To understand my journey, I have to go back to my dad. He was a collegiate all-american in multiple sports at Prairie View A&M. I never got to see him play competitively. He was drafted by the Cleveland Browns. He declined because the money was no where near what it is today to sign. He went to graduate school in the Ivy League (Cornell University) and earned his doctorate in counseling. He returned to Prairie View as director of admissions and raised the family. He also became athletic director at one point at the university.

 

While I never saw him play, I saw him coach. He was coach of my little league team. As I went into sports in middle school and high school, he and my mom seldom missed a game. My mom was instrumental in my love of fine arts as she insisted that if you played sports, you would have to also learn to play an instrument (piano for me) just a bit. I fell in love with track & field after making varsity my freshman year in high school (half mile, mile and two mile relay), and because the U.S. Olympic coach was coach of Prairie View.  

 

In high school, I played football, basketball, track & field and tennis. We did not have a baseball team. In college, I played the rare combination of football, baseball (one season) and tennis. We did not have a collegiate track and field team, but I ran an occasional 5K (mostly for the T-shirt).  I started officiating intramural games in graduate school, and have continued to do Georgia High School Association and NCAA competitions today.

 

As for coaching on the high school level, I began by coaching at Wheeler High School. That year, the girls won a state championship. It was also my daughter's freshman year on the varsity. I coached verticals and horizontals. One philosophy I have always had was to try to emphasize to the athletes the critical need to keep your academic affairs in order and to appreciate fine arts. Two of my jumpers were Jaylen Brown (went to the University of California for one year and now is a Boston Celtic superstar) and Elijah Staley (quarterback and basketball player who went to Mississippi State and backed up Zac Prescott, and then Norfolk State). Many of the other track & field athletes went on to secure collegiate scholarships, academic and athletic.)

 

I then went to North Atlanta High School as assistant head coach of cross country and track & field. I was again blessed to have a number of elite athletes  and coached my first pole vault state champion (John Rudd, who went on to Rice University). I was fortunate to train mid-distance runners, (Brian Bird - Naval Academy,  Mac Bloodworth and Ethan Curnow - who both went to Georgia Tech), horizontal (Madison Fleming - University of Southern California) and vertical jumpers, and high and low hurdlers (including my son, who was a strong multi-discipline athlete). I pushed for participation by the top athletes in summer track and indoor track. It was truly a school that I was able to set the competition schedule; place entries in meets; set the daily practice agenda; and try to create strong young athletes and adults.

 

In 2020, I began coaching at Cambridge High School. I coached intermediate hurdles and vertical and horizontal jumpers. We have been fortunate to have state champions in pole vault, high jump, long jump, triple jump, and 300 meter hurdles. I have worked with a number of the senior athletes to secure collegiate scholarship opportunities in track & field. It has been a pleasure helping those that have been in our program achieve success. As noted, I am a USATF official and have truly enjoyed keeping up firsthand with some of the collegiate meets of our former athletes across this country.

 

 

My goal for each of the athletes is to get better each week, even in the slightest fashion, by staying focused and diligent in the task. We do not regress. We do our best - always. My team goal is to honor the Cambridge tradition by supporting the entire team and working toward the highest achievements we can every time we are in competition.

 

My personal goal is be a top notch coach and colleague to my fellow coaches; help the veterans improve; help the newcomers achieve "big things", and appreciate the various aspects of the sport that has enriched my life in so many ways.

 

 

I have been quoted in USA Today, Time Magazine, Wall Street Journal, Bond Buyer and numerous state and regional publications on state finance and economic news. My masters degree is from the University of Texas. One of the two signers of my graduate thesis was Barbara Jordan. One of my favorite lines from Ms. Jordan was when she told me we need to create "skilled generalists" (one capable of knowing a little about a lot of various subjects). As a lifelong learner, I have always taken that advice to heart. My true love, other than family from coast to coast, is to decipher statistics and make them easily understandable to Joe and Jane citizen.