(I found this treasure today.)
Stuart Maynard drops by...
On this quiet day in the alumni house I was working away when I heard whistling in the stairway. Certainly this was Jerry who whistles to let you know he's "in the house" coming back from Tennessee travels. I turned around to see, not Jerry, but Coach Maynard at my door!This sharp as a tack 91 year old is always a boost to my day; an infusion of kindness, humor and grace. I've known him all my life. A role model; and icon; and mentor to my Dad and so many others. We are working on a project together with Dave Odom and others to raise money for an endowed athletic fund in his name. There are sketches of a batting center, and hopes for other improvements for baseball - the sport he is now most closely associated with. But is hasn't always been baseball...
He started out as a football player. Unlike today's kids who may have a football in their crib, he didn't ever see a football until high school, when he was growing up in Harnett County, NC. He had a good arm and threw a lot in the cow pasture with his brothers. They made their own baseballs then out there in Harnett Co. - tobacco twine wrapped around a fishing cork, then covered with tire tape. He wished he still had one of those.
Coach walked to high school which was about a mile through town after his family moved to Dunn. It was depression days and they had lost their farm. He'd arrive early and help the teacher start the fire. He told me he loved school. And he had great affection and admiration for his coach then, Mr. Averett. "Stuart, I want to see you after class" he said firmly one morning. Knowing he didn't do anything wrong, but still racking his brain for something he'd missed, he met Mr. Averett after school and was told to come out for the football team. He really wanted to work after school, but Mr. Averett assured him there were no jobs available; "go home by way of city hall and see all those people sitting on benches waiting and hoping for someone to hire them." Football it was.
Baseball came in the spring and the hope was for 2nd base. Coach Averett gathered the team around and asked for a volunteer to catch one day -- no takers. Stuart was picked because of his exceptional arm. He learned it well and played catcher from then on.
Coach received a 1 cent postcard from Block Smith telling him he'd been accepted to Guilford. His brother drove him to Raleigh and he took the bus the rest of the day, just in time to meet the coach by 12 noon. When I asked when and how he'd met Ruth, his partner for some 60 years, he said that he met her on the way to George White house for a freshmen orientation meeting. Their first date was to the fall athletic banquet for football and field hockey players. The rest is history. They graduated together and married the following July. Stuart joined the Navy and Ruth went to Clinton, NJ to teach. When Stuart was moved to Geneva, NY, Ruth moved there too and worked for the water department (she was a biology major at Guilford). Molly, their first child, was born in NY state.
He was a Navy man and was a trainer for the Rooster squad - the best of the best. He said it was just like coaching. They called him "Reb." He was the only southerner around!
He and Ruth moved back to NC after the NY/Navy days. After working for the YMCA in Eden/Spray, NC area he took a job in Williamston, NC at the high school. He coached everything - football, baseball, girls and boys basketball. He took a football team with no wins, to 5 wins the next season, and within about 4 seasons they were state champs. No surprises there.
One day he was reading the News and Observer and saw mention of Guilford's alumni day. They also mentioned that Guilford had lost 3 coaches. He wrote Dr. Milner on Monday, and by that Thursday was asked if he could come up on the alumni weekend to meet with the athletic committee of the Trustees. After the meeting, Dr. Milner said "Stuart my friend, would you be able to let us know your decision on Monday!?" Ruth and Stuart weighed the pros and cons, and made their decision to move their young family back to Guilford College.
Dr. Milner asked coach to take on baseball for a while, until the college could get more financially healthy. 33 years later, he was still coaching baseball!
"I realized that in all my years of coaching, with each team I was coaching my friends. I tried to treat them they way I was treated by Mr. Averett and Block Smith. I treated them all the same. I have met so many kind and good people."
He said I was a good person. You better believe I'm writing that down. Coming from Coach, that's something to hold onto.
We talked about the Tour de France and endurance and my bike on the front porch. We talked about how he could and maybe should write a book. "I'm getting to the end...I'm 91. People say I look good." He remembers dates and details, the strength of 100's of arms and the speed and footwork of so many feet.
You look great Coach. You always have. You make us all better. You coach us all to our strengths and our own potential, whether we can wear the mitt, or whether we work in the alumni house.
