Well over 100 people attended the Annual OneOfUs.Care Banquet on March 23 in Laurel Fork to honor long-time Carroll County coach Rick Nester, but that was just the highlight of a fun-filled and educational evening.
Nester, who guided Carroll County’s softball team to the first team state championship in school history, was honored with the Jay Neal Lifetime Achievement Award at the banquet held at Maples Restaurant at Olde Mill Golf Resort. Nester is in his 12th season as the head coach of the varsity softball team, but he has served as a baseball and football coach in Carroll County as well for nearly 30 years.
Several speakers honored Nester for his coaching ability and approach to softball. Others cracked jokes about how he has changed over the years from a hard-nosed disciplinarian during his days as a boys’ coach to a more laid-back style these days. Others talked about the countless number of kids Nester has coached over the years and the amount of lives he has helped make better.
It was because of those and many similar assets that caused Jerry and Linda Carter, founders of the non-profit OneOfUs.Care organization, to choose Nester for the lifetime achievement award. OneOfUs.Care is based on three simple philosophies.
The first is to just be a little kinder to each other. The second is if you have a skill set that can benefit others, lend it out every chance you can. The third is to learn how to barter and create things that wouldn’t otherwise exist.
“The purpose of the banquet is twofold. One is to show appreciation for everybody who is already involved in what we are doing. And the second is the hope of recruiting new people to join you,” Jerry Carter said. “Picking the people we chose to honor were some of the easiest decisions I have ever made.”
In addition to Nester, table masters for the event were Kevin Burress, Marion Harris, Greg Talley, Kris Richardson, Chris Carter, Shannon Dalton, Kevin DeHaven, Ron Cochran, Darrin Matthews and Allen Worrell. Carroll County girls’ soccer coach Ben Tickle was honored with the Inaugural Kevin Burress Humanitarian Award. Carroll County High School Principal Chuck Thompson delivered a moving speech about Tickle, who over the past year donated a kidney to a complete stranger.
Time was also taken to honor Carroll County Athletic Director Darrin Matthews, who is retiring this spring after 20 years in the position. Hagen Giles and CCHS varsity baseball coach Kevin DeHaven both gave moving tributes to the kind of AD, person and mentor Matthews has been to them. Special tributes were also given to Carroll assistant coach Kris Richardson, a major player in the OneOfUs.Care organization and co-author of “Back 2 Back State Championships — 10 Years in the Making.”
In addition to the many touching moments, the evening was also packed with humor and education. On the humor end, Russell Smoot teamed with Greg Talley and Kevin Burress to recreate the classic Blues Brothers skit from the 1970’s era of Saturday Night Live. Smoot played the role of Garrett Morris, while Talley channeled Dan Aykroyd and Burress played the part of John Belushi.
On the educational end, Carter designed a skit featuring a mock press conference with Carroll boys’ basketball coach Anthony Barnes and CCHS three-sport athlete Ethan Richardson. The concept was the two were taking questions from the press after winning the state championship. Media personalities Craig Worrell and Allen Worrell, along with Carter, took turns asking questions to the Cavalier duo from different angles. Craig Worrell asked questions as if he were writing a game story, Allen Worrell’s questions were designed for a feature article, while Carter’s questions were presented for an opinion piece. Carter stated the skit was designed so folks in attendance could see what a sportswriting course at Carroll County High School could look like.
“This is an opportunity where I am trying to show somebody what it would look like. I could have taken the 13 people I was trying to thank out to Texas Roadhouse, gave them a steak, gave those plaques away and saved five grand. So why do it? We are trying to both show gratitude to the role models we found and the team members we have, and at the same time trying to recruit new members,” Carter said. “We believe in the core group of people who are trying to help us and we want to show appreciation to them. At the same time, by letting them invite seven guests, the hope is you might get some people that say, ‘Hey, that looks like fun. I wonder how I could get it involved.’ There are all sorts of ways people could get involved if they want to.”
Allen Worrell can be reached at (276) 779-4062 or on X@AWorrellTCN
Most Popular
Comments / 0