Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/866745
O u r T e a m P r o u d l y S u p p o r t s O u r L o c a l F o o t b a l l T e a m s ! 7 PREP RALLY: Class 7A THURSDAY, AUGUST 31, 2017 "Maybe the biggest ministry I could have is exactly what I'm doing now," Dawson said. "I get to affect a lot of peo- ple at a lot of different places." Dawson loves his family and gives a ton of credit for his success to his wife, Karen, and children, Rachel and Luke, who'll graduate from Ouachita Baptist University this spring. He said they've always been very involved in everything and a major part of everything they do. Most of all, people say Dawson prac- tices what he preaches. "We had a cuss bucket that he nev- er had to put any money into. And, of course, there were several others of us who contributed," said Mike Stokes. Stokes gave Dawson his first coaching gig as an assistant at Hampton, where Dawson also was head coach of the ju- nior high team. Stokes recalls Dawson once making the star player "run an un- godly amount of laps" because of regular tardiness to practice. The star received the message and wasn't late again. "It did as much or more for the rest of the team because it showed them that even the best players were going to be treated like everyone else," Stokes re- called. Dawson returned the favor when he was head coach at Sheridan by hiring Stokes as an assistant. There, Stokes said the Yellowjackets won a lot of games they weren't supposed to win because of Dawson's ability to bring the best out of players by getting them to play harder than they've ever played before. "He would make a speech each day before practice," Stokes said. "And by the end, I was ready to go out on the field and hit somebody. He was so motivational v Continued from preceding page "Maybe the biggest ministry I could have is exactly what I'm doing now. I get to affect a lot of people at a lot of different places." — Fayetteville football coach Billy Dawson NWA Democrat-Gazette photo illustration/ DAVID GOTTSCHALK Fayetteville foot- ball coach Billy Dawson speaks Aug. 2 during prac- tice with his team at Harmon Stadi- um. See DAWSON, Page 8