Houston Nutt
The Gulf Coast Athletic Club opened its November 4, 2024 meeting in the Clubhouse at Craft Farms Golf Resort at 6:55pm. President George Autrey welcomed the crowd of about 70 attendees. He complemented the Craft Farms Staff for their amazing day, shuffling several events throughout the day, yet were completely ready for us at 6:00pm. Food was great!! Thank you!!
Introductions of guests and new members ensued.
The Golf Tournament details are almost complete, with income about $18-19,000, a new record for GCAC and a continuation of our successful Scholar Athlete Scholarship Program!
Zach Estes reported the Prolific Pigskin Prognosticator Competition is ramping up, but with the wrong leaders. Just kidding as your President and your Editor aren’t anywhere near the top. Taylor Means is having a great year and several are vying for first with him over the next few weeks.
Coach Watts gave the Dolphin Report. Football finished not as expected, but still a solid year with a shutout of Murphy HS in the final game. Looking forward to 2025! The Golf Team competed in our GCAC tournament, thanks to sponsor Brent Burns. Volleyball had another great year, Final 4 for 3 of the last 4 years, including this year in 6A. Cross country Boys are going to State in Decatur along with one Female qualifier. Swimming has 8 qualified for State so far. Winter sports, i.e. Basketball, Wrestling, and Bowling, are starting now. GO, DOLPHINS!!!
The always amazing Irish fan, Dec McClelland, handled the Team Reports with ease, reports getting shorter as the L’s for all teams keeping mounting up. The prized Crying Towel went to longtime GCAC Board member Tom Grabowski for his Penn State Nittany Lions failure against Ohio State. “PSU fail to crack the Nuts again! 20-13”. All in fun!
Doctor Gaylon McCollough, the Master of Ceremonies of the Scholar Athlete monthly awards, again presented two outstanding candidates. Our Female Scholar Athlete is Alexis Tetreau with a 4.32 GPA and a 31 on the ACT. She is a Senior Volleyball star, Team Captain, and took her team to the 6A Final 4 this year. She is a member of the National Honor Society, the 30plus ACT Club, and was Mayor at Girls State this past summer. She is involved in Health Services and wants to attend the University of South Alabama where she will study Nursing and Psychology with plans to become a Nurse Practitioner.
Our Male Scholar Athlete is Layne Reid. He has a 31 on his ACT and is in dual enrollment this year. This record setting Swimmer has held a Black Belt in Karate since age 11. He wants to go to Purdue and major in Mechanical Engineering.
President George introduced the always entertaining Coach Houston Nutt, former Head Football Coach at Murray State, Boise State, Arkansas, and Ole Miss. Saying he was here about 8-9 years ago, he detailed his childhood as one of the few members of his family that could hear. His Father was Head Coach of all sports at the Arkansas School for the Deaf.
He was a great HS Basketball player and was convinced he could play both in the NFL and NBA. He was recruited by Bear Bryant at Alabama, but went to Arkansas under Frank Broyles and then to Oklahoma State with Coach Jimmy Johnson.
He said he enjoyed creating men and misses that special relationship with his players. He based his coaching philosophy on three questions: 1) Can I trust you?, 2) Are you committed?, and 3) Do you really care?. If all are Yes, you’ve got something.
In Q&A he discussed the pain of NIL, boils down to “How Much”. It affects performance and attitude. Football teaches perseverance, but the Transfer Portal sees players quitting over anything. He continued with several observations that seems fitting in today’s game. This Sports Broadcaster still has an amazing presentation and his life experiences are spot on in today’s sports world. Great job, Coach!!
The 50-50 prize was awarded to Taylor Means
The meeting was adjourned at 8:25pm.
Our next program will be on November 18, 2024 and our Speaker will be Joseph Goodman.
Submitted by Bill Tunnell, GCAC Secretary
