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Sisco Fun al Chapel 705 W. Meadow • Springdale, AR 479-751-4577 • www.siscofuneral.com good luck teams! 6 PREP RALLY: Class 7A THURSDAY, AUGUST 31, 2017 F AY E T T E V I L L E — Children's books are a key to Billy Dawson's success. The first-year Fayette- ville football coach has been motivating teen- agers with everything from "By My Broth- er's Side" by Tiki and Ronde Barber to the classic "The Little Engine That Could." I t ' s w o r k e d wo n d e r s . H e 's w o n f o u r s t a t e championships, in- cluding three at Nash- ville and one last season at 6A Russellville. He's 175-54 as a head coach and has never lost in a state cham- pionship game. Most of all, he gets people — espe- cially his players — to love him and to love playing hard for him. His players gave the new coach a "ringing endorse- ment" last season. "It was kind of funny seeing big ol' senior offensive linemen walking around wearing silver bells last season," said Al Ray Taylor, minister of music at Second Baptist Church in Russellville. "The Polar Express" is a book and movie (starring Tom Hanks) about a boy who was pessimistic about Santa Claus and the North Pole. Santa gives the boy a silver bell, and the premise was "the bell only rings for those who truly believe." It may seem like an odd choice for high school football players, but it con- vinced the Cyclones to believe they could ring a state championship bell in December. That's quite an accomplish- ment for a program that had won just 15 games in the previous five seasons before Dawson took over. "They started thinking and believing, 'Why not us? Why not now?'" Taylor said. Dawson isn't sure which book he'll share with the Bulldogs this postseason but admits lessons learned from each book are not just for the players. "It gets me every year," said Dawson, a 1985 Bentonville High graduate. "It's always a good message and a good re- minder of some things we maybe take for granted, like last year with 'The Polar Express'. It doesn't matter what everybody says. The belief comes from within. Believing in your family and be- lieving in the process." Those who know Dawson best say he's an excellent communicator and master motivator, whether he's encour- aging from the sidelines or from the pul- pit. He left coaching for two years to serve as a minister at Immanuel Baptist Church in Nashville. While at Russellville, he doubled as the Cyclones' football coach and a full- time pastor at Second Baptist, where he gave his last sermon in July. He said he returned to coaching because he missed the competitiveness and camaraderie with the players, the staff and their fami- lies, and because he could reach an even wider audience. MIKE CAPSHAW NWA DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE MASTER MOTIVATOR Fayetteville coach Dawson connects with players NWA Democrat-Gazette/DAVID GOTTSCHALK Fayetteville's Billy Dawson works with his team Aug. 2 during practice at Harmon Sta- dium. NWA Democrat-Gazette photo illustration/ DAVID GOTTSCHALK Fayetteville football players say they are inspired to work hard for coach Billy Daw- son. v Continued on next page