Clint Haggard, a Georgia boy turned Gamecock

Article published in The Madison County Journal December 27th issue.

Clint Haggard (middle) pictured with other members of
the South Carolina Gamecock athletic training staff

Feature on former Raider Athletes- Where are they now?

 By Dallas Bordon

Most people wish for a dream job. While growing up, most kids dream of what they will be when they grow up. Clint Haggard, a 1998 graduate of Madison County High School, might have dreamed of being a professional ball player one day; dreams that most kids in sports have. For Clint, a former Raider soccer player all four years at MCHS and football player for the Raiders in 1994 and 1996, he is living a different kind of dream. Not a dream of playing any type of sport, but a dream of being around the sport of football. Haggard is the youngest Division 1 head athletic trainer in the history of the modern NCAA and also the youngest head athletic trainer in the history of the Southeastern Conference. He is currently the Head Athletic Trainer for the South Carolina Gamecocks. “I’m very thankful to be one of fourteen head athletic trainers in the SEC. This year was my 13^th season of college football and I hope that I have at least 30 or more left in me,” Haggard said.

It was a knee injury suffered in high school that grabbed Clint’s interest in sports medicine. “I hurt my knee my junior year playing football and did not play my senior year. I reinjured my knee the spring of my senior year which sparked my interest in sports medicine,” said Haggard.

Haggard originally entered the University of Georgia as a pre-veterinary medicine major but quickly became interested in athletic training and sports medicine. After changing his major, Clint worked behind the scenes for many different UGA athletic events including football, baseball, soccer, and swimming & diving programs. “In the summer of 2001, I was also fortunate enough to work with the Indianapolis Colts during training camp where I got to meet many people with whom I still talk to today,” said Haggard.

Haggard’s road to South Carolina had many stops along the way. After graduating with a BSEd in Exercise Science from Georgia in 2002, Clint immediately went to the University of Alabama as a graduate assistant athletic trainer for the football team. “One of my mentors at UGA, Ron Courson, was an assistant athletic trainer at Alabama and helped me get my foot in the door over there,” Haggard said. Clint was at Alabama from 2002-2006, first as a graduate assistant athletic trainer, and then was hired as an assistant athletic trainer. Haggard served at Alabama during the Franchione, Price, and Shula era.

Clint recalls a fond memory during his first two years with Alabama when the Tide faced the Georgia Bulldogs. “In 2002, we played Georgia in Tuscaloosa being one of the hottest games I have ever been part of. That was the year Billy Bennett kicked a last minute field goal to beat us,” Haggard said. “In 2003 in Athens, Thomas Davis blitzed off the end on consecutive plays and knocked two of our quarterbacks, Spencer Pennington and Brodie Croyle, out of the game.”

Clint with his family. Wife Erin and children
Brewer  and Reagan

Haggard graduated from Alabama in 2003 with a MA in Health Sciences and was promoted to assistant athletic trainer in 2004. Rice University in Texas would be where Haggard would land his first head athletic training position in 2006. “It was a great opportunity for my family and though it was much different being at a small highly academic institution, I cherish the time and the experience we had there,” said Haggard.

But for Haggard, a Georgia boy at heart, he longed to be close to home and back in the SEC. In 2009, that opportunity came for Haggard. “My mother had just passed away a couple of weeks earlier and I did not tell my father that I was coming to Columbia to interview. I had some other opportunities to go other places that didn’t work out and I didn’t want to get my dad’s hopes up that this would so I decided that if the interview went well and they offered me the job, I would go to Athens and see him and if not I would just go home to Houston and not say anything,” said Haggard. South Carolina didn’t offer the job to Haggard right at that time, but despite his plans to return to Houston, he surprised his dad with a visit anyway.

As most Georgia fans’ feelings aren’t pleasant ones of the head ball coach Steve Spurrier, Clint’s dislike towards the Gamecock coach were no different during Clint’s younger years. But then one day in 2009, that all changed. “Imagine my surprise when he (Spurrier) called me a few days after my interview to offer me the job!” Haggard said. “He opened the conversation by saying he heard I was a Georgia graduate and I told him not to hold it against me.” Haggard and Spurrier’s conversation continued and a relationship grew almost instantly. “I’ll have to say that he is one of the nicest people that I have ever met,” said Haggard. “He and his wife Jerri do so much for me and for the rest of the staff that many other football coaches and their wives do not do. He is a big family man and our families are around the complex often.”

Haggard’s duties at South Carolina as head athletic trainer include taking care of medical needs for the student-athletes and staff. He is the liaison between the physicians and the football program and coordinates the medical care for upwards of 200 people. Haggard interacts with Coach Spurrier on a daily basis and says that between the coach and the team’s physicians, he sometimes spends more time in conversation with them than he does with his wife.

Clint sees a different side of Coach Spurrier than most people see in the media. “I have been fortunate enough to spend a lot of time away from the office with him (Spurrier) and have gotten to know him very well,” Haggard said. “Times spent with coach gives me a different perspective of him from the one people see in the media.”

Haggard’s spends many hours as the Head Football Athletic Trainer. He is on call 24/7 and logs in anywhere from 70 to 100 hours a week depending on the time of the year.

Clint married his wife Erin in 2004 and they have two children Reagan; born in 2008 in Houston and Brewer; born in 2009 in Columbia. “My job requires many hours of work and my wife does a great job of keeping our house and me in order,” said Haggard. “I try as much as I can to have the kids around me at work and to leave as soon as I can to go home to see them, but there are many days that I leave before they get up and come home after they are asleep at night.”

As for Haggard’s loyalty to Madison County, he quickly stated in the Gamecock’s media guide that he is from Ila, Georgia and not Athens so that Madison County would get a bit of publicity. “I am very happy to be able to be close to home and do what I love doing on such a big stage,” said Haggard.

If you are a former Madison County athlete (five years ago or longer) and would like to be featured in The Madison County Journal, please contact Dallas Bordon at dallasb32@yahoo.com.

Senior Night and a realization that “it’s really over”

My column published in an October issue of The Madison County Journal

By Dallas Bordon

You can see it in their faces. Their eyes tell the stories; stories of years of determination, dedication, hard work, and most of all, fun and enjoyment of playing the sport. Senior night is time for the sport, fans and coaches to bid farewell to their student-athletes. A time for a final applause, one final pat on the back, one final tear and one final memory of times gone by are all of the emotions and thoughts of Senior Night. We begin to realize that it’s more than just an ending to four years of high school sports. It’s a final goodbye to a sport(s) that they have participated in since the early years back to a time when they could first grasp a ball by hand. Senior night brings it all together. It’s a time of reflection, a time to remember all of the years of memories made and a time to say goodbye to teammates and coaches. For those fortunate enough to move to the college level, nothing will compare to the years spent on the playing fields or courts on the recreation department, middle school, and high school levels. Senior night draws it all to a close. It’s time to say farewell to friendships made between the athletes who played sports together and against each other throughout different seasons of the year.

Entering the years of high school sports, Senior Night is embedded in the minds of parents and players knowing their own moment will come when it’s time to hang it up. They all live in the moment of that night at the end of each season when they see the recognition of teammates that have gone before them and then before we know it, their own night approaches. Even though it’s over a span of years that they play, our minds tend to echo thought of “what seems like yesterday” as we recall their years growing up from playing youth sports to the night it all comes to a close as seniors. Those years and this night come and go too quickly.

As for the athlete, these will always be days and experiences you’ll never forget and yet they are times you can never get back. You will look back one day as you’re dusting off that old letterman jacket or looking at old photos from your days on the fields or courts and you’ll come to realize that those days were the best of times. There will come a time when you’ll tell your own children the stories of your days as a student-athlete and your experiences playing the game and even how that game has changed.  

For the parents, it can be a brief gasp of relief that it’s finally over. All those years of living in fast-food restaurants, rolling those coolers around, carrying chairs to different places, and traveling; it’s over. But despite the hard work of the parents from season to season, for them the moment will begin to set in and they will realize how special those times were. Then the realization that “it’s really over” sets in and our student-athletes are no longer little leaguers, middle school, and high school athletes.

Whether it’s walking your student-athlete across the fifty yard line of a football field or across the basketball court or hearing the senior speeches read while the athlete stands on their jersey number painted in the grass behind home plate; it’s an emotional moment for everyone because those years and memories are all replayed in our mind on that one night. Senior night is a time we honor our student-athletes’ long careers and we share the memories; memories which will live long after this night is over.

Superstition, It’s all part of the game

My column published in an August issue of The Madison County Journal. www.mainstreetnews.com

By Dallas Bordon

As a big sports fan, I many goals that I would like to accomplish. One goal has always been touching Howard’s Rock in Clemson’s Death Valley before running down the hill like the players do before each home game. Another goal involved going inside of the Atlanta Braves locker room and dugout before a game. Both of those goals were accomplished several years ago. The meaning of touching a famous rock in Clemson's Death Valley or the 1995 World Champions baseball sign in the Braves clubhouse is what the players do for luck before their games.  Superstitions, like the ones I just mentioned, are all part of sports and the athlete’s rituals used with hopes of bringing good fortune. Playing sports growing up from Little League baseball to college intramural sports, I had my weird superstitions and ways of doing things before the game. Now I sit back and wonder if the dumb things I did like drawing in the dirt before batting or chewing the same flavor of gum in each game, actually gave me some special powers or good luck. No, it’s all just part of a mind game now that I look back on it because if drawing in the dirt with my bat and chewing the same flavor of gum was all that powerful, I would have eventually received a college baseball scholarship somewhere right? There were no special powers in that dirt or gum.

On one fall day, I touched Howard’s Rock in Clemson’s Death Valley, took a deep breath, and away I went down the hill. I really didn’t feel any special powers. What I did experience, was a near bone breaking experience as I tumbled halfway down. Thank God the stadium was empty and no one was around to see my version of “stop, drop, and roll.”

I got to walk down the tunnel at Turner Field and touch the 1995 World Champion sign like the Braves do before entering the field. I felt no special powers doing that either. What I almost got was a trip to the Braves first aid training facility after nearing getting hit in the head with a batting practice foul ball while walking through the Braves dugout. Thank God for a famous voice from legendary manager Bobby Cox and his “Heads up” yell to me, otherwise I would have received a “KO.”

While neither of my entrances into these two arenas was for playing purposes of course, I still somehow missed the magical feelings that many of the players feel after going those rituals. I was excited being there, but I experienced just the opposite. So I raise the question; do those superstitious powers really help in sports? We’ve all heard of the different rituals that players go through; some disgusting and some as simple as not stepping on the foul line when running onto the field.

For me in Little League, aside from drawing in the dirt and chewing the same flavor gum each time, wearing a batting glove with two of the fingers from the glove missing was a charm. For some major leaguers like Vladimir Guerrero, having players spit on his batting helmet and then rubbing extra pine tar on top gave him extra luck. Former Boston Red Sox Nomar Garciaparra, known as the human rain delay, would step out of the batters’ box after each pitch to adjust his sweatbands and batting gloves giving him an extra feeling of comfort or power. Major League pitcher Turk Wendell had several superstitions to help his psyche during games.  Wendell would brush his teeth between innings. I don’t know about power in teeth brushing but I’m sure he has very clean teeth. He even wore a necklace that consisted of teeth from animals he killed. Players put their uniforms on the same way each time hoping that superstition would bring luck. Caron Butler of the National Basketball Association always drinks Mountain Dew from a two liter bottle before each game. And then there was my favorite former Detroit Tiger Mark Fidrych who would talk to the baseball telling it where to cross the plate. He would also build mounds of dirt on the pitcher’s mound.

Superstitions and the hope that they bring luck is all part of sports.  So next time when at Raider Field, if you see softball coach Doug Kesler rubbing the head of a redheaded kid before games or you see football coach Chris Smith chewing blades of grass while coaching, remember that superstitions are all part of the game.    

Memories from a former little leaguer

My column published on this week's sports page of the Madison County Journal. www.mainstreetnews.com

By Dallas Bordon

Deep into the heart of baseball season and Little League All-Stars, I find myself drifting way back to my days of playing Little League baseball. I start to recall the way some things have changed such as the different types of bat bags, uniform pants that go all the way down to your cleats, high priced bats, the black-out worn under the eyes and many more things that seem to be popular now. I don’t remember putting so much emphasis on using a certain type of bat. If it felt good and we could swing it, we would use it every time. If we couldn't find a hit in a certain bat we would simply search the dugout until we found one that would. We didn't care about brand names or styles of cleats, sweatbands, or batting gloves; we used what felt comfortable and sometimes superstitions had a lot to do with what we used. I once used a batting glove for two seasons that had two fingers torn off just because I thought it gave me luck and no matter how stupid it looked, I didn't care. Back before the long style of baseball pants were introduced, we wore the elastic leg bottom pants that would go long enough to cover our knees. We also didn't wear the solid color socks or the socks that had the stirrup stripe made into the sock. We had the old fashion stirrup sock that was a separate sock we pulled over our white sock. They were aggravating at times because the stirrup part of the sock would come out of our shoe and would dangle behind our ankles at times. And eye blackout? Most of us never even knew what that was. The only black-out we sported under our eyes would come from getting hit in the eye by the ball. 

There are similarities today that exist from my days in little league. I remember what each game meant to us and how we would carry bragging rights with us to school each day after a win. Even though my coaches would try to instill in us that win or lose, it’s just a game and we should have fun playing the game. To us guys on the team, we found ways to disagree; to us it was more than just a game.  When I think about playing baseball growing up, my thoughts go back to those days away from little league. It was a league and a game played between the neighborhood kids where we would often find any open field or someone’s back yard to invade. We would choose teams the best we could and usually the worst players always were selected last. While living in South Carolina, my house was always the “home” stadium. We had the largest backyard and even had baselines drawn with white chalk-powder we purchased from the local sporting goods store down the street. We even played the old famous game of pickle, sometimes called “hot box” where we would lay out two of my dad’s old car mats, put a defensive person at each base and two runners on the two bases. The game was then played with the runners running between the two bases trying to avoid getting tagged out. The person tagged out became the defensive player. The games of “pickle” and those neighborhood backyard baseball games turned my parent’s yard into our neighborhood sandlot. It was a place where we mimicked baseball heroes and a place where bragging rights meant more to us than any kind of trophy. It was a place we grew to love the game of baseball and played every chance we had on that chalked base-lined backyard. It was a place that will hold memories never to be forgotten. It was our field, our time, and we played without parents getting mad at coaches or us for the mistakes we made on that field. And regardless of the styles of pants, cleats, and bats we used back then and the fact that not a one of us now recall who won what or when, we had fun and it was just a game.

Westbrook: from MC Little Leaguer to 100-game winner

Column posted in The Madison County Journal May 9th, issue

Jake Westbrook is pictured with
Grayson Hix following a team
practice.

By Dallas Bordon

Somewhere in the yard of Cauthen and Joan Westbrook, you might be able to find some sort of diamond. Not the kind that you see in a jewelry store and not even one of value — except to the Westbrook family.

On this homemade diamond some 26 years ago, a young fellow by the name of “Jake” was being taught different pitches as well as the fundamentals of the great American game of baseball. Whatever teaching tools the elder Westbrook used seemed to be successful in setting a foundation for the once Little League all-star player, Red Raider, and now a Major Leaguer Jake Westbrook.

At the age of 35, Jake Westbrook has reached his 100th career major league win. After 259 starts, 1,664.2 innings pitched, Westbrook reached the mark he has always wanted to reach.

“A hundred wins for me is a sign of longevity and kind of grinding it out year after year,” Westbrook said. “It’s definitely not 300, but for me it was a goal of mine. It’s something I’ll always have with me.” After two previous attempts this season at reaching win number 100, Westbrook got what he wanted. St. Louis jumped out to a 6-0 lead and held on to defeat the Milwaukee Brewers last week, giving Jake his 100th professional career win.

Jake is in his 17th year of professional baseball, four of which he played in the minors. He received the call to the show in 2000, sporting the pinstripes of the New York Yankees. His first stint in the majors was a bumpy visit with a 0-2 record and an earned run average of 13.50.

Four years later with the Cleveland Indians, Westbrook turned the tables and posted a 14-9 record with a 3.38 earned run average, earning him a spot on the American League all-star roster. His earned run average that season of 2004 poised him at number three in the American League with the lowest ERA. He ranked eighth in 2004 and 2005 in the American League with 14 wins in ’04 and 15 wins in ’05.

Perhaps his most memorable moment came in 2011 as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals where he was the winning pitcher of game six in what is said to be one of the best World Series games ever. Needless to say, he now owns a World Series ring, quite an accomplishment for a kid who went from pitching in his parents’ yard with dad/coach Cauthen to a major leaguer and hometown star.

Westbrook’s time in the majors hasn’t been without rough times. Drafted with the 21st pick in the first round of the 1996 amateur draft by the Colorado Rockies organization, Westbrook made his Major League debut with a short stint for the Yankees in 2000. He made only five starts in 2008 and 2009 following Tommy John surgery on his right elbow but returned from the injury that is known for some as a career ending injury. In two different seasons, he has been on the disabled list, with the most recent stint caused by a strained oblique muscle that ended his season early last year. He has battled the ups and downs of a major league baseball career and is on path to have what might be his best season to date. “One of the luxuries I have is that my ball still moves,” Westbrook said. “Lots of times, whether it goes where I want it to or not, it still runs down in the zone. It still can be good, and I can have some success.”

As for the youth recreation and Little League ball players in Madison County, he’s pretty much a hero. He never forgets the path that was paved for him to where he is today. He’s a humble person and enjoys working with the kids who are playing recreation department sports and little league ball players teaching them the things he once learned with his dad in the yard. Taylor Garrison Hix, whose son Grayson plays baseball in the Recreation Department’s program, appreciates Westbrook’s efforts with the kids.

“I love how Jake takes time out with all the kids at the recreation department, such a great guy,” said Hix.

Westbrook fondly remembers his days playing in Madison County.

“I just remember how fun it used to be playing sports growing up,” said Westbrook. “Whether it was football, baseball, or basketball, it just seemed like there was always something to play year round. And as a little boy what else would I rather be doing? Playing with and against my friends and cousins was a lot of fun.”

On March 28, 2008 Raider baseball coach Charlie Griffeth and Madison County High School retired Jake’s number 12 as a reward for the records he set as a Red Raider. A little leaguer turned professional, Westbrook has reached yet another goal: a 100th career win.

“It’s always been a goal of mine to get to 100, and it’s good to get it done,” Westbrook said.

As for the elder Westbrook, Cauthen, you can find him spending time in his yard with his grandchildren — probably teaching them those same fundamentals of baseball. 

Career Stats on Westbrook (as of May 4) 

Wins: 100 Losses: 96 

ERA: 4.23 Games played: 299 Games started: 259 Complete Games 15 Shutouts: 4 

Innings pitched; 1,664.2 Hits: 858 Earned runs: 783 Home runs allowed: 141 Hit batters: 59 

Walks 538 Stirkeouts 939 2013 Stats Wins: 2 

Losses: 1 

ERA: 1.07 Games: 5 

Games started: 5 

Innings pitched: 33.2 Hits allowed: 30 Runs: 5 

Earned: 4 

Home runs allowed: 0 

Walks: 17 

Strikeouts: 18