Blount County Heroes

Don became head coach for the underdog team at Oneonta High. He was overqualified, it was a gutsy career move. They were a group who hadn't made it far in the playoffs. Nobody expected much from Oneonta.

It’s a sunny day. Coach Don Jacobs kneels by two headstones. Both bear his last name. On the left: his late daughter, Sarah Jacobs—she died too young. He cries.

Men like Don Jacobs do not cry.

Don played for Bear Bryant. Starting quarterback. Late ‘70’s dream-team. He helped Alabama take the ‘79 national championship.

He was a young man when Bryant first said to him—in a trademarked Biblical voice: “Ain’t what happens to you in life, son, but how you deal with it.”

Don’s life was a good one. After college, he had a promising career in coaching. A talented leader. A good family. Then, one of his daughters died. She was fourteen. Beautiful. Smart.

Her car was found twisted around a telephone pole. Everything changed.

Life went on. Don bounced the small-town high-school football circuit like a pinball. Luverne, Robertsdale, Coosa County, Elkmont. A faceless local hero, teaching basic drills to boys barely old enough to shave.

He taught patience, morality, and fight slogans favored by coaches across rural America. Such as: “When you win, nothing hurts.”

Or: “Winners never quit, and quitters never win.”

Or: “‘Ain’t what happens to you in life, but how you deal with it.”

Don became head coach for the underdog team at Oneonta High. He was overqualified, it was a gutsy career move. They were a group who hadn’t made it far in the playoffs. Nobody expected much from Oneonta.

Then, his wife got pregnant.

It was bliss. Euphoria, even. But his excitement was short-lived. Their son, Joe, was born with a hole in his heart.

I don’t know whether Don was angry at God, but he had every right to be.

He spent most of his days in a Birmingham hospital, the rest on the turf. His team should have started to fall apart. It didn’t.

“It was the opposite,” says his wife. “The players pulled for our baby, prayed for him. They even dedicated the season to him.”

Say what you will about small towns.

Don’s baby died. It should have been the end of the world. But Don’s boys weren’t about to let that happen.

His flock of Blount County fighters started playing like their helmets were on fire. They had new spirit. They hollered a little harder during pep-talks.

And so did Don.

Players wore decals on helmets to honor baby Joe. They pointed toward heaven when they scored. They made state finals. Today, Oneonta has four titles. Four.

But this isn’t about football at all. It’s about something else.

“I guess I needed them, more than they needed me,” says Don. “They loved me… They helped me through this. So much love.”

Today, in Green Hills Memorial Cemetery, baby Joe and Sarah Jacobs rest. Children of an Alabama quarterback. Heir to the small-town legend who still grieves them—a man you might never hear about.

I guess it’s not what happens to you in life, but…

Well, you know the rest.

19 comments

  1. Sandra Marrar - March 20, 2017 10:31 am

    Another touching story!

    Reply
  2. Cherryl Shiver - March 20, 2017 10:59 am

    WOO HOO!!! To have been one of The Bear’s boys. Oh, my….the wisdom that man spread. He is what paved the ground for what Bama is today, in my eyes,….and I remember when Joe Willie played.

    Reply
  3. Michael Bishop - March 20, 2017 12:13 pm

    A love story with so many roots, tendrils, and intertwinings that it isn’t finally about football at all, although it springs from and grows in football’s soil. And also the South’s. And maybe, let’s hope, in the fertile loam of our humanity.

    Reply
  4. Priscilla S. Adkisson - March 20, 2017 12:15 pm

    Sean, your stories (of real people, places and “life”) are touching and inspiring.
    Thank you for sharing them for all of us to read. I look forward to them each day.
    PSA

    Reply
  5. Judy - March 20, 2017 12:41 pm

    I don’t understand why his daughter would be driving at 14 years of age?

    Reply
    • Jess - March 24, 2017 12:50 am

      The car wasn’t hers, he’s referring to the car she was riding in.

      Reply
    • Sherry - March 25, 2017 4:23 am

      Sarah wasn’t driving. She was a passenger. She was such a sweet, quick witted young girl! She was a student of mine. If I needed something done, she was my right hand. It was such a tragedy!

      Reply
  6. Jennifer Tran-Reno - March 20, 2017 1:09 pm

    Please sign me up for new postings.

    Reply
  7. Sam Hunneman - March 20, 2017 2:16 pm

    And what shall we do with this new day? Whatever it is, it’s now with more awareness.
    Thanks.

    Reply
  8. mary wilson - March 20, 2017 3:57 pm

    Beautiful. So many unrecognized heros that shape us. God bless him.

    Reply
  9. Susie Munz - March 20, 2017 6:18 pm

    How you deal with it is key to the rest of your life.

    Reply
  10. Peggy Boggus - March 20, 2017 7:22 pm

    I look forward every day to reading your stories…..even if I read nothing else on my e-mail. I read them outloud to my husband when we are riding. You are gifted in seeing into the souls of people and sharing that gift with us!

    Reply
  11. Larry Jarrett - March 21, 2017 3:33 am

    Love stories like this that demonstrate certain principles in life. My secular philosophy: In life, you get exactly what you are willing to tolerate. My Religious Philosophy: Life is a gift from that which makes all of life and what we do with that gift is our gift to that which gave us life.

    Reply
  12. June Roulaine Phillips - May 21, 2017 9:22 am

    Many thoughts ramble across my mind after reading yet another gem. Sadness and heartache way lays a person…sucker punches them. You either wallow in self pity, rolling around in the pieces of our broken hearts or you pull yourself up from the depths of despair, still broken but stronger, bruised and battered but living life with a deeper appreciation and love that you never knew existed. You live not so much for yourself but for our loveed ones too.

    Reply
  13. Deanna J - May 21, 2017 12:56 pm

    RTR, what a wonderful life story, you are the best!!

    The post about Grove Hill , Was wonderful a real hit on FB page!
    Thanks!

    Reply
  14. Ben Smith - May 21, 2017 2:23 pm

    Well as always a great story. It makes me thank about a story of life.
    No matter how many times you get knocked down. Always stand back up. Because your going to get knocked down it’s what you do when you stand back up that counts.

    Reply
  15. Karla Hyde Toben - May 21, 2017 10:16 pm

    I guess Oneonta just attracts football coaches with integrity. My dad grew up in Oneonta many years ago. He went to school at Blount County High School. His family was poor, so he often had to miss school when it was time to work the fields. During football season the coach would come out to the fields and bring to the school for him to play. I will always remember what my dad told me his coach taught him. “A true man will always hold his head and shoulders up high, and will always look a person in the eye when addressing him”. My dad is now 88, and still recalls the lesson his coach taught him.

    Reply
  16. Cynthia Rich - May 23, 2017 12:01 am

    Love reading Sean of the South ……thank you.

    Reply
  17. Charaleen Wright - April 19, 2019 4:19 am

    Reply

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