Page 39 - Tattnall County

of his voice to change. He was always calm, and I don’t believe I have ever seen him fustered. He was a teacher that was easily understood and a coach as well. The most remarkable aspect of having Coach Hall as a teacher and a coach was he taught my entire family the same messages, and over all those years the results were the same. If you apply yourself, you will approve of yourself. We all got out what we put in, both in the classroom and on the athletic feld. He is a great teacher and coach and turned into a better friend and golf buddy. Whatever he tells you, he cannot beat me in golf!” Coach Hall recalls how Shannon Sharpe became Georgia’s all-time best in the triple jump. “During his sophomore year, the track team lost its triple jumper. Shannon asked me if he could try the event. I taught him the steps, and the rest is history.” Shannon Sharpe would go on to win three straight triple jump state championships. In his senior year he set the state record for all classifcations with a jump of 48’3”, a record which still stands today.

Shannon Sharpe says of Coach Hall, “Coach William Hall’s dedication and sacrifce is a big factor in the lives of young people under his charge. He has driven back and forth from Savannah to Glennville over 40 years. If we had a track and feld meet in Savannah, he would drive to Glennville, take us to the meet in Savannah, then drive us back home to Glennville then go back to his home in Savannah. Coach Hall’s advice to us…whatever you have to offer to the world or society, give it your very best, and the best will come back to you.

Coach Hall has meant so much to me.” Ronnie McCall vividly remembers the football game between the Glennville Bulldogs and the Reidsville Tigers in 1984 when the undefeated Bulldogs were one of the highest ranking teams in the state of Georgia. “Coach Danny Scott’s Tigers went into Glennville and defeated the Bulldogs by a score of 31-7. In the midst of the celebration in the Tiger dressing room after the game, Coach Hall walked in and asked to speak to the team. ‘You young men have a fne football team, and you deserved to win this game tonight. You outplayed us from start to fnish. I hope you win every game from here on out. Who knows, if we are lucky, maybe we will get to play you again for the region championship.’ No Reidsville football player on the 1984 squad will ever forget that moment.

Coach “Billy” Hall will always be remembered by those young men and hundreds of others as a true sportsman and a fne gentleman.”

When Glennville High School and Reidsville High School consolidated in 1993, Coach Hall moved to Tattnall County High School where he developed one of the most dominating Boys’ Class A Track Teams in the area. In 1994 the Tattnall County Warriors won their region and then ran away with the state title by 40 points.

Coach Hall decided it was time to retire and so he did…only to volunteer coach! In 1998, Coach Hall decided to move to Glennville Middle School where his teams won 10 region championships: four in boys’ track and feld, three in girls’ track and feld, two in softball, and one in boys’ basketball.