over the telephone. I didn’t know anything about the town. When I got there, it was a good basketball school in a little tobacco town. The football was in a six-man football conference. I had already taken the job, but I didn’t know anything about it, so I called my college coach and asked him if he could help me. I told him I didn’t know anything about six-man football. He told me I didn’t know anything about eleven-man football. [laughs] Anyway, I stayed there a year, and then got the job here in Summerville. Rizzo: If you could name one player, who was the best player you ever coached? McKissick: I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t do it. We’ve had so many come through here. The latest one I guess would be AJ Green. And then there was Jamar Nesbit who played for the Carolina Panthers and ended up in New Orleans. We had Kevin Long who played for the Tennessee Titans. And there was Stanford Jennings who played for the Cincinnati Bengals. All those were outstanding high school football players. When I first came here, we had a lot of good players. We didn’t play but five games a season. The first five years here we won fifty-two and lost two. There were a lot of good players on those teams, so it would be hard to single out any one player.
20 YEARS OF DREAMING
g THIRD THURSDAY in HISTORIC DOWNTOWN SUMMERVILLE Winner of Main Street SC "Outstanding Promotion"
Third Thursday's special events: September: Sweet Tea Festival brought to us by the new Summerville Restaurant Association, October: The Summerville Orchestra – Chamber music ensemble November: The return of Tim Lowry’s The Christmas Carol Tour around the historic downtown.
Rizzo: How has your wife influenced your coaching and the success of the teams?
PROUDLY CELEBRATING OUR 20th ANNIVERSARY
Preserving the past, promoting the present and protecting the future of Historic Downtown Summerville
McKissick: She has never said anything about how much time I had to spend away from home. And years ago we even had to mark the fields and cut the grass. She has been a great supporter, and she still is. She loves athletics. I've been doing this for sixty years, and she’s only missed three games.
Summerville D.R.E.A.M. (Downtown Restoration, Enhancement And Management) (843) 821-7260 / www.summervilledream.org
AZALEAMAG.COM / FALL 2012
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