From the desk of Wally Dawkins, Athletic Director:

It was the end of May 2008.

I was facing one of the toughest decisions of my life.  Or so it seemed.

I had just concluded 30 years of teaching and coaching in public schools in Texas.  The last 21 years at Whitehouse where I served as the Head Boys Basketball Coach for 19 seasons.

It was time for a change.  We had a remarkable run at Whitehouse.  19 winning seasons in a row, 15 years in the State Class AAAA playoffs, and in each of my final years we were 31-2 and 31-2.

I had the opportunity at Whitehouse to coach my son in high school.  He was a 1st Team All State Class AAAA Basketball player and signed to play collegiately at NCAA D-1 Texas-Arlington where he finished 3rd as their All-Time Career Assist Leader.

My daughter Dru was graduating in 2008 after being the Captain of the Whitehouse First Ladies Drill Team for two years, and went on to Kilgore College where she was a Rangerette being named Freshman Sergeant her first year and Captain of the Rangerettes her sophomore year.   Both my children started school and finished school at Whitehouse, and my wife was teaching Kindergarten right down the street from WHS at Cain Elementary.

Whitehouse was a great school, but I desperately needed a change.

The problem was…I had options.

My former Assistant Basketball Coach and Principal at Whitehouse, Dr. Chris Moran, was now the Principal of the largest school in Texas, Clear Lake.  He had offered me the job of Girls Athletic Director for the High School campus.  The salary Clear Lake was offering was a lot to turn down, and I had always wanted to try my hand at Athletic Administration (But…it was Houston!).

At the same time, my college roommate Hugh Sandifer, the Athletic Director and Head Football Coach at Abilene Wylie had offered me the Head Basketball position, and I relished the thought of returning to my hometown and rejoining my old college roomie and best friend.  And yes, I do like West Texas.

As I considered these options, I got a phone call one night from Ricky Clements.  Ricky had actually contacted me back in October of 2007 and asked me to consider Brook Hill, if the rumor was true that I might be retiring from Whitehouse at the end of ’08.  Ricky again made a last ditch effort to get me to consider being a member of the Brook Hill Guard as we visited on the phone for probably 30 minutes that evening (those of you who know Ricky…understand this).

After a couple of back and forth phone calls with Ricky, I “relented” and agreed to meet with Ricky and BH Headmaster Rod Fletcher at The Cabin basically under the cover of darkness.  Although I really wasn’t considering the Brook Hill option, Ricky was a longtime friend, and I didn’t think it would hurt to listen.

Then came the struggle.  After meeting with Rod Fletcher that night and twice more, I suddenly found myself “warming” to the idea of coaching at a private school.  I was intrigued by Brook Hill, and everyone I talked to said the same thing.  “Brook Hill has great people”!

Then came the ultimatum.  Mr. Fletcher had been persistent and generous in trying to persuade me to join the Brook Hill Team.  But he needed a decision, and we agreed on the date.

Just as in “House Hunters” on HGTV, Laurie and I sat down, and agreed to eliminate one of our options and decided Clear Lake i.e. Houston, was not a good option for us.

It was down to Abilene Wylie and Brook Hill.

I finally decided on Abilene Wylie. After all, I would be back home, with my best friend, and Wylie was the largest class AAA school in the state and had a tradition of winning in everything.  I told my wife as we went to bed that night that I had decided Abilene was where I wanted to go.  She too had been offered a job at one of the Abilene Wylie elementary schools, and being the team player she is, she simply said “OK”.  We both rolled over and went to sleep.

Decision made…case closed.  Or so I thought.

At about three o’clock that morning, something stirred me.  I got out of bed and went into the breakfast nook, turned on the light, and in front of me lay numerous Brook Hill brochures and fliers given to me by Mr. Fletcher.  I slowly began re-reading each of them, studying the material, eventually going to sleep with my head on the kitchen table, BH literature lay pressed against my face.

As I awoke around 7:00 AM, I quickly realized something had changed.  Walking through the house that morning I found myself with sense of an inner peace that Brook Hill…not Abilene, was where we needed to be.

I went into our bedroom and told Laurie of “our” new and final decision.  She sat straight up, hugged me, and began to cry.

The rest is history.  After almost 7 years at Brook Hill, I simply shudder to think what might have happened if I had made a different choice.

You know, our lives are filled with choices.  The choice to come to Brook Hill is one I will never regret. I love The Brook Hill School and I consider it “home”.  I am glad that I not only made the right choice, but it was also the best choice.

Thankfully, God has given each of us the freedom of choice.  We have been given the ability to choose ever since Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden (bad choice I might add).

One thing I have come to learn over the years; Life is all about the choices we make and the consequences we face because of those choices.  Making “good choices” is one thing we encourage our student athletes to do at Brook Hill on a consistent basis.  We urge them to make the right choice, and then make that choice…right.  On the other hand, we also warn our student athletes that if you decide to make a bad choice…prepare to face unfavorable consequences.

And that’s another reason to be “ALL ORANGE…All The Time”!