Far from the spotlights that follow teams with names like Tigers and Gamecocks, Summerville’s coach McKissick who turns 82 on September 25th has enjoyed a career that will see his team "The Green Wave" take the field for the 57th year when football returns to the low country the fall.
Besides a storied career, (556 wins, 130 losses)he's the winningest football coach in the nation at any level, it turn’s out coach McKissick has a few connections. So when Nate Noel of Intersport asked the Summerville football team to play in the inaugural Texas High School Showcase the coach was thrilled. The event will be held Aug. 30 and Sept. 1 in at Texas stadium.
The only trouble was McKissick had already given a commitment Conway, South Carolina’s Coach Chuck Jordan to play a game that same weekend.
"We didn't want to back out after agreeing to play them. It's hard for them to come up with an opponent this late, so we'll play them in Summerville. It will be a good game. I don't have to travel across the country to find a good opponent."
It's takes a lot to be a football coach for 57 years. You give your all, and when the team wins you give the players all the credit and when they lose you're always the goat. By the way Summerville's Green Wave went 13-2 last fall, reaching the Division I-AAAA state championship, a 48-9 loss to Byrnes
A lot could be learned from Coach John McKissick, honor, integrity, wisdom, fairness and apparently his word is good enough.
Taking the field at Texas Stadium would be a career highlight few coaches would pass up even if it meant breaking a contract. But to Coach McKissick a deal is a deal and that was that.
I'd guess the "contract" was nothing more than a handshake, with maybe a follow-up phone call to say "yup, August 30th, same weekend next year? ya got it" and a penciled in note in the small square that denotes another day in a coach's life.
Yes, we could learn a lot from "Coach".
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