Coach and I got married 3 months after graduating from college, and threw ourselves full force into our new jobs. I had just purchased an existing salon and was attending cosmetology school at night, and Coach had already started his first season at Yazoo City High School. I will never forget the day he wheeled into my shop parking lot, so excited to show me his first paycheck. $1,800.00 for the month! I distinctly remember saying "oh my gosh, how are we going to spend all of that?!" Man, those where the days. Now I have a house payment just a little shy of that first paycheck.
In the early days, I was so consumed with cosmetology school and building my business, that I really wasn't as involved in the football world. I went to games, but I probably wasn't as supportive as I should've been. Yazoo City HS is an all black, critical needs school in the poorest region of Mississippi. I remember being nervous at the first one, sitting alone in the stands on the edge of my seat. I was afraid that at any second a riot would break out! Of course, that never happened, and as the weeks went on I became more and more comfortable on Friday nights. The announcers were hilarious! Press box comedians! And the band and the dancers were quite a sight to behold. There is nothing like a Mississippi delta high school band... They get with it!! And the raw talent on the field- it couldn't be matched.
The kids in our area are very underprivileged. Coach was one of the only one on staff who actually lived in this area, and so every day during summer practices he would ride around town and pick up players and then drop them back off at the end of the day. The players knew it wasn't safe for a white man to be driving into some of these neighborhoods, and they would just tell him to drop them at the entrances. Recently, we went to Philadelphia to watch one of his former players who ended up going pro as the 13th round draft pick. After the game, we all went to his house to relax and play pool. During the game he said "Coach, I wouldn't be where I am today if it weren't for you picking me up every day in that white Chevy ". Those are the small things that one day mean something great to an individual.
During his time at Yazoo City, he sent 13 lineman to college on scholarships. This is a big deal in a school where the graduation rate is only about 30%. All of the football players graduated every year. Academics are a priority on and off the field. It been so amazing to see these kids make something of themselves. Even to this day, those boys will randomly show up to practices he is running or other school's games where he is coaching. I know this means the world to Coach.
He was an assistant coach at YCHS for 9 seasons, with 7 playoff appearances. In his last year there, the school was taken over by the State Department and the athletic programs were going to be suspended for the following seasons. Luckily, Coach was approached with his first Head Coaching position at Manchester Academy, a small private school in our same town, separated by a cotton field from YCHS. We were so excited about the big new change, but we will always look back at the days at City as some of the sweetest in his career.
Love and football,
Jamie Wallace
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