The children and families of Catoosa County have one man in particular to thank for the recreation opportunities now afforded to them: Jack Mattox.
Mattox passed away June 6 at the age of 89, and is remembered as the man who created the county's Parks and Recreation Department, as well as for organizing Catoosa's first-ever Special Olympics events, all while starting with nearly nothing to work with.
"Our office was as big as a closet," Suzanne Durham, Mattox's administrative assistant of 18 years, recalled of the department's humble beginnings. "We had two desks, three chairs and a coffee pot. Not a lot to go off."
Mattox's primary goal throughout his tenure with the county, which ended in 1999, was providing safe opportunities for local children to have fun and play. That was exemplified with Camp Catoosa, a summer camp for underprivileged kids. Mattox created it and hired college students to work as camp counselors during their summer breaks.
Although there was a fee attached with attending the summer camp, Durham said it was frequently waived so a child could go.
"Some could pay $20 a week, and some could pay nothing. We turned a blind eye to 99 percent of it," she said. "All Jack wanted was for the kids to have an opportunity to go to camp."
Over time, as the program grew little by little each year, Durham said they were able to make small gains such as purchasing sports equipment here and there and offering a bit more at the summer camp. What stands out the most, she said, was his earnestness in running the Special Olympics in the county.
When Jim Forester with the Catoosa school district approached Mattox in the 1970s about organizing a local Special Olympics, he said it didn't seem likely that the schools would do anything with it.
"Jack immediately said yes," said Durham. "He didn't bat an eye. He thought it was a wonderful idea."
Durham said in addition to getting all the paperwork in order, she and Mattox personally wrote letters and made calls to professional athletes, asking them to come down to Ringgold as a treat for the Special Olympics participants.
"He'd get a few to come out to the schools every year and visit with the kids before the Special Olympics," said Dennis Johnson, the man who eventually replaced Mattox as the Parks and Rec director in 1999 after working with him in the 1970s as a coach with the school district.
"They would bring cards and sign them for the kids. That's what it was all about for him: the kids," Johnson said.
Johnson said Mattox put him in a position to succeed following Mattox's retirement in 1999, but Mattox never really left. Any time there was a birthday party or outing for Parks and Recreation employees, Mattox and his wife Nina would always be there with smiles on their faces.
"He showed me guidance rather than just handing it [the department] off to me and saying, 'Here, it's yours,'" said Johnson. "He was the type of person to make sure you had everything you needed. I can't say enough good things about him. He was one of a kind."
Now, as new generations of players take the field at the Jack Mattox Recreation Complex, or as families relax at the Jack Mattox Park Pavilion, they will learn the name of the man who made it all possible.