I caught up with Rusty Tondee after the Ellaville Christmas Parade he was emceeing Tuesday night

And in the county seat of Schley County, the town of just over 1,500 (and the county of just over 4,500 according to the 2020 census) was having a normal week with one thing that they had to prepare for in a hurry ... the school’s first-ever title game appearance in football.

For Rusty, it was 23 years in the making.

He grew up in Schley County and went to Tri-County High School. The counties of Marion, Webster and Schley combined for one school from 1976-2000 before Schley County held a referendum to break off and bring back Schley County High Version 2.0.

This time with a football team...

When Schley existed before the merger, there was no football. They had baseball, basketball and track instead.

“The vote passed by about 100 votes to bring back the school then,” Rusty tells me. “Remember, when you only have 1,100 to 1,200 votes, that’s a real tight vote.”

Rusty came home to be the first Athletic Director and head football coach for that 2000 season.

“Once the vote passed everyone bought in. We couldn’t have gotten the project off the ground without folks like Johnny Wall, Terry Gaultney, and our local banker, John Gill, who was instrumental in building the facilities in the beginning. We played those first few years ten miles south at the Sumter County High stadium, but we had to come up with a name first.”

Rusty was part of a five-person committee to come up with a name and a look -- and it had to be done pretty quickly.

“It was me, William Johnson and his wife, MaryAnne Phillips, and Pat Gordy that decided that part. We wanted to have something unique. No one dressed in black and silver and we had the nickname down to three ideas. At the time in South Georgia, if you wanted to see what a championship team was like, all you had to do was look at Valdosta. I mean, we knew we weren’t going to win a state championship any time soon, but we wanted to be like the Wildcats. We wanted to emulate the best and it was an immediate hit.”

schley

Schley County's Jalewis Solomon picks up yardage after the catch.

Credit: Americus Times-Recorder

Schley County had the smallest enrollment in Class A that year, but they had a football team -- something to call their own. They didn’t have a fieldhouse at the time, so all the football gear was housed at the Board of Education building and that’s where the team dressed out -- whether they were traveling ten miles south for a home game or in a school bus for a longer road trip. Players brought their gear back to the building in laundry bags every week and they were all mixed with information and budget info and spreadsheets that dated back decades.

And Rusty’s brother, Shane, was the county sheriff to lead the motorcade. Shane is still sheriff and, I think it’s a fair assumption, that he’ll lead the group from Ellaville this Thursday.

In Rusty’s one season as head coach, Schley went 1-9. He would focus on his Athletic Director duties and watch as Jim McFather would lead the program to two playoff seasons in 2007 and 2008 before Rusty retired from his Assistant Principal position close to a decade ago. Schley wouldn’t get back to the playoffs until Darren Alford and his staff started back in 2017. They’ve only failed to make the playoffs once since.

“Coach Alford and his staff really have turned this program into something,” Tondee says with a smile. “It was amazing how many people were at the semifinal in Wrightsville against Johnson County. I mean, if someone wanted to do something in Ellaville last Friday night, that would have been the time to do it. You could not find a seat on the visitor’s side from 6:30 on. And I don’t think there’s anyone any prouder than I was when we won. I can’t say enough about Coach Alford and the staff.

“I’ll give you another example. Tim Peavy has been a coach on staff there all 22 years. To see the passion in someone like that all this time... the team and everyone associated with it deserve this chance with all the time they’ve put in.”

Success athletically has come in other sports- the powerhouse that has been built by the baseball program in Class A comes to mind for a lot of folks. Now, football can add their roster to the balance sheet.

Rusty stumbled across a box of his old Schley County gear the other day...

“I found a sweatshirt that said on the back ‘A new era begins.’ The last three weeks, I have worn that sweatshirt and my buddies have given me a hard time about wearing it. I told them, ‘Hey, at least, I can still wear stuff from 22 years ago.’ It’ll be 75 degrees Thursday at Georgia State and I will be wearing that sweatshirt.”

It’ll be a reminder to anyone that crosses Rusty Tondee’s path this week where the program started, where it’s been, and where it’s been elevated to as they play in their first-ever Game 15.

Play it safe, everyone... I’ll see you at Center Parc...