There are coaches, and then there are those in the profession who are pioneers. Bobby Beckett would fit the mold of the latter.

His multi-sport coaching career has spanned four decades, including two back-to-back baseball state titles at Cherokee County in 1980 and 1981. He’s coached numerous athletes who have played at the collegiate level, and three of his baseball players (Greg Jelks, Shawn Covington and Patrick Jelks) went on to play professionally. Beckett also holds the distinctions of coaching five different sports in Cherokee County (baseball, football, boys and girls basketball and track).

Beckett also established several athletic programs throughout his coaching career at Ragland, Cherokee County and Gaylesville, and he’s still involved with coaching today as a football defensive coordinator at Chattooga County, Ga.

For his lasting impression on Cherokee County athletics, Beckett has been selected to become part of the Cherokee County Hall of Fame.

“It is one of the most exciting things to ever happen to me,” Beckett said of his induction into the hall. “I know just about everybody who’s in it, and all of them are high-class individuals. I feel honored just to be anywhere near them.”

Beckett is one of four inductees to the hall. He is joined by former Sand Rock and Jacksonville State basketball player Earl Cleland, former Spring Garden basketball player Tim Cronan and former Cherokee County basketball and track standout Mike Stimpson. The Class of 2008 will be inducted into the Cherokee County Hall of Fame on Saturday at 6 p.m. at the Recreational Outreach Center in Centre.

After playing three sports at Winterboro High School in Talladega and college baseball at Southern Union Community College in Wadley, Beckett went on to become a head coach in the early 1970s at Ragland High School.

It didn’t take long for him to make an impression, as his first Purple Devil baseball team finished as state runner-up to Thomasville in 1971 in Class1A-2A.

After his stint at Ragland, Beckett moved to Cherokee County High School in 1975. He served as an assistant football coach from1975-91 and began the school’s baseball program, where he was head baseball coach from 1976-90. During that time, Beckett led the Warriors to back-to-back baseball state championships in 1980 and 1981.

“He’s been the most influential person in Cherokee County as far as baseball goes,” said former Cherokee County football coach Bobby Joe Johnson. “He was really innovative. He was a heck of a defensive coach (in football), too. He’s just a super-great coach who’s very motivated. I can’t say enough good things about him.

“He was a pleasure for me to work with, and I think the world of him. He’s the best baseball coach this county could ever think about having.”

In addition to starting up the baseball program at Ragland, Beckett was also instrumental in starting the girls basketball program at Cherokee County in 1975. He coached the Lady Warriors until 1978, of which his teams had two winning seasons, one of which came within a game of making the state tournament.

Beckett also had two stints as boys basketball coach at Cherokee County (1981-83 and 1988-91). The 1981-82 team won the Cherokee County Tournament while the 1988-89 team went 17-7 and captured a berth in the sub-state finals.

Beckett later pioneered the baseball program at Gaylesville (1993-94), and led that team to the state playoffs.

Helping establish those programs is something in which Beckett is very proud, but Beckett is best known for the success he had as baseball coach at Cherokee County.

In addition to the two state titles, the Warriors won four area titles and compiled 168 wins in Beckett’s baseball tenure at Cherokee County.

“I love baseball,” Beckett said. “I’ve played it since I was very small, and when I came here, it was very exciting because baseball was very important to the community.

“I talked to Coach Johnson about being an assistant (on the football team), and when I first came here, there was a baseball game on almost every corner, being played on every field. I thought baseball could and would be good here. We had some great players.”

Of those great players were Covington, Greg Jelks and Patrick Jelks.

“Boo (Greg Jelks) played for the Phillies and he’s with one of their pro organizations now,” Beckett said. “I believe Shawn (Covington) went to Montreal and Patrick went to Boston. It’s exciting to know you had players like that. It’s a phenomenal thing.”

Johnson recalled Beckett’s style of coaching as one that “changed a lot of people’s philosophy on baseball.”

“He was ahead of his time,” Johnson said. “His winning percentage is almost unreal. He taught his players to swing down at the ball. I asked him why and he said when a fastball comes in, it rotates backwards. If you swing down, then you can hit the ball level. He was right.”

Johnson also recalled when the Warriors became the first high school team in Cherokee County to begin using aluminum bats. The bats were well received and helped the Warriors earn back-to-back state titles.

“I can remember when he (Beckett) picked up his first aluminum bat here,” Johnson said. “He said ‘This is the most innovative thing I’ve ever seen. This is going to revolutionize high school baseball.’ We bought three bats that year and carried them with us, and our kids eat it up. The ball would fly off the bat in a hurry.

Beckett also taught Johnson a little about the game, too.

“He’s the first person who told me ‘Don’t just meet the ball, swing for the fence and swing hard,’” Johnson said. “He taught his players to swing the bat hard and play the game hard, but also he played the game fun. He did a great job with them. He always had a good baseball team.”

Johnson also remembers Beckett being a force to be dealt with as an assistant on the football team. As defensive coordinator under Johnson (1975-91), Beckett helped guide the Warriors to a state runner-up finish in Class 4A in 1985.

Both coaches recalled drawing plays on napkins at Huddle House early in the mornings to help their teams prepare for their opponents.

“We won a lot of ball games on those napkins,” Johnson said. “We’d stay there until 1 or 2 in the morning, asking each other what we thought about this and that. He (Beckett) would also take films and broke every play down. If he had three films on a team, he could just about call the play they were going to run.”

One such occasion was a game against Boaz. The Pirates were looking to set the tone early, as they marched down the field and looked as if they would score.

Johnson asked Beckett how the Warriors were going to stop Boaz, and Beckett’s response was prompt.

“He said ‘We’re fixing to do it right here.’ They threw a pass on the next play, and Phillip Abernathy intercepted it and returned it 99 yards for a touchdown. He (Beckett) told him all week he was going to get an interception and he did,” Johnson said.

“That play is the longest interception return for a touchdown in Cherokee County history. It was a complete turnaround for us, and I think we wound up beating them by about 40 points. He really did his homework. He was going to out-work you. By the time Friday nights got there, he knew what he would call in every situation. He did that in baseball too.”

Beckett said he learned a lot about coaching from Johnson.

“It wasn’t just the Xs and Os. It was more about motivating the kids,” Beckett said. “I learned that more than anything else.”

Beckett went on to become head football coach at Gaylesville (1992-93) and then later on became head football coach at Collinsville (1993-97). While at Collinsville, Beckett led the Panthers to a 9-2 record in 1995 and was ranked as high as second in the state football poll. Beckett’s 1997 team finished 7-5 and went to the state quarterfinals.

The Panthers baseball program also flourished with Beckett at the helm. He led Collinsville to three playoff appearances and an area championship from 1995-98.

After his tenure at Collinsville, Beckett went on to become the Warriors head football coach in 1998. That team won the area championship for the first time since 1991 and finished with an 8-3 record.

Beckett has passed his knowledge of coaching to his son, Alan, who is now the head football coach at Collinsville. Beckett still lives in Centre, and he is still involved with coaching football. He serves as the defensive coordinator at Chattooga High School under coach John Starr.

Beckett said this year’s team has the potential to have a good season.

“We have some athletes, but you never know how they’ll react,” Beckett said. “They have some ability, and if they react the right way then we could have a good team.”