To The Editor:
Three hundred career victory, a perfect season, fifteen victories, and no defeats. Class 3-A football State Champions. You can’t get too much better than that.
First I want to congratulate Coach Jackie Hayes on his three hundredth career victory. He accomplished this in twenty six years. That is an average of almost twelve victories a year. This is a fantastic achievement in a short period of time. We have a coach who has won seven state titles. That is another amazing accomplishment.
There are coaches who have never won a title in thirty or more years of coaching. There are High Schools who haven’t won a state title.
While being interview, Jackie said this is all about him. It’s also about the other coaches. It’s all about the players, also the fans. I grew up on the Mill Hill and he is what we would call a laid back country boy; that is a good complement.
These coaches are doing a job that is open to criticism, open to threats, open to hatred. And coaching is a very stressful job. Coaches have to make split second decisions, sometimes they work sometimes they don’t. That comes with the job. I can’t say I would have made this call or that call because we aren’t put into a situation like that and how we would react to it. I will gladly leave the coaching to you.
I don’t know if Jackie set any goals for himself when he started coaching; some coaches do, some don’t. They don’t know how long they will be coaching or where they will be coaching. Jackie has reached a goal or a milestone few coaches never reach. He should be proud and all of Dillon should be proud also. He will not brag on himself, but he will brag on his coaches and players. His accomplishments shine on our schools and on our county.
I hope from now on real Dillon fans will not have to hear people saying we don’t play anybody. If im not mistaken, we beat three 4-A schools during the regular season. We beat two number one schools, which was seeded higher than us and they were averaging around fifty points a game. I hope we don’t hear that we can’t win the Big Game in 3-A. We just did. I can give you seven reasons why we can, they are called state championships.
I also want to thank you on the program you have built in Dillon. The hard work you coaches put into it. Other coaches hate us, other teams hate us, refs hate us, and even people in Dillon hate us. There is a lot of jealous people around. I was here for win number 100, 200 and 300; I want to be here for win number 400. I also want to congratulate the Dillon Christian School for winning another state championship, we are proud of you also.
If you see Coach Hayes or any of the other coaches, shake their hand and congratulate them. Tell them a job well done, not just for football, remember they spend a lot of time with the kids. Coach Hayes you are a good man, you deserve the accolades. Go Wildcats.
God Bless everyone.
Jerry Douglas (a Dillon Fan)
1020 W. Calhoun St.
Dillon, SC 29536