By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

 

          Dan Pitts had pretty much no coaching experience when he took over the Mary Persons football program.

          And that first game? It sort of showed. The Bulldogs lost 13-0 to Monticello.

          Then they lost 47-6 to Dublin, and 7-6 to Manchester, and 13-12 to Harris County, and 47-6 to Fort Valley.

          Things got better.

          The first win of the Dan Pitts Era came on Oct. 16, 1959, when Mary Persons beat Henry County 33-21. A whopping 345 wins followed.

          Older fans in Monroe County and throughout Central Georgia and the state will call on memories of many of those wins as they remember Pitts, who died Tuesday morning at the age of 88, having battled stage 4 lung cancer for several months.

          Pitts, who went 346-109-4 in 39 seasons, was a neighbor of current head coach Brian Nelson, who became part of the Mary Persons football community long after Pitts’ final season in 1997. Nelson got off to a much better start than Pitts did, and is an impressive 84-27.

          He’s only 262 wins behind.

          Graveside services are Friday at 11 a.m. at Forsyth City Cemetery.

          Pitts is No. 4 on the Georgia high school coaches wins list, behind Larry Campbell (477-85-3), Alan Chadwick (399-73), and Robert Davis (354-74-1). Dwight Hochstetler is a win behind (345-114-1) and Barney Hester next (340-167-9), just ahead of Ronnie Jones (329-114-3).

          Davis, a legend at Warner Robins and Westside, died in October.

          Pitts is a member of the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame, National High School Sports Hall of Fame, the Georgia Athletic Coaches Association and Monroe County Sports halls of fame.

          He was preceded in death by his wife of 62 years, Mary Lynda, who died in July of 2019.

          Pitts is survived, according to his obituary, by Carolann Pitts Evans (Deck) and Penny Pitts Mitchell (Bob); his grandchildren Anni Evans Horne (Derek), Carl Patrick Burdette, Jr. (Sara), and Daniel Pitts Burdette (Chelsea); his great-grandsons Andrew Pitts Horne, Brantley Vinson Horne, and Skylar Daniel Burdette; sisters Gail Pitts Guillebeau and Ann Pitts Owens both of Augusta; sister-in-law Carolyn Stevenson Link (Bradey) of Cayce, SC; many nieces and nephews and his beloved dog, “Rags.”

          He retired after the 1997 season. The county school system put his name on the football stadium four years later.

          Mary Persons principal Jim Finch was an assistant coach at Peach County for several years before going into administration and taking over in Forsyth in 2007. And his initial impression of Pitts from a distance was a common one.

          Pat Burdette was also on the Trojans staff and suggested the two visit a Mary Persons practice. Finch, who grew up in Commerce, knew about the program and Pitts from afar.

          “Most of the coaches I grew up with were big guys, and they were larger than life,” Finch said. “I can remember looking at his diminutive-type stature. And I was like, ‘Oh man, that’s Dan Pitts? He doesn’t look very big.’”

          Indeed, Pitts had the appearance – and, to a point, off-the-field demeanor – more befitting the kickers coach and social studies teacher than a head coaching legend. Finch saw the latter come out soon into that practice.

          “He paused practice that day, and he told them jokers to get in there – he was in the middle of probably about 80 players – and he was going off,” Finch said. “I’m talking about goin’ off. We were standing up on the hill, and I was like, ‘He has them boys’ attention.’”

          He sure did.

          “They went back to practice,” Finch said, “and they didn’t have a bad practice after that.”

          They didn’t dare.

          Finch didn’t officially meet Pitts until moving to Forsyth as principal in 2007.

          “I actually walked into the fieldhouse after I started working here,” he said. “I see an older gentlemen, I just see him from the back, and he’s doing pull-ups. ‘Who’s that in there doing pull-ups?’ I could tell he was an elderly gentleman.

          “And Coach Walker aid , ‘Oh, that’s Coach Pitts.’ ”

          In his mid 70s, doing pull-ups in the fieldhouse.

          “I was like, ‘wow.’” Finch said, a hint of marvel in his voice. “I remember that.”

          Pitts was a constant on Friday nights at the stadium named after him, making the difficult climb up the straight-up iron ladder steps from the final row of the stands to the press box, and he would sit just outside and watch the Bulldogs.

          Finch said the last game he saw Pitts at was last fall when the Bulldogs hosted Newnan, coached by Chip Walker, whose first job was under Pitts at Mary Persons, in late September.

          Pitts sat on the visitors side, having given up the battle of climbing to his normal perch.

          Nelson on Tuesday afternoon was bouncing around after school between a variety of middle-school athletics events with assorted Mary Persons football staffers coaching.

          Among those with such duties: Pitts grandchildren Dan and Kip Burdette.

          “I told them to take the day off,” Nelson said. “But they’ll be here. Coach Pitts told ‘em, ‘If something happens, you still better go to practice.’”

          Arthur Dan Pitts graduated from Lincolnton High, now Lincoln County, where he played football and baseball, early all-state football honors. He played at South Georgia College, a junior college, and then finished his education at Georgia before starting a stint in the Army with the 8457th military police.

          In the meantime, he married Mary Lynda Stevenson, another Lincolnton grad, and homecoming queen. Two years later, he was a newbie teacher and then coach at Mary Persons.

          Of the 10 opponents in his first season, a brutal 2-8 start to his career, three have long since disappeared: Fort Valley, Hogansville, and Gordon Military College.

          The first win was 33-21 over Henry County, the second 19-6 over rival Jackson two games later.

          Pitts’ second season didn’t start off any better, with losses to Monticello and Morgan County. But a 13-0 win at Jones County jumpstarted things, and the Bulldogs finished 6-4.

          So much for momentum. As staggering as it is to consider now, Dan Pitts has an 0-10 record on his resume. That happened in 1961, when Mary Persons scored all of 76 points.

          The Bulldogs were shut out four times, never scored more than 18 points, and lost three games by 25 points or more, including 50-0 to Morgan County. There were closes losses to Harris County, Gordon Military College, Hogansville, and Jackson.

          But 0-10 is 0-10. The Bulldogs didn’t never sniffed that level of futility again, with only two one more sub-.500 season under Pitts, 4-6 in 1962 and 1965.

          From then on, Mary Persons missed the postseason only in 1973 (despite going 9-1), 1976,1981, and 1990 under Pitts. The Bulldogs won at least eight games in all but three seasons after that 4-6 in 1965.

          Mary Persons and Washington County played 11 times while Pitts coached, the Bulldogs going 7-4. But those losses were in legendary games, all coming in the 1990s, with fans at the 1994 quarterfinal game in Forsyth between No. 3 and No. 1 climbing trees – which no longer exist there – around the stadium to see the action.

          The Golden Hawks won 30-14. And Washington County was Pitts’ final opponent, winning 32-14 in the 1997 Class AA quarterfinal. Pitts retired months later.

Finch didn’t see Pitts in his true element, but has been around long enough to know why Mary Persons became A Program under Pitts.

          “He was notorious for winning with athletes that were less than the team he was playing They ran the triple option, and they probably did that because of smaller kids.”

          Finch noted a part of practice called “10 perfect plays”, which was exactly what it looks like. And Pitts caught everything,

“They wouldn’t go to the next portion of practice until those 10 plays were perfect,” Finch said. “They’d run ‘em and run ‘em and run ‘em and run ‘em, and run ‘em again.

          “That kind of commitment to perfection won people over. He was very meticulous and perfect.”

Dan Pitts year by year

(Georgia High School Football Historians Association)

(Only non-playoff years noted, as well as deep playoff runs)

1997           GHSA 3-AA        11      2       0       8       1        0       347   171    Quarterfinals

1996          GHSA 3-AA        10      2       0       8       1        0       352   136   

1995           GHSA 3-AA        10      2       0       7        1        0       360   128   

1994          GHSA 3-AA        12      1        0       8       0       0       458   120   Quarterfinals

1993          GHSA 4-AA        13      2       0       4       0       0       393   170    Finals

1992          GHSA 4-AA        9       3       0       4       0       0       255   94    

1991           GHSA 4-AA        11      3       0       7        2       0       332   143    Semifinals

1990          GHSA 4-AA        6       4       0       5        4       0       171    101    No postseason

1989          GHSA 4-AA        8       4       0       5        2       0       283   119   

1988          GHSA 4-AA        9       3       0       5        2       0       277   111    

1987           GHSA 3-AA        9       2       0       6       1        0       259   90    

1986          GHSA 3-AA        9       2       0       6       1        0       217    35    

1985           GHSA 3-AA        11      3       0       4       2       0       276   117    Semifinals

1984          GHSA 3-AA        11      4       0       3       3       0       261    119    Finals

1983          GHSA 3-AA        11      1        0       8       0       0       320   64    

1982          GHSA 3-AA        11      4       0       6       2       0       342   135    Finals

1981           GHSA 3-AA W   8       2       0       4       2       0       192    78     No playoffs

1980          GHSA 3-AA W   15      0       0       6       0       0       425   48     Champions

1979           GHSA 3-AA W   13      1        0       4       0       0       340   75      Semifinals

1978           GHSA 3-AA W   11      2       0       3       1        0       380   135    Quarterfinals

1977           GHSA 3-A W      10      2       0       5        0       0       258   102   Quarterfinals

1976           GHSA 3-A W      7        2       1        3       2       0       260   99    

1975           GHSA 3-A N       10      3       0       4       0       0       313    126    Semifinals

1974           GHSA 3-A N       11      1        0       4       0       0       327   103   Quarterfinals

1973           GHSA 2-AA W   9       1        0       6       1        0       272   83     No playoffs

1972           GHSA 2-AA W   9       2       0       7        0       0       229   90    

1971           GHSA 2-AA        8       2       1        5        0       0       176    105   

1970          GHSA 2-AA        7        3       1        4       0       1        206   170   

1969          GHSA 5-B S        8       3       0       5        1        0       265   120  

1968          GHSA 5-B S        9       2       1        5        0       1        234   91      Quarterfinals

1967           GHSA 3-B S        9       1        0       6       1        0       301   73     No playoffs

1966          GHSA 3-B S        8       2       0       5        2       0       223   105    No playoffs

1965           GHSA 3-B S        4       6       0       3       4       0       130   125    No playoffs

1964          GHSA 3-B S        9       2       0       6       1        0       193    74    

1963          GHSA 3-B S        8       2       0       4       1        0       232   85     No playoffs

1962          GHSA 3-B S        4       6       0       2       3       0       142    162    No playoffs

1961           GHSA 3-B S        0       10      0       0       5        0       76     253   No playoffs

1960          GHSA 3-B S        6       4       0       3       2       0       132    152    No playoffs

1959           GHSA 3-B S        2       8       0       1        4       0       96     249   No playoffs