September 12, 2024 • 29 mins
Coach Bill Curry's perspective on 'The Huddle' | Remembering Apalachee Coach Ricky Aspinwall | Coffeetown Radio Call
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Coach Dooley's List: https://www.coachdooleyslist.com/
Band Players: https://x.com/svsports/status/1830615196752298196
Coach Curry on The Huddle: https://x.com/Wes_nship/status/1833903187209994570
Coach Aspinwall:
- https://www.onlineathens.com/story/sports/high-school/football/2024/09/11/richard-aspinwall-will-be-remembered-by-apalachee-football-community/75114219007/
- https://www.onlineathens.com/story/sports/high-school/football/2024/09/09/apalachee-football-coaches-and-players-return-to-field-ricky-aspinwall/75142862007/
- https://www.gofundme.com/f/assist-shayna-aspinwall-in-this-difficult-time
Greenwood Football Radio: https://x.com/ChoateMason/status/1826067077968572675
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, y'all, welcome in to go fight win the show
with all the high school football stories you love. My
name is Wes Blankenship, and each and every week we
dive into the high school football headlines from around the
country that make you smile, make you laugh, maybe make
you cry, or make you pause and reflect on what
you have and how much the sport means to us.
(00:22):
Got all of that on this week's episode, including a
high school football team in Pennsylvania with two players in
the marching band. You don't see that often. Sometimes you
get one, but not often too. I'll take a look
at that, plus on this anniversary week of nine to eleven,
some evergreen perspective from the great coach Bill Curry that
(00:45):
is worth sharing each and every year, and remembering the
life of Appalachi football coach Ricky Aspinwall, who meant so
much to so many, not just in his household or
at a high school, but around the state of Georgia.
We'll also take a look at the Coffeetown High School
(01:06):
football Copperheads as they open their season at Otter Springs,
and a real life high school football radio call that
I just had to share. It's all coming up on,
go fight win, Let's get to work.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Was get the ball of Donny jug and let that
pudge you go.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
You know, one of my favorite things about high school
sports is the connections and relationships that you build along
the way, whether you're a player, a coach, or a
parent supporting the team. Well, one of those connections, one
of those relationships that I've picked up along the way,
dating back to my career as a high school football
freshman one hundred and seventy five pounds soaking wet tight
(01:58):
end at Collins Hill High School, is coach Billy Dooley.
And coach has had a phenomenal career in his own right,
coaching football, coaching softball, and now he started his own
initiative called Coachdooley'slist dot com. And if you are familiar
with Angie's List, this is like the high school sports equivalent.
Coach Dooley has an immaculate network of vendors that help
(02:22):
coaches and team parents out in every aspect of putting
together a successful team. For high school sports, coaches and communities,
whether it's picking up the right trophy for your team
or resources for the band, coordinating travel for your team
in the offseason to camps or to games. Maybe you
(02:44):
need a bulk order of mouthpieces. The last experience you
had was terrible and you wouldn't recommend it to anybody else,
or you're helping out with the concession stand and fundraising.
Coach Dooley's List has resources across the board for whatever
you may need, and it's all thanks to the contacts
and relationships that he's developed in decades as a high
(03:08):
school sports coach. If you're a coach or a parent
who is in any way instrumental in the success of
your kids high school football or high school sports team,
you have to check out Coach Dooley'slist dot com. There
is a link in the show description go get hooked
up with the best of the best. Looking at high
(03:28):
school football headlines from around the country from the last
several days, looking on social media, something really jumped out
at me. We're going to start off on a high
note here. Literally, I found out of Pennsylvania the Mulenberg Mules,
and that is spelled m u h l e n
b e r G, and their mascot is just a
(03:50):
shortened version of their name, the moles m Uhls. They
mailed it in there on the mascot. They didn't mull
it over too much longer than that. But what they
do have is two players in the marching band with
saxophones at halftime, full shoulder pads, thigh pads, knee pads, cleats.
(04:12):
I don't have names to go with these numbers. It's
number ninety nine and number forty seven for Muhlenberg. I
couldn't find a roster that broke down their team very much,
but that's all right because this is a team sport.
The band is a team sport. You've got individual instruments
that excel and shine and make noise and reverberate above
the rest, but at the end of the day, you
(04:33):
need someone that knows how to close quickly and get
to their spot on time on tempo, and the Muhlenberg
Moles certainly have that with number ninety nine and number
forty seven. I've got a link to it. You can
watch the video, but let's take a listen right now.
This is high school football marching band excellence. Yeah, those
(05:09):
fellows are marching in lockstep with their band mates. It
is a sight to see.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
Now.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
The one thing I'd recommend guys go all out next time.
Keep the helmets on all right, Let's just you can
get a saxophone mouthpiece through your helmet. I know it's possible.
Let's go all out ninety nine and forty seven. If
you see this or hear this, reach out so we
can hear your story. I'm sure it is nothing short
(05:36):
of immaculate. We've had a few of these spotlights on
Go Fight Win last season of players that sang the
national anthem up in the booth in full uniform or
played in the band. But it is rare to see
two teammates out there at the same time starring in
the marching band. That is a sight to see man
(05:58):
the Muhlenberg moles, the musical Muhlenberg mulls getting after it
in there what appeared to be away uniforms. I hope
they're not missing out on any instrumental lessons at halftime
from their coach. I apologize for that punt. It was
not intentional. Now, this week is the twenty third anniversary
(06:22):
of September eleventh, two thousand and one, and I was
in middle school and that happened. Depending on how old
you are, you have different memories and different feelings around
that day and everything that it has meant to us
moving forward. And there is a video that head coach
(06:44):
Bill Curry, coached at Georgia Tech, coach at Alabama, coach
at Georgia Tech, coach at Alabama, helped start the Georgia
State football program. And he did a feature with ESPN
looking back on September eleventh and sharing a story of
(07:05):
when he was doing analysis in the booth for TV.
And I share this every year, and look, it's twenty
twenty four, it's an election year. I enjoy this show
because it gives me an escape personally from all the
wackiness and all the divisiveness in our country. And I
(07:26):
hope that I can provide some of that for you
as well if you're listening. But the message and the
perspective that Coach Curry shares in this feature, which is
now a few years old, it sticks with me, and
I'm going to share it here and let y'all pick
up some of that perspective as well. In case you've
(07:47):
never heard it. Here you go. This is coach Bill
Curry reflecting on his experiences on September eleventh, two thousand
and one.
Speaker 4 (07:57):
We all know where we were from nine to one one.
We were all reeling and we were all so horrified.
Good morning. We still are to some extent. And the
(08:19):
NCAA was meeting, and the SEC was meeting to determine
whether or not to play the games ESPN and determined
they better not put anybody on an airplane. So ESPN's
instruction sort of curry, you get ready to be the
(08:42):
analyst for Southern Mississippi versus Alabama in Birmingham, and you
drive over there. So I'm on my way to Birmingham,
and I stopped in Atala, Alabama, and this nice filling
station guy, he recognized me, He said, coach, and they're
(09:02):
gonna play these games this weekend. I said, I don't know,
but if the cell phone that I got in my
pocket here rings while I'm into your station, you may
be the first fan in America to find out. So
sure enough, my phone rang and I was told to
go home. So I walked back up to the front
(09:27):
and I tell this nice guy, well, we're not gonna play,
and I'll never forget his response to me. He leaned
forward and his eyes bugged out, his jugglers popped up.
He said, well, let me tell you something coach and
I Talla Alabama, come Friday night, We're gonna play football
because it means a lot to us. I thanked him,
(09:52):
walked out, started driving home, and I was so distraught,
asked God to help me understand this thing. Why would
somebody think it was important to play a football game
on Friday night in Atala, Alabama? Why does it matter
in Puebo to Colorado, or Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, or Upstate
(10:17):
New York. And it came to me, it's the hubble
and it's the huddle because you can't step in the
huddle anymore. And being a racist, you can't step in
the hut and say I'm not playing with that guy.
He's a musclim You can't do that because everybody's welcome
in that hub. And what happens in the stands in Atala, Alabama,
(10:40):
in College Park of Georgia and all across the nation
on Friday night and somebody's child scores a touchdown, everybody hugs.
They don't stop to see what colored this pigmentation is.
I'm not hugging you because no, you hug because your
team just did something. And that huddle is emblematic of
(11:03):
what America could be. It brings the community together in
ways the rest of our culture has not arrived at.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
Look.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
I know it's easy to take inventory of all the
things that people argue about on the internet in real
life today in twenty twenty four and think that we've
lived through something unique. But obviously, if you know history,
this ain't our first rodeo. We've been through some things
that made us not like other people in our country before.
(11:39):
But regardless of when Coach Curry shared this observation, no
matter how many years ago it was, I know it
may seem difficult to believe as you look at things
today and think, man, we could not be further apart
from the other end of whatever end you But I
(12:03):
do believe that he is still true with that sentiment,
And all I hope and all I pray is that
we don't become too jaded to miss out on those
truths that Coach Curry shared. But that huddle really does
mean something to's so many places, in so many towns,
(12:24):
and look, it's easy to listen to what I'm saying
and roll your eyes and think, man, just another cliche,
more buzzwords bringing the community together overlooking our differences. But
is that not something that we should celebrate when we
do actually see it in front of us, Because I
believe that there aren't many uniquely American institutions that still
(12:48):
do bring and keep their communities together. There are few
of them that still exist in the real world, not
on the internet, in real life. Like high school football.
(13:09):
It's unique, it's real. It brings joy, it brings out passion,
it brings out emotion, and it ultimately does keep so
many places glued together around something. And it's uniquely us.
(13:33):
It is uniquely American, and I think what Coach Curry
said there is still true, and I think it is
worth celebrating on Thursday nights or Friday nights, or whenever
you're with everybody that loves the same high school football
team you do. September eleventh was hard. It was a
(13:53):
brutal day. It was a time that did bring us
together briefly. But the world has been weird ever since. Man,
it's been strange in a lot of different ways, and
it has it's driven a wedge and there's ripple effects
(14:15):
from it. But between those ripples, we still got high
school football. And I don't say that to downplay anything.
I say that with the perspective and in the context
of the world that we live in. But if we
can't celebrate the good things, man, what can we celebrate?
This next one's tough for me, man, Appalachi High School.
(14:39):
A school shooting is typically not the topic of conversation
on Go Fight, Win, But it does involve high school football.
It involves a team right up the road for me,
less than half an hour from where I'm recording this
right now, less than half an hour from where I'll
send my kids to school. And I'm not going to
(15:03):
focus on the horrific aspect of it. I'm going to
focus on the good and the life celebration that's come
from it. Appalachi assistant coach Ricky Aspinwall lost his life,
one of the four victims, one of the four fatalities
(15:25):
at Appalachi, and he left behind his wife and two daughters.
And everything I've read about this man, since I didn't
know him personally, I knew coaches who did know him,
everything I've read about this guy paints a picture of
a good husband, a good father, a passionate coach. And
(15:49):
I'm going to read a couple of things from online Athens,
who wrote about him. There is a quote that they
got from which Mike Hancock, Appalachi's head coach. He said,
I had a coach tell me that Ricky hung all
the TVs in his mank for him. He just wanted
to help him do He always talked to me. He goes,
(16:10):
there's always some work to be done. It wasn't above
him to sweep the floor. It wasn't above him to
do laundry. After a Friday night football game, he grabbed
the golf cart to go pick up the pylons. Hancock
also told online Athens about when coach Asketball came to
work with him. He said, at one point, he's shown
an interest in coming to work together. When I got hired,
(16:31):
when I was told I was going to get the job,
he was my first call. I just knew he was
the guy. I didn't have to call fifteen other coaches
to check references. I already knew. We just knew we
could work well together. People say it all the time,
and it's true. High school coaches, all coaches really spend
more time together than they do with their own families.
You've got to be able to get along, You've got
to be able to work together. You can't have an ego.
(16:53):
I knew he was the guy I didn't call anyone else.
He was the one guy that I wanted here to
be around our kids. He loved the aspect of trying
to figure out ways to put our players, any of
his players, in the best position to win a football game. Again,
I didn't know him personally, but what I do know
and what I see is the way that so many
high school football teams have celebrated him shown their support
(17:18):
for Appalachi. They're not really practicing right now, coach Hancock
told online Athens. They're just gathering together. There's no timetable
for football. There's no timetable for a return other than
getting our kids together and loving on them, showing God's
love to our kids, and that's really where we're at.
They had a game canceled already, and I've seen Buford
(17:42):
High School coach Brandon Gill, who played football at Collins
Hill where I went, who's a coach up there? They
put and he was buddies with coach Aspenwall. They put
an Appalachi a on their helmet. The other night, Jefferson
High School painted their midfield instead of the jay at
the midfield they painted an a you know, And it's
(18:05):
just it's not just gestures, man, it's just the way
that high school football teams and people show that they
are ultimately just people doing what they can to show
that they're there for one another.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
Man.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
And it's just it's really struck me. I didn't know
who coach Ricky Aspinwall was before a week ago, and
I wish I didn't have to meet him this way.
I wish that I had learned about him down the
road being a successful head football coach somewhere else or
(18:41):
coaching one of my kids. Man, all I've learned is
that people in that community that huddle like Coach Curry
talked about those communities, those towns. Man. There's just there
are few things that are real in the world today
that channel that emotion and channel that love and channel
(19:06):
that support for one another that are uniquely American, like
high school football. Does you know church, small groups, churches,
church bodies. I mean, that's what they're there for, that's
what they do as well. But when I think about
the just the fabric of our everyday lives, of the
(19:27):
ways that towns are constructed and the things that keep
them joined arm in arm and keep those arms reaching
out to other places to help them out, lend them
a hand, give them a hug. I just keep coming
back to high school football, and most of the stories
(19:49):
that I share on here are funny, they're uplifting, they're silly.
But this shows about all the high school football stories
that you love. And I hate so much of this story, obviously,
but the things worth celebrating, the good things, the kindness,
(20:18):
the selflessness, the GoFundMe that's raised hundreds of thousands of
dollars for his family, and those those are high school
football stories that I love, all right. I had a
radio call submitted to at Go Coffeetown on X that
(20:41):
I just got to share. It's coming up next, you know,
in case you don't know the roots of this program
that you're listening to. Go Fight Win started with a
sketch series that I put on social media called Coffeetown
High School Football. My impressions of every local radio announcer
(21:02):
I ever heard growing up and all the quirky things
that make them great at their jobs. And I had
this submitted to me on X at Go Coffeetown. Someone
tagged me in it from Greenwood football and their scrimmage
against Fayetville. And I apologize I don't have the names
of the guys in the booth doing their radio call here,
(21:23):
but they are good at their jobs. And take a
listen as they call. Linebacker Cash Archer making a big
hit against Fadeville.
Speaker 3 (21:32):
That a good Lake director. For a minute I did
per day owed him in the flat little screen set up.
Can he find the whole? Boy? Oh baby, everybody look
out now, Cash Archers writing chicks on the five yard lines.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
Oh baby, I love that call right there. Out of Greenwood,
Greenwood Football out of Arkansas in times state champs. They
got a nice bulldog logo, the white and blue of Greenwood.
They've got the Fresno State Bulldog and the Georgia G
(22:14):
or Green Bay G or Grambling G, depending on where
you're from. But Cash Archer looks like a scary football player.
His stats in a win against north Side a few
nights ago nine tackles, eight TFLs, one sack, one force fumble,
one QB hurry in just the first half. Oh baby,
(22:37):
is right. Good job from Greenwood. I'm going to tune
in some more of their games throughout the season if
they keep delivering calls like that. That's what Coffeetown High
School Football is all about. Those great names, the great
plays on words off of those names, great sponsorships, and
Coffeetown High School Football is coming right up in their
(22:59):
season opener at Otter Springs right after.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
This Coffee Town open in the season at Otter Springs tonight.
Had a little trouble getting here. Someone dropped nails all
over the road. Had our bus was taken and our
boys had to walk a mile here after they got
a flat, had to carry their shoulder passing everything starting
o line look gassed walking into the gate. That's what
(23:26):
that off season strength strength conditioning trains all about. We
got us a nice new set of forty five pound plates,
and boys was throwing around some iron this summer until
old Kenny Buckley's daddy borrowed one of them to go
up to party Cove, Yes to Cove on the Lake
(23:47):
over the summer and lost one of them using it
as an anchor. But maybe if we still had it
we'd be in better shape. But hey, copper heads don't
stop biting you until you step on their heads. So
our guy's gonna fight tonight and I'm pretty sure that
I saw an Otter Spring's dad throwing those nails out
of buckets from their truck beds on the way in.
I was moving moving kind of quick, so I don't know,
(24:07):
can't confirm, but you're gonna have to You're gonna have
to try harder than that if you want to nail us.
We got the ball first, and tailback Walton Masterson's gonna
go untouched on the first play the ball game, right
up the gut four a seventy five yards score. Hot
Dog Masterson flew out of there quicker than the bats
in my attic when I hit them with bottle rockets.
(24:27):
Otter Springs come up to the line now traveling said
nothing in their stupid uniforms, brown jerseys and blue pants
to commemorate the Otter family that lives in the pond
behind the school. It's an infestation. If you ask me,
Otter is just a rat that can swim, and we
gonna be some pest control out there tonight. Otters quarterback
(24:49):
Glenn Capudo gonna go deep down the far sideline to
Honey Cleet's Clemmings. And it looks like there is a
clear offensive passe interference by we three flags out there,
a lot of laundry on the field. He catches it
anyway and walks into the end zone. But I gotta
imagine this one's coming back. Honeycleat's pushed off on our DBA,
(25:11):
some andre smothers and the reft called DPI. Now that's
a whole bar and of horsecraft orders the climate. It
is seven to seven. Coach Swansea is hot down there,
and the ref's issue a sideline warning against Coffeetown as
he grabs a ref by the collar and demonstrates what
(25:32):
honey Cleats did to our guy. He got more handsy
with him than a high school sophomore on homecoming. As
sideline warning brought to you by bill Boardon's building boards.
Life is a football field and we're all just driving
towards some kind of end zone. And when you need
to grab someone's attention on the sidelines called bill boards,
building boards up high or down low, you know where
(25:54):
to go. Commercial buildings are just your running the mill.
Billboards on the highway. We do it all except for
nudity or cuss words. And that's the billboard and building
boards guarantee. Since nineteen ninety three started the show so
far as Walton Masterson two hundred and twenty four yards,
three touchdowns on the ground at half Coach Swansea's been
(26:15):
ejected for throwing his head set on the field after
that last Otter Springs touchdown where the whole old line
did a false start and got away with some obvious holds.
Halftime score is Coffee Town nineteen Otters fourteen all Right
Athlete of the Week, brought to you by Big Tires
Dealing machess covits, machesskwits dealing in from the video game
(26:38):
club dealing. What's it like to have the whole daggum
alphabet in your last name? How's video games of sports?
Speaker 4 (26:45):
So?
Speaker 2 (26:45):
And you're gonna have to explain out to me. Now
it says to my notes that you have five thousand
followers on twitch. Now I don't know what that is.
Do you need a prescription for it? Okay, this was
got on a little sideways on us. Now, Otter Springs
up thirty five, twenty two and fourth we're doing an
(27:05):
on side kick. Four minutes left here, still got a shot,
jip shot Kaminski gonna pop it up high off a
bounce and Otter Springs takes a right through a gap
for a touchdown. You know, this thing started with a
bad home and all those nails on the ground and
Swansa got kicked out roc down there, didn't know up
from down some kid Ralph Smith out you know, he
(27:32):
was coaching middle school pee wee ball last year. Refs
left at halftime and we're told they're a union crew,
so they just they just threw in the towel. Had
a couple of team dads and an eighth grader officiating
by committee for Otter Springs and you can see how
it went on the scoreboard. We do have a bright
spot in Walter Maasterress and finished the game with over
(27:54):
three hundred yards rushing. And this one ain't all on
our guys just had one of them freak ball games.
We'll rebuild and get back at it next week. Coffeetown
has a lot to review in the film room and
a lot to send to the district when it comes
to that horsecrap officiating.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
All right, tough start for Coffeetown High School football and
the copperheads there. Thank you for tuning in to go
fight win. If you are a coach, if you know
a coach hit subscribe, tell your coaching buddies about it,
tell them about Coachdooley's list dot com, and do your
(28:32):
best this season. Y'all. Starting off, starting off with a
story that I didn't want to have to share, some
perspective that's always tough to look back on with what
Coach Curry told us there after nine to eleven. But
it's the stories that we love that keep this thing going.
The guys in the band the high School Football Radio
(28:54):
calls the examples of the coaches that we meet on
our own journeys through high school sports. Man, Keep playing,
keep going, keep loving one another, go fight, win, See
y'all next week,
Hey, y'all, welcome in to go fight win the show
with all the high school football stories you love. My
name is Wes Blankenship, and each and every week we
dive into the high school football headlines from around the
country that make you smile, make you laugh, maybe make
you cry, or make you pause and reflect on what
you have and how much the sport means to us.
(00:22):
Got all of that on this week's episode, including a
high school football team in Pennsylvania with two players in
the marching band. You don't see that often. Sometimes you
get one, but not often too. I'll take a look
at that, plus on this anniversary week of nine to eleven,
some evergreen perspective from the great coach Bill Curry that
(00:45):
is worth sharing each and every year, and remembering the
life of Appalachi football coach Ricky Aspinwall, who meant so
much to so many, not just in his household or
at a high school, but around the state of Georgia.
We'll also take a look at the Coffeetown High School
(01:06):
football Copperheads as they open their season at Otter Springs,
and a real life high school football radio call that
I just had to share. It's all coming up on,
go fight win, Let's get to work.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Was get the ball of Donny jug and let that
pudge you go.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
You know, one of my favorite things about high school
sports is the connections and relationships that you build along
the way, whether you're a player, a coach, or a
parent supporting the team. Well, one of those connections, one
of those relationships that I've picked up along the way,
dating back to my career as a high school football
freshman one hundred and seventy five pounds soaking wet tight
(01:58):
end at Collins Hill High School, is coach Billy Dooley.
And coach has had a phenomenal career in his own right,
coaching football, coaching softball, and now he started his own
initiative called Coachdooley'slist dot com. And if you are familiar
with Angie's List, this is like the high school sports equivalent.
Coach Dooley has an immaculate network of vendors that help
(02:22):
coaches and team parents out in every aspect of putting
together a successful team. For high school sports, coaches and communities,
whether it's picking up the right trophy for your team
or resources for the band, coordinating travel for your team
in the offseason to camps or to games. Maybe you
(02:44):
need a bulk order of mouthpieces. The last experience you
had was terrible and you wouldn't recommend it to anybody else,
or you're helping out with the concession stand and fundraising.
Coach Dooley's List has resources across the board for whatever
you may need, and it's all thanks to the contacts
and relationships that he's developed in decades as a high
(03:08):
school sports coach. If you're a coach or a parent
who is in any way instrumental in the success of
your kids high school football or high school sports team,
you have to check out Coach Dooley'slist dot com. There
is a link in the show description go get hooked
up with the best of the best. Looking at high
(03:28):
school football headlines from around the country from the last
several days, looking on social media, something really jumped out
at me. We're going to start off on a high
note here. Literally, I found out of Pennsylvania the Mulenberg Mules,
and that is spelled m u h l e n
b e r G, and their mascot is just a
(03:50):
shortened version of their name, the moles m Uhls. They
mailed it in there on the mascot. They didn't mull
it over too much longer than that. But what they
do have is two players in the marching band with
saxophones at halftime, full shoulder pads, thigh pads, knee pads, cleats.
(04:12):
I don't have names to go with these numbers. It's
number ninety nine and number forty seven for Muhlenberg. I
couldn't find a roster that broke down their team very much,
but that's all right because this is a team sport.
The band is a team sport. You've got individual instruments
that excel and shine and make noise and reverberate above
the rest, but at the end of the day, you
(04:33):
need someone that knows how to close quickly and get
to their spot on time on tempo, and the Muhlenberg
Moles certainly have that with number ninety nine and number
forty seven. I've got a link to it. You can
watch the video, but let's take a listen right now.
This is high school football marching band excellence. Yeah, those
(05:09):
fellows are marching in lockstep with their band mates. It
is a sight to see.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
Now.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
The one thing I'd recommend guys go all out next time.
Keep the helmets on all right, Let's just you can
get a saxophone mouthpiece through your helmet. I know it's possible.
Let's go all out ninety nine and forty seven. If
you see this or hear this, reach out so we
can hear your story. I'm sure it is nothing short
(05:36):
of immaculate. We've had a few of these spotlights on
Go Fight Win last season of players that sang the
national anthem up in the booth in full uniform or
played in the band. But it is rare to see
two teammates out there at the same time starring in
the marching band. That is a sight to see man
(05:58):
the Muhlenberg moles, the musical Muhlenberg mulls getting after it
in there what appeared to be away uniforms. I hope
they're not missing out on any instrumental lessons at halftime
from their coach. I apologize for that punt. It was
not intentional. Now, this week is the twenty third anniversary
(06:22):
of September eleventh, two thousand and one, and I was
in middle school and that happened. Depending on how old
you are, you have different memories and different feelings around
that day and everything that it has meant to us
moving forward. And there is a video that head coach
(06:44):
Bill Curry, coached at Georgia Tech, coach at Alabama, coach
at Georgia Tech, coach at Alabama, helped start the Georgia
State football program. And he did a feature with ESPN
looking back on September eleventh and sharing a story of
(07:05):
when he was doing analysis in the booth for TV.
And I share this every year, and look, it's twenty
twenty four, it's an election year. I enjoy this show
because it gives me an escape personally from all the
wackiness and all the divisiveness in our country. And I
(07:26):
hope that I can provide some of that for you
as well if you're listening. But the message and the
perspective that Coach Curry shares in this feature, which is
now a few years old, it sticks with me, and
I'm going to share it here and let y'all pick
up some of that perspective as well. In case you've
(07:47):
never heard it. Here you go. This is coach Bill
Curry reflecting on his experiences on September eleventh, two thousand
and one.
Speaker 4 (07:57):
We all know where we were from nine to one one.
We were all reeling and we were all so horrified.
Good morning. We still are to some extent. And the
(08:19):
NCAA was meeting, and the SEC was meeting to determine
whether or not to play the games ESPN and determined
they better not put anybody on an airplane. So ESPN's
instruction sort of curry, you get ready to be the
(08:42):
analyst for Southern Mississippi versus Alabama in Birmingham, and you
drive over there. So I'm on my way to Birmingham,
and I stopped in Atala, Alabama, and this nice filling
station guy, he recognized me, He said, coach, and they're
(09:02):
gonna play these games this weekend. I said, I don't know,
but if the cell phone that I got in my
pocket here rings while I'm into your station, you may
be the first fan in America to find out. So
sure enough, my phone rang and I was told to
go home. So I walked back up to the front
(09:27):
and I tell this nice guy, well, we're not gonna play,
and I'll never forget his response to me. He leaned
forward and his eyes bugged out, his jugglers popped up.
He said, well, let me tell you something coach and
I Talla Alabama, come Friday night, We're gonna play football
because it means a lot to us. I thanked him,
(09:52):
walked out, started driving home, and I was so distraught,
asked God to help me understand this thing. Why would
somebody think it was important to play a football game
on Friday night in Atala, Alabama? Why does it matter
in Puebo to Colorado, or Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, or Upstate
(10:17):
New York. And it came to me, it's the hubble
and it's the huddle because you can't step in the
huddle anymore. And being a racist, you can't step in
the hut and say I'm not playing with that guy.
He's a musclim You can't do that because everybody's welcome
in that hub. And what happens in the stands in Atala, Alabama,
(10:40):
in College Park of Georgia and all across the nation
on Friday night and somebody's child scores a touchdown, everybody hugs.
They don't stop to see what colored this pigmentation is.
I'm not hugging you because no, you hug because your
team just did something. And that huddle is emblematic of
(11:03):
what America could be. It brings the community together in
ways the rest of our culture has not arrived at.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
Look.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
I know it's easy to take inventory of all the
things that people argue about on the internet in real
life today in twenty twenty four and think that we've
lived through something unique. But obviously, if you know history,
this ain't our first rodeo. We've been through some things
that made us not like other people in our country before.
(11:39):
But regardless of when Coach Curry shared this observation, no
matter how many years ago it was, I know it
may seem difficult to believe as you look at things
today and think, man, we could not be further apart
from the other end of whatever end you But I
(12:03):
do believe that he is still true with that sentiment,
And all I hope and all I pray is that
we don't become too jaded to miss out on those
truths that Coach Curry shared. But that huddle really does
mean something to's so many places, in so many towns,
(12:24):
and look, it's easy to listen to what I'm saying
and roll your eyes and think, man, just another cliche,
more buzzwords bringing the community together overlooking our differences. But
is that not something that we should celebrate when we
do actually see it in front of us, Because I
believe that there aren't many uniquely American institutions that still
(12:48):
do bring and keep their communities together. There are few
of them that still exist in the real world, not
on the internet, in real life. Like high school football.
(13:09):
It's unique, it's real. It brings joy, it brings out passion,
it brings out emotion, and it ultimately does keep so
many places glued together around something. And it's uniquely us.
(13:33):
It is uniquely American, and I think what Coach Curry
said there is still true, and I think it is
worth celebrating on Thursday nights or Friday nights, or whenever
you're with everybody that loves the same high school football
team you do. September eleventh was hard. It was a
(13:53):
brutal day. It was a time that did bring us
together briefly. But the world has been weird ever since. Man,
it's been strange in a lot of different ways, and
it has it's driven a wedge and there's ripple effects
(14:15):
from it. But between those ripples, we still got high
school football. And I don't say that to downplay anything.
I say that with the perspective and in the context
of the world that we live in. But if we
can't celebrate the good things, man, what can we celebrate?
This next one's tough for me, man, Appalachi High School.
(14:39):
A school shooting is typically not the topic of conversation
on Go Fight, Win, But it does involve high school football.
It involves a team right up the road for me,
less than half an hour from where I'm recording this
right now, less than half an hour from where I'll
send my kids to school. And I'm not going to
(15:03):
focus on the horrific aspect of it. I'm going to
focus on the good and the life celebration that's come
from it. Appalachi assistant coach Ricky Aspinwall lost his life,
one of the four victims, one of the four fatalities
(15:25):
at Appalachi, and he left behind his wife and two daughters.
And everything I've read about this man, since I didn't
know him personally, I knew coaches who did know him,
everything I've read about this guy paints a picture of
a good husband, a good father, a passionate coach. And
(15:49):
I'm going to read a couple of things from online Athens,
who wrote about him. There is a quote that they
got from which Mike Hancock, Appalachi's head coach. He said,
I had a coach tell me that Ricky hung all
the TVs in his mank for him. He just wanted
to help him do He always talked to me. He goes,
(16:10):
there's always some work to be done. It wasn't above
him to sweep the floor. It wasn't above him to
do laundry. After a Friday night football game, he grabbed
the golf cart to go pick up the pylons. Hancock
also told online Athens about when coach Asketball came to
work with him. He said, at one point, he's shown
an interest in coming to work together. When I got hired,
(16:31):
when I was told I was going to get the job,
he was my first call. I just knew he was
the guy. I didn't have to call fifteen other coaches
to check references. I already knew. We just knew we
could work well together. People say it all the time,
and it's true. High school coaches, all coaches really spend
more time together than they do with their own families.
You've got to be able to get along, You've got
to be able to work together. You can't have an ego.
(16:53):
I knew he was the guy I didn't call anyone else.
He was the one guy that I wanted here to
be around our kids. He loved the aspect of trying
to figure out ways to put our players, any of
his players, in the best position to win a football game. Again,
I didn't know him personally, but what I do know
and what I see is the way that so many
high school football teams have celebrated him shown their support
(17:18):
for Appalachi. They're not really practicing right now, coach Hancock
told online Athens. They're just gathering together. There's no timetable
for football. There's no timetable for a return other than
getting our kids together and loving on them, showing God's
love to our kids, and that's really where we're at.
They had a game canceled already, and I've seen Buford
(17:42):
High School coach Brandon Gill, who played football at Collins
Hill where I went, who's a coach up there? They
put and he was buddies with coach Aspenwall. They put
an Appalachi a on their helmet. The other night, Jefferson
High School painted their midfield instead of the jay at
the midfield they painted an a you know, And it's
(18:05):
just it's not just gestures, man, it's just the way
that high school football teams and people show that they
are ultimately just people doing what they can to show
that they're there for one another.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
Man.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
And it's just it's really struck me. I didn't know
who coach Ricky Aspinwall was before a week ago, and
I wish I didn't have to meet him this way.
I wish that I had learned about him down the
road being a successful head football coach somewhere else or
(18:41):
coaching one of my kids. Man, all I've learned is
that people in that community that huddle like Coach Curry
talked about those communities, those towns. Man. There's just there
are few things that are real in the world today
that channel that emotion and channel that love and channel
(19:06):
that support for one another that are uniquely American, like
high school football. Does you know church, small groups, churches,
church bodies. I mean, that's what they're there for, that's
what they do as well. But when I think about
the just the fabric of our everyday lives, of the
(19:27):
ways that towns are constructed and the things that keep
them joined arm in arm and keep those arms reaching
out to other places to help them out, lend them
a hand, give them a hug. I just keep coming
back to high school football, and most of the stories
(19:49):
that I share on here are funny, they're uplifting, they're silly.
But this shows about all the high school football stories
that you love. And I hate so much of this story, obviously,
but the things worth celebrating, the good things, the kindness,
(20:18):
the selflessness, the GoFundMe that's raised hundreds of thousands of
dollars for his family, and those those are high school
football stories that I love, all right. I had a
radio call submitted to at Go Coffeetown on X that
(20:41):
I just got to share. It's coming up next, you know,
in case you don't know the roots of this program
that you're listening to. Go Fight Win started with a
sketch series that I put on social media called Coffeetown
High School Football. My impressions of every local radio announcer
(21:02):
I ever heard growing up and all the quirky things
that make them great at their jobs. And I had
this submitted to me on X at Go Coffeetown. Someone
tagged me in it from Greenwood football and their scrimmage
against Fayetville. And I apologize I don't have the names
of the guys in the booth doing their radio call here,
(21:23):
but they are good at their jobs. And take a
listen as they call. Linebacker Cash Archer making a big
hit against Fadeville.
Speaker 3 (21:32):
That a good Lake director. For a minute I did
per day owed him in the flat little screen set up.
Can he find the whole? Boy? Oh baby, everybody look
out now, Cash Archers writing chicks on the five yard lines.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
Oh baby, I love that call right there. Out of Greenwood,
Greenwood Football out of Arkansas in times state champs. They
got a nice bulldog logo, the white and blue of Greenwood.
They've got the Fresno State Bulldog and the Georgia G
(22:14):
or Green Bay G or Grambling G, depending on where
you're from. But Cash Archer looks like a scary football player.
His stats in a win against north Side a few
nights ago nine tackles, eight TFLs, one sack, one force fumble,
one QB hurry in just the first half. Oh baby,
(22:37):
is right. Good job from Greenwood. I'm going to tune
in some more of their games throughout the season if
they keep delivering calls like that. That's what Coffeetown High
School Football is all about. Those great names, the great
plays on words off of those names, great sponsorships, and
Coffeetown High School Football is coming right up in their
(22:59):
season opener at Otter Springs right after.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
This Coffee Town open in the season at Otter Springs tonight.
Had a little trouble getting here. Someone dropped nails all
over the road. Had our bus was taken and our
boys had to walk a mile here after they got
a flat, had to carry their shoulder passing everything starting
o line look gassed walking into the gate. That's what
(23:26):
that off season strength strength conditioning trains all about. We
got us a nice new set of forty five pound plates,
and boys was throwing around some iron this summer until
old Kenny Buckley's daddy borrowed one of them to go
up to party Cove, Yes to Cove on the Lake
(23:47):
over the summer and lost one of them using it
as an anchor. But maybe if we still had it
we'd be in better shape. But hey, copper heads don't
stop biting you until you step on their heads. So
our guy's gonna fight tonight and I'm pretty sure that
I saw an Otter Spring's dad throwing those nails out
of buckets from their truck beds on the way in.
I was moving moving kind of quick, so I don't know,
(24:07):
can't confirm, but you're gonna have to You're gonna have
to try harder than that if you want to nail us.
We got the ball first, and tailback Walton Masterson's gonna
go untouched on the first play the ball game, right
up the gut four a seventy five yards score. Hot
Dog Masterson flew out of there quicker than the bats
in my attic when I hit them with bottle rockets.
(24:27):
Otter Springs come up to the line now traveling said
nothing in their stupid uniforms, brown jerseys and blue pants
to commemorate the Otter family that lives in the pond
behind the school. It's an infestation. If you ask me,
Otter is just a rat that can swim, and we
gonna be some pest control out there tonight. Otters quarterback
(24:49):
Glenn Capudo gonna go deep down the far sideline to
Honey Cleet's Clemmings. And it looks like there is a
clear offensive passe interference by we three flags out there,
a lot of laundry on the field. He catches it
anyway and walks into the end zone. But I gotta
imagine this one's coming back. Honeycleat's pushed off on our DBA,
(25:11):
some andre smothers and the reft called DPI. Now that's
a whole bar and of horsecraft orders the climate. It
is seven to seven. Coach Swansea is hot down there,
and the ref's issue a sideline warning against Coffeetown as
he grabs a ref by the collar and demonstrates what
(25:32):
honey Cleats did to our guy. He got more handsy
with him than a high school sophomore on homecoming. As
sideline warning brought to you by bill Boardon's building boards.
Life is a football field and we're all just driving
towards some kind of end zone. And when you need
to grab someone's attention on the sidelines called bill boards,
building boards up high or down low, you know where
(25:54):
to go. Commercial buildings are just your running the mill.
Billboards on the highway. We do it all except for
nudity or cuss words. And that's the billboard and building
boards guarantee. Since nineteen ninety three started the show so
far as Walton Masterson two hundred and twenty four yards,
three touchdowns on the ground at half Coach Swansea's been
(26:15):
ejected for throwing his head set on the field after
that last Otter Springs touchdown where the whole old line
did a false start and got away with some obvious holds.
Halftime score is Coffee Town nineteen Otters fourteen all Right
Athlete of the Week, brought to you by Big Tires
Dealing machess covits, machesskwits dealing in from the video game
(26:38):
club dealing. What's it like to have the whole daggum
alphabet in your last name? How's video games of sports?
Speaker 4 (26:45):
So?
Speaker 2 (26:45):
And you're gonna have to explain out to me. Now
it says to my notes that you have five thousand
followers on twitch. Now I don't know what that is.
Do you need a prescription for it? Okay, this was
got on a little sideways on us. Now, Otter Springs
up thirty five, twenty two and fourth we're doing an
(27:05):
on side kick. Four minutes left here, still got a shot,
jip shot Kaminski gonna pop it up high off a
bounce and Otter Springs takes a right through a gap
for a touchdown. You know, this thing started with a
bad home and all those nails on the ground and
Swansa got kicked out roc down there, didn't know up
from down some kid Ralph Smith out you know, he
(27:32):
was coaching middle school pee wee ball last year. Refs
left at halftime and we're told they're a union crew,
so they just they just threw in the towel. Had
a couple of team dads and an eighth grader officiating
by committee for Otter Springs and you can see how
it went on the scoreboard. We do have a bright
spot in Walter Maasterress and finished the game with over
(27:54):
three hundred yards rushing. And this one ain't all on
our guys just had one of them freak ball games.
We'll rebuild and get back at it next week. Coffeetown
has a lot to review in the film room and
a lot to send to the district when it comes
to that horsecrap officiating.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
All right, tough start for Coffeetown High School football and
the copperheads there. Thank you for tuning in to go
fight win. If you are a coach, if you know
a coach hit subscribe, tell your coaching buddies about it,
tell them about Coachdooley's list dot com, and do your
(28:32):
best this season. Y'all. Starting off, starting off with a
story that I didn't want to have to share, some
perspective that's always tough to look back on with what
Coach Curry told us there after nine to eleven. But
it's the stories that we love that keep this thing going.
The guys in the band the high School Football Radio
(28:54):
calls the examples of the coaches that we meet on
our own journeys through high school sports. Man, Keep playing,
keep going, keep loving one another, go fight, win, See
y'all next week,
Host
Wes Blankenship
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