Fond Memories of High School

Fond Memories

My High School years were, as some people often say, "very fond memories". I enjoyed my high school classes as well as the teachers that I had there.

I went to High School at Clarksville High School. While in High School, I played football, worked three or four jobs, participated in several different groups and organizations, and tried to make good grades.

I did not play football my Sophomore year of High School. I needed to take a class that was only offered during the Football class hour. I also wanted to try to take a break to allow my knees time to recover. I have bad knees. However, I did play my Junior and Senior year. We had a decent team my Junior year but we did not make the State playoffs. This upset our coaches greatly. With this disappointment in mind, they put me and the other players through a rigorous off-season. The off-season changed greatly from previous years. In previous years, the players stayed late two days of the week (3 hours) and left early the other three days (1 to 1.5 hours). That off-season, we stayed late every day. We would start off by lifting weights for about an hour or hour and a half. We would then go outside and run, do sprints, agilities, hurtles, dots, towel drill, dips, or any other type of activity that the coaches felt like having us do. I can't complain. I really enjoyed it and we needed it. It paid off. My Senior year team was much better. Due to the way that our team often played or let the scores start off, we were called the Cardiac Kids by many local newspapers. We were given this nickname due to the fact that in many of our games, the opponents would be ahead at half-time and then in the fourth quarter we would come back to win the game. We won the conference and made it to the state semi-finals. We lost to the team that ended up being the State Champs, Prescott. They did not beat us. We beat ourselves. We played pitifully the first half but came back during the second half to almost win the game.

High School was not all fun. Several disastrous events occurred during my years of High School. Several of my classmates were killed or committed suicide. One young man, Chris Newman, was killed in a train accident in which his truck rolled in front of a moving train. He was killed instantaneously. Another death, which happened my Senior year, was much closer to heart. One of my best-friends decided to end his own life. Myself and many others spent long nights trying to understand his death but, as many can relate, understanding did not come. He was a great inspiration to me in the way he handled adversity. He would always tackle it head-on. Why let something difficult stop you from accomplishing your goal is what he always told me. Smart words from one as young as he was. His tragedy also allowed me to realize who some of my true friends were at that time. These people tried to offer me sympathy despite recent tragedies that they may have suffered recently. I still remember them with fond memories.

I worked at several different jobs during high school. I worked during the summer at a Blueberry Farm in Scranton, AR owned by Mac Parks. I was a farm hand, farm hand supervisor, and shed worker. I worked for, what was then, Arkansas State Bank in the Proofing Department as well as a preparing statements at night. The main job that I held was at OK Food Market in Clarksville. I started there in the spring of 1994 and worked there for almost exactly four years. I met several good friends there. Among them are Jason and Ashley Howell, Herman Houston, the Dickerson Family, Dallas Doty, and too many others to name. I can fondly remember my time there but I doubt that I would ever go back to working there. I have held too many other jobs that stimulate my mind to make me want to go back to a job that does not challenge me mentally.

Although I was involved in all of these other activities, I still tried to participate in numerous groups while in High School. I won't go into detail with them but will list them. They were PRIDE, BETA Club, FBLA, Biology Club, Math Club, French Club, Art Club, and FCA.

If you are a graduate of Clarksville High School in the years from 1994-1998 and if you know who I am, send me a line sometime. I would enjoy hearing from past acquaintances. If not, the simply sign up at classmates.com and maybe one of the graduates on that site will pass your email around.

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