The roots of a native son

(Photo by Beau Cabell, The Telegraph)

A lot has been said and written about Chris Hatcher in the seven days since he became the new head football coach at Georgia Southern.

I’ve known Chris for a long time, and I can honestly say he is one of the finest young men I have ever been around. His daddy, Edgar Hatcher, has always been one of my favorite high school coaches.

Twelve years ago last week, the city of Macon honored its native son by proclaiming it “Chris Hatcher Day.’’ Don’t you think it’s about time we had another one?

The first honor came after the former Mount de Sales player had won the Harlon Hill Trophy. That’s the equivalent of the Heisman Trophy as the top college football player in NCAA Division II.

I had the opportunity cover a lot of rags-to-riches stories in my years as a sports writer. But none of them ever matched Hatcher’s story. It ranks right up there with “Rudy,’’ if you ask me.

Chris was an above-average high school quarterback, but he was small and played at a small school. The college scholarship offers weren’t exactly rolling in.

So it was a stroke of good luck in 1990 that he was honored as the city player of the week at the Macon Touchdown Club the same night former Valdosta Coach Mike Cavan was there as the guest speaker.

Cavan's antenna went up when he heard Hatcher's statistics being read that night, and he telephoned him the next day. Valdosta State turned out to be his only scholarship offer.

Chris reported to Valdosta for preseason drills standing 5-foot-8 and weighing 164 pounds. At registration he was mistaken for a team manager.

Stuck at sixth string on the depth chart, he had to watch Valdosta State's first two games from the stands. By the third game, he was told he would dress out by an assistant coach who couldn’t even remember his name. He kept calling him ``Marty.''

When he was thrown into the fire as a starter in the fourth game, the opposing cheerleaders made fun of his size during warm-ups. The sleeves on his jersey hung down so far on his forearms he had to roll them up.

But, from that day on, Hatcher started 43 straight games for the Blazers and set 21 national passing records.

On the night he won the Harlon Hill award, he dedicated the award to his late 82-yearold grandmother, Agnes Hatcher, a former Macon city councilwoman who had recently died.

I was there that night in Sheffield, Ala., when he won the award. I was proud of him then. I’m proud of him now.