By Craig Brown

The Dillon Christian School Warrior Booster Club held its annual fund raising dinner on Tuesday, February 17.

The booster members met in the Warrior Gymnasium to dine on Bar-B-Que that was locally catered by Shuler’s Bar-B-Que. Clemson Line Coach Robbie Caldwell was to be the guest speaker but the upper west of the state was suffering from a serious ice and snow storm that prevented him from showing. It was announced early that former Warrior and Clemson standout player Phillip Price would stand in for him.

Booster Club President Steve Johnson opened the event by welcoming all in attendance. The bad weather prevented many from showing up but an estimated 100 plus that did come left with praises for the speaker, the food, and how the event was put together.

The Reverend Dr. John Bumgardner gave prayer and blessed the meal. After all guests had gotten their fill of Bar-B-Que and fixings, Warrior Athletic Director Christian Wolfe expressed his thanks to those in attendance and for the support of those that were unable to attend.

Coach Wolfe explained the circumstances that prevented Coach Caldwell from attending but assured all in attendance in his own special way that they did not have a second string speaker to replace coach Caldwell but in fact a young man that any school would be proud to have as a guest speaker. Coach Wolfe asked all guests to welcome a local football hero, Phillip Price, as the 2015 honored guest speaker.

Phillip spoke in an unusually soft manor that surprised many guests that were used to his booming voice on the sidelines during a game. Phillip spoke about being on the Warriors’ first football team, which was not very good, and had thought prior to that that he would possibly be a basketball player. Many fans believed, myself included, that the six-foot-six Price was indeed good enough to play college basketball.

Phillip remarked that by his senior year at DCS the football team played in their first state championship game. “We lost that game,” stated Phillip, but added how many teams could go in three years from not understanding how to get into a line stance to competing for the title.

Phillip stated that former Warrior Coach Kelly Williamson gave him a lot of encouragement about playing at the next level. Phillip was offered some scholarships at some of the smaller colleges but believed in his heart he was a division one player. I personally felt that Phillip was the best lineman in the Pee Dee area in all school ranks in his senior year.

Phillip talked about his experience as a walk on at Clemson. Phillip’s early experience at Clemson was not an easy one. He had to overcome two obstacles, with one being his own arrogant attitude and the other a serious prejudice against players coming from the SCISA schools. After Gaines Adams, former all ACC and All Pro in the NFL, you would have thought that Clemson would know better. Adams played on an eight-man SCISA program and later became one of Clemson’s most noted athletes.

It was Coach Bobbie Caldwell that saw Phillip’s potential and pushed for him to get his scholarship. The earlier mentioned prejudices caused Phillip not to get his scholarship as soon as Coach Caldwell had wanted but Phillip persisted and received his scholarship in his sophomore year.

Phillip added that many of his struggles at Clemson were due to his own poor attitude. On one practice session, former Coach Brad Scott gave Phillip a serious workout that would have caused many players to quit on the spot. Instead of quitting, Phillip suddenly had a change of attitude and became one of the best offensive tackles in Clemson history. By his senior year the camera often highlighted Phillip in the game or on the sideline. In fact, in one game covered by ESPN, the announcer noted that Phillip was not in the game and his remarks seem to say that Clemson could not win without Price in the lineup.

Phillip remarked about his injury late in his senior year that hurt him from being an early round NFL draft pick and later about an auto accident that prevented him from ever playing in the NFL. Phillip was heartbroken, as could be expected, but added through prayers and the healing of time he has come to understand that everything has a purpose and he now enjoys coaching and teaching young men and helping to mold their future.

I will note that Phillip is not a bragging man and though all of the comments in the article are true, Phillip would not dwell on his playing skills but his attitude change that made him a team player.

Phillip received a solid applause and turned the program over to Coach Wolfe, who ended the night with drawings for several door prizes. Coach Wolfe added that Coach Caldwell stated that he would try very hard to come to Dillon in the near future and talk to those wishing to attend. Coach Wolfe stated that he would like to prepare some hot dogs and hamburgers for those that would like to attend.

Booster president Steve Johnson closed the meeting with his final thoughts.