Greene County High School held what has become an annual tradition last Friday night.
Ahead of the Tigers’ homecoming game against Lake Oconee Academy, the latest additions to the GCHS Ring of Honor were announced. They were Johnnie Satterfield and Tom Kelly.
I’ve had the pleasure of knowing both of these men. Each of them is more than worthy of this esteemed recognition.
I truly wanted to attend the game and congratulate the two of them in person but a prior commitment had me tied up. So, I wanted to submit this letter as a tribute to these two wonderful people.
Johnnie Satterfield has been tracking Tiger statistics for decades. If you’ve ever had to keep a stat book, then you know what a feat that really is.
I was employed by The Herald-Journal to keep stats for the team one year during my high school days when Johnnie was unable to attend the games. It was a daunting task – and I was genuinely terrible at it.
Later on, I studied journalism at the University of Georgia and worked as a sports reporter for nine years if you include work I did as a student. Despite that education and training, stat keeping was always a weakness for me.
I could never quite do that job the way Johnnie does. Johnnie is a longtime friend of my extended family, particularly with my step-grandfather, Wayne Long. Johnnie is a good man who has been a pillar in the community and for the Greene County program in the face of numerous coaching changes and hundreds (maybe more) of players filtering in and out of the program over the years.
In fact, some of the previous ROH honorees, such as the 1993 state title team members, legendary Tigers quarterback Josh Nesbitt, and current NFL coach Ronald Blair, all found their names featured on Johnnie’s stat sheets over the years.
You can’t talk about the Greene County program without eventually mentioning Johnnie, so it’s only natural to include him in the ROH.
Tom Kelly is the founder of the Greensboro Dreamers program. He is still involved in the Greene County School System with the REACH scholarship program.
I was not an original member of Dreamers, but it was an incredible blessing and honor for me to be invited into the Dreamers program during my sixth grade year. I don’t say this lightly: That was a lifechanging development for me.
There’s a good chance I would have attended college even without the Dreamers' experience. However, it certainly would not have been as easy without the guidance provided by “Mr. K,” as we so often call him, and the program’s volunteers. And Dreamers also provided tremendous financial support, making the college experience easier than it would have been otherwise.
However, the college aspect is something that most people generally know about Dreamers. What doesn’t always get celebrated as much, though, are the times we spent together throughout the years leading up to college.
Dreamers met nearly every day after school until 5:30 p.m., on many Saturdays for a few hours and for about a month each summer. That schedule sometimes felt exhausting to all of us, and I’m sure “K-Dawg” (that’s another nickname for Mr. K) and the rest of the leaders would probably agree.
But I’m also sure that we, as students, were transformed because of our awesome experiences during those times.
We went on numerous trips with the entire program, including a couple of week-long stays at UGA during the summers of 2007 and 2008. I know that was major for me because I had no interest in actually attending UGA until that first UGA trip gave me a new dream to pursue, no pun intended.
Many of us went on our first airplane trips in smaller groups. I flew to Boston with Mr. K and his wife, Kathy. I was one of three Dreamers who enjoyed that trip, which marked my first time on a plane. A couple of years later, I went to Chicago. Others went to San Francisco, Washington D.C., and New York City.
These experiences and plenty of others changed me forever. I could never give shout-outs to everyone who volunteered to help the program because there were so many, and I would inevitably leave out someone. Still, I’ll mention that Mattie Waller was one of our volunteers, and she played a huge role in me breaking out of my shell. I was bashful when I was a kid, and I’m still naturally introverted, but Ms. Waller found some opportunities in the Dreamers program for me to do public speaking and learn how to be more open.
I’m still fairly introverted, and it takes me an effort to connect with people, but I have no doubt that my time in Dreamers directly benefited me as a reporter in the past and as a Public Information Officer today.
And that all goes back to a simple invitation. My parents and I met with Mr. K, Mrs. K, and the incomparable Beth Thomas all those years ago when they invited me to join the Dreamers. Those three were the foundation of the Greensboro Dreamers and I owe so much thanks and admiration to them. Aside from my family, there are no other people who played such a pivotal role in my life than them.
Mr. K came to Greene County and wanted to make a difference. He did so to dozens of Dreamers and our families.
I think every family that was connected to Dreamers was made a little bit better. And that has proven true in the Dreamers ourselves.
I’m so proud of my classmates who are all such productive, valuable and well-rounded citizens and, for many of them, parents. They’re good people and they would have turned out great no matter what, but I genuinely believe all of us are better off because of the example set by Mr. K and the hard work that he, Mrs. K, Mrs. Thomas and a host of others put into the program.
They taught us always to be honest with others, proud of who we are, and to try our best. I can only hope we have made them proud.
Today, Mr. K’s involvement in the REACH program ensures that more generations of Greene County students will be successful for years to come.
There’s a short list of people who have affected the GCSS in such a monumental manner as Mr. K., and the same is true for me personally.
Congratulations to Johnnie Satterfield and Tom Kelly on their induction to GCHS’s Ring of Honor.
The ROH was already populated by several great people, but it is undoubtedly a more prestigious collection of names today with their inclusion.
Justin Hubbard, Union Point