While the primary motivation for bringing back middle school sports is what it can do for those kids at Buford, Charlottesville High coaches have their own reasons to be thankful for their return. In particular, the high school football program stands to benefit. The middle school team runs the same offense and defense as the high school, re-creating a feeder system that the city used to rely on.
“My high school people love the idea of the middle school helping to prepare students who will be a part of a football team,” says Superintendent Rosa Atkins.
Garwin DeBerry, Charlottesville High football coach from 1980 to 2007, says it really hurt not to have middle school football. “We still had pretty good teams record-wise, and we still won games, but if you look around the state, all the schools that have these feeder systems—junior high school, ninth grade, little league system—they all do pretty well.”
The football team has not had much success since DeBerry’s 2001 team went 10-0. It doesn’t help that it must also vie for local attention.
“In Charlottesville versus the counties, and particularly when you look at a place like Louisa County, there’s a lot going on in Charlottesville versus our surrounding county counterparts,” says Charlottesville High’s athletic director, Rick Lilly. “I think it’s a great sports town, but when it comes to high school athletics, I think certain sports are supported very well and others haven’t been.”
It hasn’t always been this way. Tommy “the Golden Greek” Theodose, high school coach from 1959 to 1979, presided over the most memorable streak in the history of the city schools, a 53-game unbeaten streak that went from 1962 to 1967 for Lane High School. Theodose was apparently a tremendous motivator who ran simple plays really well. Part of his success was his insecurity. In a 1987 interview with The Daily Progress, he said, “I was the type of individual who could win 53 ballgames and lose that 54th game and ask myself, ‘Do I know what I’m doing?’”
“Those were the times,” says DeBerry. “Football was a real big deal at the time. It was more of a small town mentality, everyone was concerned about kids playing football. I think the middle school program is the answer to [new football coach Chris Fraser]’s problem.”
Before our glasses get too rosy, however, we should remember a less pleasant legacy. This is the 50th anniversary of “massive resistance,” when the city shut down Lane High and Venable Elementary on September 19, 1958 rather than integrate. The schools reopened and were officially integrated in 1959, but when DeBerry was in eighth and ninth grades during the 1960s, he wasn’t allowed to participate in extracurriculars because of his skin color. Which made it that much more meaningful when he was named Charlottesville High’s head coach in 1980.
When speaking to The Daily Progress about his retirement in April, DeBerry recalled his mother’s words upon hearing the news of his hire. “She said, ‘You’re going to take Tommy Theodose’s place—I can’t believe that’s going to happen. My goodness, you couldn’t play for that school and now you’re the head coach.’”
