"A Diehard Respect" for Coach

Here is an exchange that I do not believe has been published yet. If I repeat, so sorry.

Scotty Portis
Coach Ward Blog

Group, certainly not trying to embarrass Wallace Pinkley or his daughter, Lydia, but I think the exchange below not only typifies the, as yet unearthed, literary abilities of many (abilities they nor their families knew existed until now), and has shown family members and friends a side of many individuals that they did not know. I know Lydia Pinkley Jackson, a very sweet and beautiful young lady, that I watched grow up, and here she is looking at a side of her dad that she had never seen before.
I think that Coach Ward's death has inspired a lot of us.And look at the influence that Coach Ward had over the above situation. Sure, Wallace had great athletic talents (Johnny Pitts did you ever get a solid lick in on Wade when he was running the ball----NO, and I didn't either), but his Coach was interested enough to hustle him all over the country side to make sure that the "next level" got a look at his talents. It was a win, win situation-Sewanee got a great football and baseball player, Wallace got a great education (in fact we both applied to Wharton School of Finance and Commerence at the University of Pennsylvania, after undergraduate school, Wallace got in and I did not). He is now retired from a very successful insurance career in Florida and still a great Mustang fan. Coach Ward got no monetary value for this-only the satisfaction of a job well done.
Again, we should all be proud that people like Paul Ward exist, people who have pushed us to the next level-some of us kicking and screaming but at least to the next level. Dan Morris a sports reporter for the Jackson Sun stated in his column after Coach Ward's death, "A diehard respect usually follows the great coaches to their grave. Such was the case for Paul Ward".
I know that many of you former Mustangs players and fans (welcome Clark Smothers, Sharon Bennett, Seth Bennett, and Steven Nolen) are just bursting to tell a story, so get going, now is the time. The story can be about any phase of Coach Ward's life; whether it is about a teammate, a team, a season,or even a single play (Jimmy Jewel Lumpkin running for a touchdown down the sideline with Coach Ward stride-for-stride yelling, "now go, now go"), Mustangs 24-Rebels 20. Scotty Portis Mustang (1955-1958)


PS Again, Lydia thanks for your innocent remarks concerning your dad. They are heartfelt and heart warming. Like she says-" there is probably a book in there" Charles Rhodes can you help?PSS Anyone who has not received all of the blogs (there are many and growing) let me (port1184@bellsouth.net) or Johnny Radford (jtrad@charter.net) know and we will get the rest to you. The very first ones were from Gary Hall and Johnny Pitts about 5-6 weeks ago (Nov 27th).

From: "Lydia Jackson" <ljackson41@cfl.rr.com>To: "'Scott Portis'" <port1184@bellsouth.net>Sent: Saturday, January 26, 2008 12:59

Fwd: Coach Ward

Hi Scotty, Yes, Dad has some impressive 'stats'! I've enjoyed reading about your youth. I guess retirement has given my Dad time to reflect. I hope you all keep up the writing. There is probably a book in there.
Lydia

From: Scott Portis Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2008 9:16 PM
To: ljackson41@cfl.rr.com
Re: Fwd: Coach Ward

Lydia, your dad was a hoss playing and lettering in 3 sports (football, baseball, and basketball) all 4 years of high school plus his real glory days at Sewanee.
Scott Portis

From: <ljackson41@cfl.rr.com
To: <pinkleye@aol.com Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2007 9:06 AM

Fwd: Coach Ward

Mom, is Dad really writing this stuff??? Where does it come from? It makes me cry that he is so eloquent and has such fond memories of his glory days.
Lydia

Family
Coach Ward gave a lot to our community as he was also our baseball and basketball coach along with P. E. I may have been on his first winning team in 1956. From there he became the legend of West Tenn Football. Of course I taught Tim Priest all the tricks as we played side yard ball. He went on to be an All American at U. T. Pardon if U get this twice.
Dad

Guys
Great memories. I absolutely agree with the sentiments of the budding correspondents; Scott, John, Fred, Gary and Tim. Coach Ward pulled me out of study hall one morning our freshman year after summer practice was already over, and told me he had convinced my mother that I should be on the field that afternoon all 115 lbs. It was a tough year (0-9-1), but it prepared me for the next 7 years. I'll always be grateful for his encouragement as John Williams, Euell Bouldin, and Coach Ward again rather late my senior year drove me to Sewanee to meet Coach Majors (dad of Johnny Majors,UT Vol All-American tailback and Head Coach) about late entry to Sewanee. Coach Ward gave a film to Coach Majors, and I squeezed in. Late registration had already closed, and I had to rush to Memphis to take an SAT test. It was so late I had to live at Coach Major's house the first semester. Quite a family. Coach Majors had many of the traits that Coach Ward had; discipline, down to earth wisdom, consistent, excellence, encouragers, leaders.
Fred's story reminded me; Coach Ward leaned down on his knees belly laughing when he looked at my front tooth that was just broken in half one afternoon at practice. After that I had a 2 bar face mask. It was the same laugh when I spun the wrong way one day as a freshman and Kenny Walker flattened me over the zero hole. It was like a freight train; I remember Kenny as being taller and faster than Warren Blankenship. I do remember well the Halloween sprints. When I finally literally got my second wind I thought we could just keep going, but I don't believe I was the one of those who did an Indian war cry. Hope to hear more. Go Mustangs and keep the legend alive. Wallace