My Introduction

By Tim Emmons
temmons@casscountynow.com

I will try to keep this article from sounding too much like an intervention meeting and more like a biography if I can.
With the onset of summer and lack of sports news around the county I’m confined to, I will be writing more columns of my own throughout the next few months.
When our new publisher, Randy Grider, told me I could write on many different topics of sports from books to athletes tied to this county I was elated.
I felt the need to write this opening piece about who I am and the work I do simply because of the common misconception that gets thrown around from time to time.
It’s hard to examine one’s job from an outside perspective unless you have inside knowledge of just how the machine runs.
I’ve worked for the Journal for five years; four as Sports Editor and I’ve rarely been able to write about anything outside of Cass County.
It’s hard to when I’m assigned to cover five schools and former athletes tied to my coverage area which includes Atlanta, Queen City, Bloomburg, McLeod and Linden-Kildare.
I grew up in Douglassville, made my way through Linden-Kildare Elementary in grades K-5 because the Atlanta bus didn’t travel that far in those days, and was moved to Atlanta to begin middle school.
I graduated from AHS in 1999 and I got married in 2004 to my beautiful wife Ashley Henson who graduated from Bloomburg.
We have two children both of which attend Queen City schools.
A rabbit and a wildcat with two bulldogs….sounds complicated.
I’ll give you something a little more complicated like the insight to the Journal.
I began stringer work (being assigned to one school) in 2011 when the paper hired me to follow and cover all Queen City sports.
A few months later I was hired full-time as the Sports Editor.
We have a total of seven people working here.
We put out three papers a week from this office, two Journals and one Cass County Sun, and that is enough to drive you batty.
I never cared for deadlines growing up but when you work for a paper which sends its work off to Mexia for print and it has to be there early you get used to it.
Recently we have taken the paper in a new direction and I hope it gets better for those who desire to read it.
After all the communities surrounding which also include places like Douglassville, Marietta, Bivins, Huffines and O’Farrell deserve coverage as well when something happens in that area of the world because interesting news doesn’t stop at any one city limit sign.
Other than helping layout these other editions I cover the five schools I mentioned before alone.
Put into perspective that I’m allowed to cover varsity teams only which means five schools with 11 varsity programs.
Only one school has a soccer program, three of these schools have football, volleyball and powerlifting programs, but the other seven sports are covered by all schools which also includes having boys and girls teams in sports like basketball, track and cross country.
That comes to a grand total of 60 varsity teams between five schools and you guessed it…just me to cover them all.
Not to mention band, FFA, cheer, junior high sports, signings, banquets and little league sports city-wide.
That is just the tip of the iceberg.
Let’s just say as busy as it can get, and I’m not complaining a bit. I enjoy doing this for the countless kids who have graced the sports scene in Cass County and beyond.
I depend on coaches and parents at times, but without them many things would not make the paper.
I have an array of photographers such as my wife, JoAnna Duncan, Maggi Whitlow, Carrie Moro, Mitzi Francis, Melony Ray, Tammy Simmons, Susan Greig, Andrew Rankin, Siglinda Smoak and school yearbook help who lend their assistance to put your sons, daughters and grandchildren in our humble paper.
Adam Pettit writes Queen City football, Bobby Horn has helped with Linden-Kildare, Bill Henson has provided in depth looks at different predators we have in this part of the woods and stats for L-K are made possible via LaNell Latham.
I’m excited at the chance that the legendary Coach Gordon Pynes may come out of retirement and post a few articles over the upcoming months.
If I have missed someone I apologize, but I didn’t realize it took so much to fill a page or two of sports.
Coaches are instrumental in helping but their schedule can be just as hectic.
All-in-all it’s worth staying late most nights of the week so we can put out something you’ll enjoy reading.
I’ve been blessed to cover an array of talented athletes and in doing more than just sports I’ve run into a good number of exceptional people.
Of course people inside the community will say that we have some of the best athletes, but we can back that up.
Atlanta’s football team has come close to the state title match two years in a row, their golf program is outstanding, the track team is back to business as usual, the powerlifting program has grown considerably in a short time and the softball team has proven to be a tough team to beat.
Queen City’s volleyball team, basketball programs, powerlifting squad and softball team have been as dominant as anyone in the county.
L-K’s baseball team is on the rise, the track and powerlifting programs have sent athletes to state recently and don’t overlook the football team with Derek Simmons at the helm.
McLeod’s basketball program from junior high to varsity has been elite, cross country and track has top runners and the baseball team looks to build on their recent success.
Bloomburg’s track squad, baseball and softball teams and their tennis team consistently shines throughout the year from junior high to high school.
I didn’t name every sport that is played but no matter the end result talented kids from these schools I cover lace the field or court in hopes of turning in a stellar year.
For me there is no vacation.
Where kids, parents and school administrators are looking forward to summer, I’m looking ahead to August when my schedule picks back up.
And that of course means football season, for me the most wonderful time of the year.