Longtime coach recovers from illness to return to field

Posted 4:44PM on Wednesday 3rd September 2003 ( 21 years ago )

DARIEN - John Willis had pretty much already decided to return to coaching after being forced off the sidelines for one season as he continued to recover from bacterial meningitis during the 2002 season. But when he made an unplanned trip to the Wal-Mart in Brunswick at the beginning of this year, something happened that assured the longtime high school football coach that he was making the right decision to get back in the game. As he stood in the middle of an aisle, looking for a particular item on the shelf, a man whom Willis didn't know and hadn't ever seen before approached him and asked if he was John Willis, the former Brunswick High football coach. When Willis told him that he was, the man, who also hadn't planned on being at the store that day, almost couldn't believe it. By now, Willis already had a feeling that something strange was about to happen, but he wasn't expecting what actually took place. ``He told me he had a vision about me,'' Willis said, tears coming to his eyes as he recalled that day. ``He said he saw me working somewhere, he just couldn't tell the team's colors. He said I was getting ready to coach again. ``After that, we both prayed with each other, right there in the aisle and then we both left. But, it was just funny that even happened.'' Not long after that, Willis interviewed as one of three finalists for the head coaching position at Fort Valley State, where he earned his college degree and once starred on the football field, winning the Wildcats' most valuable player award three times. ``I really thought I had the job because the president said he wanted the best Fort Valley graduate and I was the only one left,'' Willis said. ``I had a beautiful interview. Everything was laid out, but then I was told they decided to go in a different direction.'' Willis was disappointed, but still knew he wanted to get back in coaching, even if that meant taking a job with one of the area's middle schools. But instead of Willis having to look around for an opening, another school came looking for him. That school was McIntosh County Academy in Darien, which was searching for a new coach following the resignation of Gary Morton in March after only one season with the Buccaneers. Less than a week after being contacted about the job, Willis interviewed with McIntosh County superintendent Christine Ejlali, and within days of his interview, he was introduced as MCA's new head coach. Now, Willis feels like he's where he's supposed to be, back in coaching and back in high school football now, almost 22 months since that Sunday he nearly died in a hospital bed at Southeast Georgia Regional Medical Center in Brunswick. Little did Willis know that when he walked off the field on Nov. 9, 2001, following a 30-7 loss at Camden County, that would be his last game as head coach at Brunswick High a position he had held since 1980, when he came to Brunswick from A.H. Parker High in Birmingham, Ala., following a boycott by the Pirates black players the previous season. BHS had a game the following Friday night at Warner Robins, but Willis wasn't on the field that evening, when Brunswick's season came to an end with a 57-13 loss to the Demons. Instead, Willis was a patient in the hospital, about to come to the next morning for the first time in almost a week after battling for his life just days earlier. ``When I woke up, I asked how the team was practicing and my wife told me they already played the game,'' Willis said. ``I had already been there six days and didn't know it. I was so sedated and out of it the whole time.'' Willis still doesn't know how he contracted the bacterial meningitis that nearly took his life, but he eventually recovered. He tried to return to his physical education position at Brunswick High in January 2002, but after blacking out and falling twice at school soon after his return, Willis was back in the hospital again. ``They thought I might have had a heart attack, but they did tests on my heart and found out it was fine,'' he said. Following this latest ordeal, Willis knew it might be best if he stepped away from coaching, and he began talking to Glynn County Schools officials about his options, including possibly retiring. On March 22, 2002, four months after he coached his last game at BHS, Willis told his players and assistant coaches in an emotional meeting that he had decided to retire at the end of the school year. That day spelled the end of an era at Brunswick High, which lasted 22 seasons and included several sub-region and region championships, numerous playoff berths and an appearance in the 1999 Class AAAA state championship game. Willis stepped down with a 138-103 record with the Pirates. Once he started feeling better, he thought about returning to coaching. Willis said he always felt like the only job he would seriously consider leaving Brunswick for was the one at Fort Valley, and probably the last place he ever thought he would wind up was McIntosh County Academy. But after his first four months on the job, Willis believes Darien is where he's supposed to be. ``I really feel like I've walked into a situation where I'm needed, and I think this will make a difference in my life, and hopefully I can make a difference in these kids lives, too,'' he said.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2003/9/173804