Wiregrass Hall of Fame has Trojan flavor

If you come early enough, there may be a Tailgate Terrace feel to tonight’s induction ceremonies of the Wiregrass Sports Hall of Fame.

Troy University will be well represented. Head football coach Larry Blakeney, head basketball coach Don Maestri and assistant football coach Randy Butler are three of the nine inductees.

Wallace softball coach Gene Dews, a former Troy assistant baseball coach to Chase Riddle, and Troy alumni Leon Davis and Yolanda Terry continue the Trojan ties. Other inductees include Tom Vickers, Richmond Flowers Jr., and Alex Howell.

The ceremony is at 7 p.m. at the Dothan Civic Center. Tickets to the dinner and program are $30 and are available at the door.

Maestri, who has coached the Trojans for the past 26 years, said it was particularly special to be inducted with Blakeney.

“We had a lot of fun being there together,” the basketball coach said. “There’s so many things that go beyond the winning and losing. Larry Blakeney is such a people person.

“He has a gift that I always thought Chase Riddle had. He could talk to someone and that person thought he was the only person in the world that he could be
talking to. He always made that person feel important. He still does that. He’s still a people person coach. Not just for his players or his coaches. But everybody.”

Blakeney, preparing for his 18th season at Troy, said his relationship with Maestri is special.

“I feel like I grew up with him almost,” said Blakeney before he participated in the Wiregrass Sports Hall of Fame Golf Classic on Friday at Highland Oaks. “He was here when I got here. He’s always sort of been there for me — and hopefully I have been there for him. We’ve always tried to cheer each other in success and console each other in defeat.

“I know if I needed something I could call Don Maestri and I could get it. And he knows, I hope, the same thing.”

Maestri said Blakeney “is a piece of the success puzzle for me. He has always backed basketball.”

“He would make comments, ‘If I could get our team to play as hard as your team plays ...’ ” Maestri said. “Coming from the football coach, that was a pretty darned big compliment.

“So he’s always been a part of everything. It’s not that his program was the only program. He never gave anybody that feeling. That’s one of his biggest strengths. He really enjoys other people’s successes and encourages them and supports them.”

Blakeney didn’t know Butler was in the Hall of Fame class when he hired him this spring.

“Randy Butler certainly is going to be a big bonus to us,” Blakeney said of the longtime Southern Miss assistant from Hartford. “He’s as good a coach as we
could ever have hoped to hire.

“I put him in charge of recruiting. He’s been in charge of recruiting before. He’s coached on both sides of the ball. We’re moving him back to coach defensive ends, where I think he started out. He was an offensive lineman when he played. An old Hartford boy. I’m proud of him.”

Butler still sounds as if his head is spinning from the whirlwind of the past six months. His experience underscores the uncertainty of the coaching profession.

“When I got the phone call several months ago, we were right in the middle of our situation of being fired at Southern Miss,” Butler said. “At the time it was exciting, but the thing that was first and foremost in my mind was trying to find a job and take care of my family.”

His faith was tested, but he never wavered.

“Larry called me on a Friday and offered me the job,” Butler recalled. “Two days before that my daughter, Anna Leigh, moved from Hattiesburg to Hartford to live with my sister and try to find a job. She wanted out of Hattiesburg so we let her move over here. She’s there, she’s working at Flowers. She’s gonna be 45 minutes down the road. We’ve got a daughter who will be a junior at Charles Henderson in the fall. I guess things do work for a reason.”

Butler said having recruited this area for years and grown up here makes it even more special.

“I’ve got a lot of family here, cousins, my mom’s in the nursing home in Hartford, got a brother and all of his family, my sister and all of her family in Hartford. It
really means a lot to come back and be honored for your accomplishments.”

Blakeney said it will be a big weekend for the Troy University family. The events began with the Friday golf tournament, with proceeds designated to raise money for the Hawk-Houston Boys and Girls Club of Dothan.

“My presence here is all about the people at Troy,” he said. “Dr. Jack Hawkins Jr., the board of trustees, Dr. Doug Hawkins, John Harrison, Alan Owen, all those guys that were part of my hiring. And then the folks at Troy that have been my coaches, our support people like (trainer) Chuck Ash, (strength and conditioning coach) Richard Shaughnessy, (facilities director) Tony Ferrante, Dr. Doug Patterson, who’s always been there from my original contract to the transition periods to I-A. All those kinds of folks.

“And it includes the corporate people like the Jimmy Ranes, and the Dee Brookshires and the folks who sponsor our show every year.

“And, of course, the players. And we’ve got a lot of notables, but the rank-and-file guys that came and all the guys that worked and all the guys that believed in what we were trying to do. It’s special for me.”