FALL SPORTS PREVIEW: Southern Wayne football

By News-Argus Staff
Published in Sports on August 17, 2017 6:00 AM

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By JUSTIN HAYES

jhayes@newsargus.com

DUDLEY -- Last August, with the high school football season squarely in the middle of the hype vortex created by the end of area mini-camps and the regular-season opener, Southern Wayne tabbed a new leader to guide its football program.

The newsflash -- that then-head coach David Lee would cede the torch to assistant Ronnie McClary, Jr. -- was succinct, swift and largely quiet.

In other words, lost in a bit of translation.

It's not that anyone ignored the importance of the hire, or purposely elected not to celebrate its meaning. After all, McClary Jr., taken up by practice plans, scrimmage scheduling and 14-hour days, had to be reminded himself -- that he, at age 31, was the first African-American head coach in the program's history.

"I didn't know it until one of our assistant coaches, coach Ricky Lofton... he graduated in the 70s, and knew the history of the program," McClary Jr. said last week.

"He came to me, and entered with me -- and that's something I'm proud of."

An accomplished interior lineman who prepped at Goldsboro High and played collegiately at Elizabeth City State University, McClary Jr. immediately set about two tasks -- one, identifying elements of the winning culture he wanted to rebuild, and two, allowing himself to properly weigh the moment's gravity.

So amid the windsprint nature surrounding his hire and with a Magna Carta-inspired list of things to do, McClary Jr. gave pause, considering all the things that made him Southern's new hope.

Those things, as it turned out, were people.

He recalled the many faces, too countless to list, at the Parks and Recreation Center. He recalled youth league volunteers, middle school coaches, classroom teachers and the long, endless days jack-knifing the sled for Elvin James at Cougar Stadium.  

And his parents -- always.

"All of that came at just one time," the coach recalled. "But it was short lived, because that decision was made the Monday (week) of our first game... I reflected on it a little bit, but I had to tighten up -- we had a game that Friday night."

And there is the story.

Ronnie McClary, Jr., in a moment of benchmark cultural importance and personal success, chose first to reflect on the many people that made him fit for the position.

Which, looking back, means the Southern Wayne brass hired way more than a person representing history in Dudley -- they hired perhaps the only man capable of handling it.