Charlotte Observer | 08/30/2002 | Piedmont brings... -
[Cached Version]
Published on: 8/30/2002
Last Visited: 8/30/2002
"Last year we gave the town of Unionville something they've never had -- something to cheer about," said Terry Greene, fund-raising chairman for the school's booster club."It gave a lot of people around here a lot of pride.
"We've been the doormat of high school football for 40 years.Even though we've had a few successful seasons, we've never had a team predicted to win like this one."
Fans tonight will notice a 3-foot, 500-pound statue of a black panther outside a $150,000 fieldhouse addition.
...
"We want to start some tradition here," Greene said."We're tired of losing.It was really a depressing situation.The attitude was really bad.Kids had accepted the fact that they were losers, and I can't accept that or won't accept that."
Unionville, about 15 miles northwest of Monroe, has always embraced its team.
...
"It got the point," Greene said, "where teams just counted us as a scrimmage."
After the 1999 season, Greene joined a committee to find a new coach to change the school's athletic fortunes.Greene previously coached at Piedmont with Rusty Jester, the Panthers' coach in 1979-83.
...
Greene believed Jester would be perfect for the school, but when the coaching search began, Jester was the head man at his alma mater, 4A power Independence.
...
Greene called anyway, telling Jester how the community was coming forward to improve facilities that had been ignored for a decade.
...
"We knew to get a coach of his caliber," Greene said, "we had to get him some facilities to work with."
...
"It seemed like whenever we needed something," Greene said, "someone in the community would step up."
The players noticed.
12 online sources [ view sources ]
Profile is not claimed [ this is me ]
