Richard Coure

NOTE: Richard Coure played baseball and football at Cameron High School in Nashville (Class of 1969). He was a quarterback at Fisk University (Class of 1973). He head coaching career was at East Nashville (1980-1985) and Whites Creek (1986-2004)

I was in my first year as head coach at Whites Creek (1986). At that time, we practiced from 7:00-9:30, took a break, and then came back at 11:00 for another practice later that same morning.

We had just hit the field about 7:15 when a car drives up and a young lady gets out of the car and motions to one of the football players to come over to talk to her. They talked to each other for maybe three to four minutes. The next thing I noticed, she was getting a baby bag out, some toys and a young baby.

The football player took off his helmet and shoulder pads, so I went over and asked them what was going on. He said she’s supposed to go to work and I told her I was coming to pick up the baby, but I came to practice instead.

The reason he came to practice had to do with the fact that we had a team rule that if you missed a practice, you became the low man on the totum pole. He decided that he needed to come to practice.

I told my player that since he came to practice, I’d just put a few hand dummies together on the ground and make a pallet so I can sit down under a golf umbrella I have in my care and take care of the baby until practice is over. The baby was nice, he didn’t wet his diaper and, at the time, wasn’t hungry. All I had to do was just hold and cuddle the baby while my assistant coaches conducted practice. I put baby sitter on my resume after that day.

Later that same season, we had an outbreak of the mumps at our school and had to change a couple of games on our schedule. We ended up adding Cleveland to our schedule, so one of my assistant coaches (Dorris Armstrong) and I drove down there to watch one of their games.

Dorris was driving on the way back. I was tired and had dozed off. All of a sudden, Dorris weaved off the side of the road and ran over those rumble strips. When I woke up, he looked OK but had weaved over into the passing lane and almost hit a car.

I immediately said, “Man, did you see that car?” Dorris answered, “Oh, go back to sleep. You didn’t say anything when I almost hit that truck.”

From that part of I-24 till we got home, I was wide awake, riding in fear all the way.