray hair, we weren't playing
for us. We were playing for our dads. And he
was so right, You can't quit when your father's and
your uncles and in a lot of cases your mom's
(37:28):
and all those people with the train horns and waving
the bandanas, we're playing vicariously through you. You don't quit that.
And it really is a movie. And I want to
tell you one more thing, Wesley. Three years ago now
as we sit here, I was asked by my dear
(37:52):
friend Kate Jackson, who's the coordinating producer at ESPN over
the Heisman Trophy broadcast. She asked me to be a
part of the Heisman broadcast starting at twenty twenty one.
Speaker 4 (38:06):
And I'll never forget it.
Speaker 5 (38:07):
My tailor, which is Alton Lane and Peyton Jenkins is
the guy who founded that company. Peyton made me a suit.
There was this beautiful green suit and I have kind
of elaborate lighting in my suit jackets and I always
(38:28):
try to put a stitched message in the inside pocket
that is special to me.
Speaker 4 (38:37):
I'll beat that. I open up.
Speaker 5 (38:40):
The the jacket when I get it, and in pink stitching,
it just says twenty seven Dash eighteen. He had gone
and researched the final score of state champions Gain in
(39:02):
nineteen ninety three and did that for me. And I
just thought that was so thoughtful. Guy's telling stories of
his own man.
Speaker 4 (39:10):
Yes, I mean it's it was just really cool.
Speaker 5 (39:12):
I mean it made me emotional because it's like what
my dad would say about his boy being part of
the Heisman Trophy broadcast. That I watched with him, and
for that matter of the Masters, which I've watched with
him every year. I'm just so full of gratitude for
all those people in my life who are that kind.
Speaker 3 (39:32):
Two more and we can wrap this thing up. You
have a book out Sideline CEO, and you talk to
a lot of phenomenal college coaches, but at the end
of the book you do give a shout out to
your high school upbringing. Who's the coach that you dropped
there in the book and why did he mean so
much to you? And are there any other coaches that
(39:53):
still stick with you like that, whether it's for serious
reasons or because you know they said something that still
makes you laugh.
Speaker 4 (40:00):
Well, there's a lot of them that still make us laugh.
Speaker 5 (40:02):
And I have a tech string with like thirty of
my high school teammates, and like, that's a brotherhood.
Speaker 4 (40:10):
Man win in that state championship.
Speaker 5 (40:12):
It it forges this this bond that's literally for the
rest of your life. And there's this unique kinship too,
and this unique fraternity for anybody that played high school football.
If you step between the lines as a high school
football player, you have those stories. And Steve Raxdale was
(40:35):
my head coach at Giles High School, and he's a
Virginia High School League Hall of Famer.
Speaker 4 (40:39):
He won Miria at high.
Speaker 5 (40:41):
School state championships at Giles High and his influence on
our lives is truly indescribable.
Speaker 4 (40:47):
You cannot.
Speaker 5 (40:49):
He was brilliant at teaching us about life while coaching
us in football, and he doesn't want to hear it.
Speaker 4 (40:58):
He was and esteemed educator, mathematics.
Speaker 5 (41:04):
Teacher, taught us calculus, taught us trig all of these
advanced mathematics. And he will tell you I was an
educator first and a football coach second. But this is
what I wrote, Insideline CEO. That's all well, and good
coach can think that. But I don't remember a damn
thing he taught me in the classroom, and I remember
(41:26):
everything he taught me in the locker room. And that
is the kind of thing that would probably make him
go Marty sound. He didn't have priority straight y'all think
I got an accent.
Speaker 4 (41:37):
You want to hear his.
Speaker 5 (41:38):
But a very special person in my life to this day,
I'll call him and we'll talk for ninety minutes or
two hours about everything.
Speaker 3 (41:46):
Last one for you, I ask every person that comes
on this question. One song from your high school pregame
playlist through whatever platform or medium you were listening to
it on. What was What was Marty Smith listening to
before taking the field?
Speaker 5 (42:03):
Welcome to the Jungle, Guns n' Roses. Appetite for Destruction
is the greatest rock and roll album of all time,
and that is one of the signature songs, but it is.
Speaker 4 (42:19):
It was every Friday.
Speaker 5 (42:20):
I had a Diarrhea Gold two door nineteen eighty five
outdoorsman model Chevrolet Blazer four on the floor and we
would get in that thing, and I had a Sanyo
after market tape deck in my Outdoorsman Diarrhea Gold four
on the floor Chevrolet Blazer which was my mama's which
(42:43):
they bought brand new from Bench or Chevrolet. But then
one of the guys we owned a cattle farm and
one of the high school boys that helped us throw
Hey when I was a kid, wrapped that thing around
a deer in the middle of four sixty tored the
whole front end out of it.
Speaker 4 (42:58):
Then it became mine and I got my license.
Speaker 5 (43:02):
Wish I had it right now, but we listen to
All the Gold in California by Larry Gallen and the
Gallen Brothers. We listened to Fishing in the Dark by
the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.
Speaker 4 (43:13):
We listen to.
Speaker 6 (43:17):
A lot of the like the chronic by Doctor Drayden
and Welcome to the Jungle was kind of the final
mission statement.
Speaker 5 (43:28):
And again I'd give anything a strap up one more time.
Speaker 4 (43:35):
Praise God.
Speaker 2 (43:36):
Brother?
Speaker 3 (43:36):
What are you doing right now? College football wrapping up?
Where can people find you in the next few weeks?
Speaker 5 (43:42):
Mon? Yeah, man, We'll be doing the college football Playoff
through January eighth, and then that's of course in Houston
the National Championship, and then January ninth, I will be
at the college basketball game somewhere for Super Tuesday. I'll
go ahead and tell you right now, I probably won't
know a single name on either team.
Speaker 4 (44:01):
That won't be the first time.
Speaker 5 (44:03):
But then I do Super Tuesday college Basketball through kind
of the Final Four with Carl Ravich and Jimmy Dikes.
Love those two. Love making college basketball broadcast with them.
Then we go straight into augusta National at the Masters
for ten or twelve days. I also do the Masters podcast,
so I'm there for quite a while.
Speaker 4 (44:25):
Then we're on into all of the.
Speaker 5 (44:28):
Spring college football then we're into the PGA Championship after that.
I hope this year I'm doing the Kentucky Derby. I
may be doing Formula One in Miami, not sure yet.
But we don't really stop, don't We don't.
Speaker 4 (44:42):
I try to slow down a little bit in the summer.
Speaker 5 (44:44):
But one of the greatest parts of my amazing opportunity
at ESPN is the diversity in the job is infigurating
to me like it's interesting to go straight from one
sport to the next because it demands so much of self.
It demands that I am diligent and that I am
(45:09):
undaunted in continuing to stay challenged, and to me, that's invigorating.
Speaker 4 (45:15):
I love it, man.
Speaker 3 (45:16):
I appreciate your time so much, Appreciate everything you've done
for me and outside of the show, and great to
catch up with you, man.
Speaker 5 (45:23):
I love this project. High School football is so important.
It is one of those threads that weaves through the
American fabric. And I don't care if you're from Compton, California,
Appalachia where I grew up, Florida, Maine, New Mexico.
Speaker 4 (45:44):
It doesn't matter.
Speaker 5 (45:45):
And so much of what divides us outside the lines
doesn't exist between the lines, and I love every bit
of that.
Speaker 1 (45:58):
Thank you, Marty Smith, Brother Smith, I wouldn't be doing
the show probably, I wouldn't be making these Coffeetown videos
for too much longer if it wasn't for brother Smith
and brother McGee sharing some Coffee Town clips over there
on their show and their program, and they've kind of
passed the baton and they let y'all take it now
(46:21):
and for the people who enjoy it, whether you enjoyed
it from day one when it came on the scene
there in twenty nineteen, or you're just learning about it
and just enjoying what Coffee Town's all about. It's my
love letter to high school football, and the state championships
wrap up around the country and the holiday season is
(46:42):
upon us, whether your team made it to state or
the playoffs or not. These stories, your towns, your coaches
are gifts that always give back, and they give back
to you more and more each year as the years
(47:03):
go by. And I think we picked that up from
Marty's experience for sure. I hope y'all have a great weekend,
get your shopping done. Time's running out, and if you
need a perfect gift for the high school football fan
in your life, well, look no further than the gocoffeetown
dot com team store. Might just get some state championship
(47:26):
shirts up there. Now son y'all have a great week,
Catch it soon. Peace,