It isn”t time for Leroy Gregg to retire.
Two months ago, Gregg was preparing to take a trip to visit his daughter, Mary Frances, in Georgia when he discovered Smithville High School needed an assistant football coach.
Earlier that year, Gregg decided after 36 years working as a teacher and as a coach that it was time to step away. Health problems contributed to his decision, and Gregg was excited about the opportunity to do more things with his wife, Cherrelyn.
Now he will have to find time to fit all of those things in with his duties as assistant coach/defensive coordinator at Smithville High.
“There is a lot of scrambling and improvising, but there”s just lots of energy around that place,” said Gregg, who has been on the job since early June. “The kids have done real well and are working out and getting stronger. It is as good as it could be under the circumstances.”
A tornado ripped through Smithville on April 27 and destroyed nearly everything in the small town. Gregg, who lives on the Smithville side of Amory, said he always has admired the academic excellence at the school and has watched the football program remain at a high level for a number of years.
Now Gregg, who has coached at Aberdeen and Amory high schools and last worked as football/golf coach at Oak Hill Academy in West Point, will get a chance to work with head coach Bubba Tacker to help rebuild the football program and the school.
Gregg coached Tacker when he was an eighth-grader in Amory. He said he is pleased to have found someone who shares his values as they work toward the kickoff of the 2011 season.
Gregg, who will teach physical education, said students at Smithville High will go to school in mobile units at the industrial park in Smithville. He said Smithville will have football on the campus of the original high school. He said there will be a temporary fieldhouse in mobile units at that site and that there is work to be done on practice fields, but that everything looks to be ready for the start of the season next month.
One of the only remaining things left to be done is to move the weight room, which is currently in a man”s shop in the country back to a classroom so the players have somewhere closer to work out during the season.
Smithville High”s location also is a perfect fit for Gregg. He said he lives five minutes from school and has been able to commute to school this month on one tank of gas.
“I have enjoyed the summer,” Gregg said. “Once I knew my health issues were fixed, there weren”t many places I would coach. This was one of them, even with the tornados destroying the place. It has a history of great football teams and it is has a history of really, really top-notch education. This was one of the places I would have left (Oak Hill Academy) for.”
Gregg said he hasn”t been surprised at how people in Smithville have come together in an effort to rebuild their community. He said he has seen that spirit for the past 30 years he has lived in Monroe County. He said he is eager to be a part of that and to do what he can to help the football program and the town get back on solid footing.
“It just sort of fell right into place,” Gregg said. “All of my health issues (cholesterol and high blood pressure) are well under control, and I have not eaten a single a meal in my truck. This is a perfect opportunity for me.”
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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