Sharing Some Heart-Felt Condolences & Personal Matters As The New Year Begins
Billy Baker
Publisher
Moncks Corner — Elsewhere in this issue the HSSR has released both our 2023 Spring All-state teams from Spring sports, and our Fall all-state teams from the various sports sanctioned by the SCHSL and SCISA, two outstanding organizations who govern the athletic programs at our public schools, charter schools, and private schools in the Palmetto state.
Before I write about what is on my mind, I would like to extend deep, really deep, condolences and heartfelt sympathy to the family of Dr. Spencer Jordan of Manning S.C. Dr. Jordan had spent nearly six years as the Executive Director of SCISA where the organization experienced unprecedented growth under his leadership.
His passing in early January, from cancer, truly shocked me because Dr. Jordan looked very healthy when we talked for quite some time at the SCISA state football championships held at Charleston Southern back in mid-November.
He even thanked the thousands of people who had been praying for him in his Welcome Letter published in the SCISA championship program at the games. He indicated to me that the cancer was in remission and that he was feeling much better. It certainly appeared that he had defeated the dreaded disease of cancer.
Never in my recent memory have I attended both a “Visitation and a Funeral” in the same 24-hour period, but I did to honor the life of a truly decent and God fearing American. Mr. Jordan was one of those rare individuals who was totally out-front in his mission to make our world better one child at the time. While he loved athletics, he also embraced his passion for the need for our children to be educated, to be prepared for the challenges of the real world just ahead of them.
Dr. Jordan’s funeral service was actually tape recorded for viewing. I would encourage “one and all” to go online, perhaps through SCISA.org and listen to the words of Rev. Wilder and Rev. Lowder as they gave comfort to the family, and the 1,200 people packed into a large community auditorium in Manning. The words of Mr. Jordan’s brother, talking about his love for “my baby brother” pierced the hearts and minds of everyone in attendance.
You might think you have a problem or two, or a challenge or two, and we all have to survive in this competitive world, but I say be truly thankful to God if you are blessed with good health. Dr. Jordan, who also pastored two churches, went to be with his Lord and Savior at the young age of 55. Please keep his family in your thoughts and prayers.
Closer to my own heart, and this is truly a private family issue, my beloved fiancé of 15 years, Berna Noll, had a stroke on December, 29. I was out of town working when it happened and she could not remember what had happened, but I knew something was not quite right. We went to the emergency room and she was admitted to the hospital where an MRI verified what had happened.
Her children came up for a few days from Tampa, Florida to comfort her, and help me bring her home from the hospital. We enjoyed four days of a lot of love being shared at our home in Moncks Corner. Between Berna’s stroke and my great friend Spencer Jordan getting “Called Home” home way too early, it has been a challenging month for me personally. Berna is doing much better now and she is finally able to drive a car once again. Glory to be God in all matters!
This deadline for the HSSR publication has been challenging but somehow God gave me the strength to pull through it. These 18-hour deadline days can be taxing on a 69-year-old man, but I have a passion for what I do, and I sincerely feel like God has blessed me to have created and sustained the only publication of its kind in the United States. If I live long enough to write a Memoir book, you will understand, in great detail, the role that God, and his Son, Jesus Christ have played in my life, and how they led me to the University of South Carolina School of Journalism where I graduated in 1977.
I was going to talk, in detail, about a path for the HSSR to once again conduct statewide all-state sports banquets to honor the hard work of our beloved student athletes, and coaches, all across South Carolina. Space is always an issue, on deadline, so I will limit my thoughts for now.
Between 1988, and the year 2020, the HSSR sponsored nearly 100 all-state banquets, honoring an estimated 100,000 student athletes and coaches in our state with beautiful keepsake awards and positive messages from keynote speaker like Bobby Richardson, Lou Holtz, Dabo Swinnie, Steve Spurrier, Phillip Fulmer, Dawn Staley, etc. Think about that for a minute. A 100,000 people are quite a large group that surely have positive memories of being honored for their own investment in the positive world of high school athletics.
We live in the greatest country in the world, so why should we allow the Pandemic, and the price increases of awards, and meals for the banquets stand in our way of restarting all-state banquets in the near future? Perhaps it is time to turn the HSSR awards banquets into a 501-C foundation so pro athletes, past and present, can stroke a check to take care of all banquet expenses! Would they rather give the money to the IRS, or take a tax deduction on their donation??
Could Jadaveon Clowney, Darius Leonard, or Zion Williamson etc. afford to help sponsor all-state banquets, and even serve as keynote speakers? They were all once honored at HSSR all-state banquets and certainly benefited from the statewide media coverage we gave their high school careers.
The bottom line is the HSSR will never personally charge an honoree to attend an awards banquet. Honorees will never need a guest ticket at a banquet being held in their honor. Never! Their ticket is the name badge they proudly wear during the event.
The Pandemic caused the exclusive “one of kind” awards company in Pennsylvania to double the cost of their awards! The Pandemic has forced Seawalls Catering in Columbia to have a 25 per cent increase in the meals they serve on fine China with pressed cloth napkins!
So, please write me with your ideas, or suggestions on how “We” (as a community) can pay the “not for profit costs” of having such worthwhile, and meaningful all-state banquets. My address is PO Box, 1607 Goose Creek, SC 29445. You can also call me direct at 843-200.9555.
Your thoughts and opinion are appreciated. Sadly, a $50 guest ticket will no longer cover the cost of these all-state banquets. How we at the HSSR were able to pay $100,000 per year to conduct these 100 all-state banquets, (three per year), as I look back, is truly an act from God!
About us
Recognizing the achievements of young athletes in South Carolina since 1986.