McComb High School took time Thursday night to honor five of its former students, while the honorees turned much of their focus from the past to the future.
MHS inducted the graduates into its Hall of Fame during the banquet — Bruce Gilmore Sr., Dr. Louis B. Guy Jr., Dr. Charles Nash, Dr. Laurel Williamson and James Yawn.
Although the five did relive a little history, they primarily recounted the lessons they’ve learned and encouraged the audience of nearly 200 to apply those lessons to today’s youth.
Gilmore, a Realtor in Virginia and the first speaker, set the tone for the evening, saying that as he thought about his remarks, his mind turned to the people who helped shape his life. From his parents to his coaches to his teachers, two things stood out, Gilmore said. Discipline and hard work.
“This is my night, so tonight I can give orders, right?” said Gilmore, who graduated from MHS in 1972. “Go out and find one kid you can talk to. Everyone get one kid. I don’t want you to save the whole world, but get one kid and mentor them.”
Guy said many people shaped his life, which has included state football championships, national championships and a world championship in 1963. He said that as a child, he grew up near the railroad tracks and heard many, many train whistles. An orthodontist today, he believed he’d either grow up to be a train engineer or a cowboy.
But with a little luck and a lot of help, Guy said he’s like “that turtle you find on a fence post. Someone had to put it there. There were a lot of people God so chose to put in my path along the way … they all played a part in my life.”
While he lives in Jackson now with his wife Gayle, Guy said, “I will always cherish McComb and McComb High School. And I don’t hear a train whistle now that I don’t have a deep nostalgia for both places.”
Yawn, the briefest speaker of the night, echoed Guy’s sentiments.
“He’s pretty shy,” Paul Walker said when he introduced the former major leaguer. “You’ll see that when he gets up here.”
When he did, Yawn said his family always was supportive of him, as were his coaches and teammates.
When he did, Yawn said his family always was supportive of him, as were his coaches and teammates.
“My family always supported me,” Yawn said. “There was a lot of luck involved — a lot of prayers. I was lucky. I had good people with me.”
In fact, everyone honored Thursday night had good people with them, Nash said as he reflected on all of the “shoulders” he’s stood on along the way.
“I thank you for expressing your appreciation for the small things the five of us have done — the small things I’ve done and the big things they’ve done,” Nash said.
None of those things could have been accomplished without the shoulders of others, he said. It is up to each member of the community, he said, to provide shoulders for this generation.
“Do as Bruce asked,” said Nash, vice chancellor for academic affairs for the University of Alabama system. “Let’s look out for young people. Let’s help young people along the way.
“Place and people and love and caring are the things that brought me to where I am today, and I bet if I asked, they’re the same things that brought all of you here today.”
With that kind of help, he said, others will be able to have their accomplishments celebrated in the same way years from now.
Williamson said that when she first got the call about being an inductee, her thoughts ran more toward the shenanigans she pulled in high school than toward any academic accomplishments. Then she put her teen years in perspective.
“Sometimes we forget there is a deep connection between the things we did when we were children and teenagers and the things we’re doing today,” said Williamson, vice chancellor for instruction and student services of San Jacinto Community College in Houston, Texas.
Williamson said she began to reflect on her teachers and the lessons they taught her — “not just in reading, writing and ’rithmatic. But a level of confidence and the ability to accept a challenge.
“Those teachers gave me their best, and I hope my being here tonight means I gave them my best.”
McComb Schools Superintendent Therese Palmertree seized on the common thread of support from adults and how it led to Thursday’s festivities, which are part of the MHS’s homecoming.
“When a country has more memories than dreams, we need to watch out and be careful,” because it is a very dangerous thing, Palmertree said, referencing Thomas Friedman’s book “The World is Flat.”
Palmertree said that while the passage is about countries, she thinks it fits communities as well.
“If our children have caring adults in their lives, a community behind them supporting them,” Palmertree said, “they are going to be successful.”
Past Inductees
Class of 2006
John Brady, James Brooks, Ralph Moore and R.B. Reeves Jr.
Class of 2007
Warner Alford Jr., Robert Holloway, George Maddox Jr. and Willie Edward McGowan.
