"48 Minutes to Live It and a Lifetime to Remember It." - a Tribute to George Shelton

Thursday, June 27th 2024, was not a great day at all. I got word that one of my close friends, George Shelton, had passed away. I have sat here today trying to conjure up thoughts about my friend and just what he meant to me and my life. This is really hard to do. But, I wanted to share with those that didn't know him just what kind of impact he has had on my life. I most certainly would not be where I am today and have enjoyed the kind of success that I have had in my life and sports photography without him. He taught me the game. How to watch it, how to understand it, how to prepare to play it and how to be successful playing it. He showed me the roadmap to winning on the field and off. He gave me the opportunity to see the life of a football coach and for that I am forever grateful. He welcomed me into his home and showed me his football life and he showed me love. The kind of brotherly love that lasts forever.

To understand that love, you need to understand a little about my journey and how I got hooked up with Shelton.

My football life is a journey that began not as a player, because I only played youth football, but as a scribe. It begins in 1993, when I started going to high school games and began dabbling as a sports writer, after reading the book "Friday Night Lights," by Buzz Bissinger. That book motivated me and made me want to cover games and write about it.

I took a chance and contacted some different newspapers in the area. My eagerness paid off and I managed to get a gig writing for the North Pulaski Leader, in Jacksonville, Arkansas. I mainly covered my Alma Mater, Cabot, who was pretty good that season, having lost in the semis to Pine Bluff in one of the most physical games I have ever seen.

During the 1994 season, I started covering games for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Robert Yates took me under his wing and I thought I was about to really take off as a sports writer. But, I wasn't smart and blew my chance to develop with them. One night, I wanted to cover a different game than what Robert asked me to cover and so I declined to do it. My sports writing for the Democrat-Gazette ended after that call. Looking back now, I was an idiot for being stubborn. I wanted to cover Jacksonville vs Cabot, which back then, was a big rivalry, rather than a game at CAC. It was just a foolish move on my part.

But, my passion for high school football didn't end with the loss of the writing gig.

In fact, I would say with not having the pressure of covering one, it just allowed me to go the best games. So, after seeing Pine Bluff play against Cabot the year before, I was really impressed with the Marion Glover brand of football. Physical play on both sides of the ball and great athletes was really fun to watch. I became a big fan of the Zebras. Little did I know, I was watching my future.

I also didn't know it at the time, but one of the coaches on that team was this guy named George Shelton, who would become one of my great friends and a mentor in my life. I made several trips down south to watch their great 1994 team play against FS Northside and also saw them play Monroe Neville in 1995 when the Zebras were ranked #22 in the country by USA Today. So, throughout the mid 90's, I was always going to watch Cabot, Pine Bluff or other big games in the state.

Around the same time, my first cousin, Andy McCready, who had played football at North Little Rock and in college at Lambuth University, got into coaching high school football. He began in the small south Arkansas town of Eudora near the border with Louisiana. I rode down there with him and spent time that fall using some of my personal and vacation days going to practice and getting my first experience being around a team as they prepared for a season. It was a lot of fun.

Andy lived in a motorhome in the nearby town of Lake Village. At night, we would sit in that incredibly small space and watch film on a little TV he had setup with a VCR attached to it. We would either grill out or go to a gas station and get food. It was a spartan life for him, like being on an extended summer vacation at a park, but he did what he had to do to get his break into coaching. It was also good for me in that I started learning how to watch film.

There were also crazy things that happened while he was living there in the RV.

One night, he had to abandon the motorhome and run from a tornado.

It was just crazy life.

Looking back now, some 26 years later, it's still crazy to think he spent that school year living in that motorhome. He needed a break into coaching and that was what he had to do. Fast forward to the summer of 1999 and Andy gets a chance to leave Eudora and go to work for this guy named George Shelton at Augusta, another small town...this time in Northeast Arkansas.

I met George Shelton for the first time at the Arkansas High School All Star football game at UCA that summer. Andy told me that Shelton was coming from Pine Bluff High, where he had won a State Championship on the football staff and also as the head track coach. I don't remember much of the conversation that night other than introductions. He came across as a nice guy but kinda quiet. He observed the game and made comments here and there. I do remember he was impressed that I knew a lot about the Zebras.

I learned that George wasn't really a quiet guy when I accompanied Andy up to Augusta and spent time with them. He loved to talk and have conversations about all kinds of things. I learned that like me, George was a USAF veteran. So, we shared a kindred spirit in our service to our country. So, it was fun to talk about boot camp and our time in service. It was nice to have someone to talk to that had shared my experience. He also learned about me being a sportswriter and my passion for the game. After embarrassingly telling him that I only played youth football, he said that had no bearing on his opinion of me. But, one thing he did value was my opinion. Throughout my time with him he always asked what I thought about his practices, the games and his team. He saw that I was perceptive and genuinely had passion for the game and he really cared about my thoughts. They meant something to him and I was always open and honest with him about what I observed. He was smart and knew if I wasn't being honest with him.

George valued me so much that he asked me if I would be interested in joining his staff for the 2000 season as a statistician, after spending their first season in 1999, just hanging around on the sidelines. He said that since I was hanging around, might as well do something useful! I jumped on the chance and also wanted to learn more.

So, he began teaching the game to me. I learned odd fronts, even fronts, what a 3 technique is and where a 4i lines up. I learned man blocking rules...first man inside...I learned how to play George Shelton style of football. Hit em in the face and get up crunk! I soaked it all up. I watched hours upon hours of film with Andy, George and the rest of the staff. It was so much fun.

I also learned what it meant to talk with your Riddell and to not put too much mustard on your hot dog but have fun playing the game.

Augusta, Arkansas will always hold a special place in my heart. In 2001, George Shelton led the Red Devils to the State Championship. We lost to Rhett Lashley (SMU Head Coach) and his Shiloh Christian Saints 34-20. That season, however, was just so amazing. Our march through the playoffs with wins over powerhouse programs Rison and Barton, are moments that I will never forget. Long bus rides, team meals and so many fun and exciting moments from that season make it so special for all of us that were involved with the team that season. It was just great. George's confidence and expectations never faltered and those kids believed. It truly was magical.

One thing some people might not know about George Shelton was that he was also a nerd. We both liked Star Trek The Next Generation and we would often talk about different episodes. He really liked Commander Data and just thought he was so funny and interesting.

George thought so much of Star Trek that he named his offense "The Borg Package," after the alien race that assimilates all forms of life and brings it into their own collective. He would take the best plays from different teams and add them to his playbook. At one point in time, he had plays from Pine Bluff (Marion Glover Wishbone), Wynne (Diamond-T), FS Northside (Joe Fred Young Pro-I), Pulaski Robinson (screen game), Booneville (Double A/C), and Springdale (Gus Malzahn - HUNH).

He had a folder with all these different plays diagramed out and written on the front was: "The Borg Package."

Speaking of Gus Malzahn, in the spring of 2002, when Gus was at Springdale, I was sitting in the coaches office at Augusta when George opened up a letter and began reading it. When he finished, he handed it to me and asked me to read it. Gus congratulated him on an outstanding season and was very encouraging about the job that he and the staff had done reaching the championship game. It left a deep impression on George and me as well. I will always be a fan of Gus Malzahn because of that simple letter he took the time to write to George. It showed that he cared about him and that he noticed the hard work that they had done that season. Gus started out coaching small school ball in the delta too at Hughes and like George, he took a team to the state championship and lost. So, I think he saw a kindred spirit and certainly appreciated that about him.

I stayed with George when he took the Dollarway job in 2002. I helped him get that program turned around by just chipping in and helping him out in anyway I could outside of coaching. I spent many hours on the road driving down there to help him with stuff and we became close friends during those years. I was fortunate in that I was able to go back to War Memorial with him in 2004 when we faced CAC in the State Championship. Unfortunately, we lost again, and remarkably by the same score, 34-20. But, through it all, George remained steadfast and kept on grinding.

I made the move with him again to Watson Chapel but it was during this time that I started having some issues with anxiety and stepped away from keeping stats. I also endured a heart-breaking relationship break-up that George helped me overcome. We went for a drive one day, had a nice lunch and he told me that I just needed to be a piece of steel. I will never forget those words and how they helped me. He just had a way of seeing things in a simple, but effective manner. He was a true friend.

In recent years, after getting married to my wonderful wife Robin and having our daughter Ava, I didn't see him as often as I would have liked. I guess life just got in the way. But I thought of him often and would occasionally talk to him on social media. The last time I saw him was in 2022 when I was working for Bryant as their team photographer. He called me "Mr. Bryant Football." It was bitter sweet, because I was working for the team playing against the guy that meant so much to me.

When Andy let me know that he had passed away, I couldn't believe it. How could this man, this pillar of strength, this piece of steel, this guy that was so great, leave this world? Well, one thing I know is that this son of a preacher, this Christian man that loved the Lord and praised him, was told to "head that way."

He ran through the final banner, one more time.

Coach, for 48 minutes on Friday nights we lived it, and in this lifetime, we will never forget you.

God Speed my friend. Love you.