Gary Monroe is pictured on Friday night after the Pickens girls basketball team defeated Easley 38-26. Monroe was honored with a plaque for his 40 years as an assistant coach for Pickens High School.
Courtesy photo
PICKENS — Gary Monroe summed up his feelings quite well last Friday night at a packed gym: “I love Pickens and I love Pickens High (School) and the Blue Flame.”
That type of attitude by the dedicated Monroe – through the years – led to a special cermony during the Easley-Pickens basketball games. Monroe was honored at midcourt between the two games for serving 40 years as an assistant basketball coach (30 for the boys and 10 for the girls) at PHS. Moore was given a special plaque, too, for his dedication to PHS.
“My first responsibility is to be a mentor to the young people,” said Monroe, a 1982 graduate of Pickens High School. “To set an example of how you are supposed to be. That’s my first objective. I’ve tried to be a good example and a good represenetative.”
After the ceremony, Monroe had several fans from the bleachers walk down to the court and congratulate him.
“I have to encourage and sometimes pat them on the back – we need to do this,” Monroe said. “I guess I’m a mentor and an encourager. Some players I’ve coached now I’ve coached their children. That makes me feel old. I’ve enjoyed being around the players and how much they enjoyed me. Sometimes, the schedule gets to be a little hectic whenm I’m working a full-time job.”
Continued Monroe, “What I enjoy the most is when they tell me how much they appreciate me or they write me a little note about the influence I’ve had on their life. That’s what I enjoy.”
Monroe said that Coach Bob Allison let him get his start as a manager during the 1981-82 season.
But after 25 years as an assistant coach, Monroe took a year off from coaching and thought that he might step down from coaching atltogether.
Former PHS girls basketball coach Butch Morris, though, played a key part in Monroe continuing to coach.
“I worked on him for a year,” Morris said. Gary you need to come help with the girls? I stayed on it and finally he agreed.”
Morris wen on to say, “The biggest thing about Gary is his loyalty to the people that he loves and cares for the most, and that’s his Pickens family. They’re willing to do anything for him and there are still ones that think that way. He’s been so loyal and we all love him. He’s just a great man. The thing that sticks out the most to me is when I would say thank you to him. It meant so much to him. Those two words – he knew you meant it. It’s beyond words to thank him for all he’s done for me in my coaching career. A great man. He wants to be there for others. He loves the kids that we coach. They are like family to him and he would do anything for them We’ve seen that time and time again over his career.”
Currently, Monroe continues to do a good job as an assistant for head coach Rikki Owens and her girls basketball program.
“He (Owens) is one of the best statisticians that we’ve ever known,” said Coach Owens. “The girls really relate and love being around him. When he speaks, he speaks very wise words. So, they know to listen when he speaks. He’s just a blessing to all of us. He’s a dad to a lot of our girls. A lot of them don’t have dads. So, he’s really a second dad to them. He takes that very seriously. He takes basketball very seriously and he takes his job of being their second dad very seriously. I’m speaking for own daughter as well. He really steps up and provides that leadership and that accountability. the girls really relate to him a lot. I’m very, very grateful for him.”
Reach Jeff Holt at 864-855-0355.