How often do you hear football coaches refer to their players as "my babies?"
"Ooh! They’re double-teaming my baby!"
"My baby blew up that bootleg play!"
"My babies are playing some good football tonight!"
Well, you’d probably have to ask members of the Gunby Enterprises Gators, a team in the 7-8-year-old league at Walter B. Williams Jr. Park. The Gators are coached by Evony Rhodes, who is the first female head football coach in the park’s history. This season, Rhodes has outcoached all of the men, leading the Gators to perfect 10-0 record. Rhodes also serves as the Gators’ defensive coordinator and calls all of the plays on that side of the ball. The Gators’ defense has been incredibly stingy, shutting out eight teams and only allowing two touchdowns the whole season. Rhodes says that her bread- and-butter defensive call is 44 right strong side blitz.
Rhodes became the Gators’ head coach this season out of necessity. She previously had been an assistant coach at the park for the past three years. Prior to this season, however, she was asked to step up and become head coach.
“I was fine with being an assistant. I liked being an assistant. But, not enough men volunteered to be coaches before this season. There was a shortage of men, so I had step up and be head coach,” Rhodes said. “It’s unfortunate that there weren’t enough men, but that’s just the way things turned out, I guess.”
Nevertheless, it was still a very tough decision for Rhodes.
“I prayed about it a lot. And I also talked to my pastor. Most importantly, I talked to my son (Chad). He’s on the team and I had to make sure that he was okay with it. After a lot of praying, I decided to go for it,” she said. “I heard a few negative comments at first. Some people don’t know how to react when they see a woman doing a man’s job. But, for the most part everyone has been very supportive. We’ve won every game, so that silenced the people who thought that a woman couldn’t coach football. I coach the defense, but Coach (Ulysses) Foston calls the offense. He stepped up and came out right before the season started to run the offense. Coach Foston has been great.”
As a little girl, Rhodes was a football fanatic, never straying too far from the television on autumn weekends. Football was a family affair. Evony’s little brother Reggie also caught the bug at an early age. Reggie eventually would become a star linebacker at Baldwin High and one of the best players in school history. Reggie also played college ball at Georgia Military College JC and Valdosta State. He then played a full season in the NFL with the Miami Dolphins before being cut by the Kansas City Chiefs the following year.
Needless to say, Reggie is proud of his older sister.
“I’m very proud. It takes a lot of courage for a woman to come out here and do this. She’s the very first lady coach and she’s whippin’ all of the men,” said Reggie, who was on hand for Tuesday’s game. “My sister was always very supportive and loved watching my games. She was always the loudest person at the game. Even if she stayed at home and didn’t come to the game, it felt like I could still hear her hollering all the way from the house. She could get pretty loud.”
The Gators are led by star player Shon “Frookie” King, who is a miniature phenom at the recreation department. However, each of the 18 Gators has had a hand in the team’s success. So, what is it like having a girl for a coach?
“It’s cool. I like it,” said Austin “Rambo” Kitchens, a linebacker who caused a fumble on Tuesday. “She’s like a mom with 18 kids.”
Added Jeremiah Hicks, who is the son of Baldwin High Head Coach Jesse Hicks: “Coach Rhodes is a good coach. She knows a lot about defense.”
At this rate, perhaps Evony Rhodes should consider becoming the next defensive coordinator for the Georgia Bulldogs. After all, there’s no way she could be any worse than the one they have now.
For the complete story, see the Oct. 15-21 issue of The Baldwin Bulletin.
