There are not many places to eat that have been around longer than Connie Hay, but he and his wife, Naomi, just got back from one in southwestern Tennessee.
The Harrison residents were there Tuesday for a reunion lunch with members of the girls' basketball team Connie coached to a 28-2 record at Fayette County High School in Somerville in 1952-53. Bozo's Hot Pit Bar-B-Q in nearby Mason, Tenn., was a hot spot then and remains popular, so it was a natural place for the team's surviving players and their coach to congregate for a 62-year reunion.
"We had a marvelous time, and they did, too," Hay said Wednesday night. "But they all had changed their hair color. They had all different colors of hair back then; now they all have white."
So does their coach, who turns 91 on Aug. 12. He was born in 1924. Bozo's opened a year earlier.
One of the players on that Fayette County team went on a date with Hay - to watch his brother play college basketball - after she had moved on to Lambuth College and he had gone on to Boy Scout work in Jackson, Tenn., and then she introduced him to one of her Lambuth friends. That was Naomi, who has been married to him for 59 years and was a longtime elementary school teacher in Hamilton County.
The Hays live on a Harrison street that bends behind Central High School, where their son Tracey played football in the 1970s and their daughter Janet was a cheerleader. Since then they have been ardent boosters of Central and particularly the football Purple Pounders.
Connie, who played football at Mississippi State despite weighing less than 135 pounds, began serving as a volunteer coach for the Pounders in 1994, at the invitation of then-coach Mike Collier Jr., and has helped through a long series of head coaches since. Hay also is a persistent fundraiser, and an annual golf tournament producing money for the Central football team is named for him. He's also the honorary chair along with longtime PGA touring pro Gibby Gilbert for the school's annual alumni-association-sponsored Hall of Fame tournament set for Oct. 2 at Bear Trace at Harrison Bay.
Hay doesn't do on-field coaching as in the past, but he still makes frequent appearances at the Pounders' practice field, and they're appreciated.
"Last year was my first year on the Central staff, but I've been hanging around Connie for years," said new Central head coach Gary Bloodsaw, who was the offensive coordinator last year after heading teams for a long time at next-door Brown Middle School. "He's definitely an inspiration - he's an inspiration to me. I'm definitely glad to have him around."
"It's amazing what he can do at his age. His mind is still as sharp as a tack. Even after he quit driving (when he turned 90), his wife drives him up here and he watches practice for a while, and he talks with the kids and makes jokes with them, and he fires them up. He really shows concern about the kids and this program."
Finley King is going into his eighth year as principal at Central, his alma mater, and he was an assistant principal four years before that.
"Connie Hay is part of the fabric at Central High School, and Naomi is a big part of the community, too. She was my third-grade teacher," King said. "They live so close, they both say they can hear my announcements in the morning, and not a week goes by that I don't get a call from Connie or see him in my office. And I love that. I love seeing him come by.
"He's got a heart for kids that's amazing. Last year Connie was a true mentor for one of our kickers and spent a lot of time talking to him. It was so cool to see a 17-year-old and a 90-year-old develop a relationship like that."
Hay had a brief stay in the U.S. Army at age 18 in 1943. Then he went to Mississippi State, where after a standout high school career in Blytheville, Ark., he had to talk the football coach into letting him walk on - but within two weeks had earned a full scholarship.
"I was a tailback. I played at 118 pounds in high school and was 124 as a freshman. I got up to 134 by my sophomore year," Hay recalled of his Bulldogs career with the coach-given nickname "Alfalfa" Hay. "I never got hurt, except I lost three teeth, but that was because we didn't have faceguards then.
"I didn't play a lot, but I did enough to pay for my education."
He was a high school coach for four years in four towns - moving for small raises from Wynne, Ark., to Vicksburg, Miss., to Truman, Tenn. (as the football head coach), and then to Somerville. He then got into full-time Boy Scout work, beginning with three years in Jackson and six years each in Memphis and Dothan, Ala. He then joined the national staff in Dallas with specific responsibility for a large section of Texas.
Then came three years in Cape Girardeau, Mo., and two in Little Rock, Ark., before the Hays moved to Chattanooga in 1973.
"I told Naomi one morning that I believe this is a great place to raise our family. I loved it and still do," Connie said.
"I always had a deep interest in developing boys. That's why I went into career scouting. But I retired from the Scouts 26 years ago at age 65, and I told Naomi, 'I've got too much energy.' That's why I loved it when Mike Collier talked to me about helping the football team."
Donors such as Cleveland businessman John Holden Jr., a 1959 Central graduate, are well aware of Hay's persuasive abilities. And they've been seeing "this is our final campaign" for several years but aren't surprised that he keeps extending that. Hay had a heart attack when he was 75 and is limited by hip problems now, but he's not ready to step aside yet.
"He's just got a passion for Central High School - more than anybody I've ever seen," Holden said. "He's loved the school ever since his kids went there, and he wants to make it better for the community. He's a very interesting gentleman."
Said Coach Bloodsaw: "Central is never going to be the same when he's not around."
Contact Ron Bush at rbush@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6291.