MDJ sports editor John Bednarowski
It wasn't athletic director Peter Giles or principal Trudie Donovan, nor was it any of the approximately 70 football players.
No, the happiest person in the Georgia Dome that day was Carole Kell, the wife of the Classic's creator and namesake.
"I was excited as I've ever been," Carole said. "It was about finally getting there, playing in it and winning."
For the Longhorns to play in the Corky Kell Classic, it was the completion of a journey that started years before under Carole's careful watch, with the full intention of having a school named after her husband, Corky, the former Wheeler football coach and longtime Cobb County athletic director.
After working 33 years in the Cobb County school system, and 14 years as a principal at either Dickerson or Hightower Trail middle schools, Carole knew how the system worked. In order to have a building named for someone, the honoree must be dead for at least three years, and then letters are written to the school board on the honoree's behalf.
Carole had little trouble getting people to write letters for Corky.
"They came from everywhere," she said, "because people appreciated him. There was a huge stack of letters because he knew everybody in the state.
"And people appreciated him. They all wrote about the experiences they had with Corky, and they all knew his goal. No matter what it was, his goal was to do right by the children."
It appeared as if her quest was about to end when the system was building a school back in the late '90 just west of Cobb Parkway. That school would instead became Kennesaw Mountain.
It wasn't until the fall of 2002, when Carlton J. Kell High School opened its doors, that Carole's efforts finally paid off. At the time, she didn't know where the next school would be built in the county, but it was a happy coincidence when she found out it was going to be built in the neighborhood she lives in. And from the time the first shovel hit the ground, Carole knew she had to try and get the Longhorns into the Corky Kell Classic.
The effort gained full steam when Cook became the Longhorns' coach three years ago.
"Every year, (Cook) takes me to lunch to give me the report on how the team is going to play," Carole said. "And every year, we've plotted on how we can get Kell into the Classic."
Of course, the politicking didn't end there. Dave Hunter, the former coach of Brookwood High School and now executive director of the Classic, would playfully try to avoid Carole each time he saw her, because he knew he was about to get an earful. Carole said each time she saw Hunter he would say, "You aren't going to talk to me about Kell (getting in the Classic) again, are you?)
The answer was always yes, but in the end, all it took was some success and back-to-back Class AAAAA playoff appearances.
But getting Kell High School to the Georgia Dome proved to be the easy part. Watching the Longhorns play there proved to be harder than Carole ever imagined.
"When Corky was coaching, I always told him I would never pray for him to win a ballgame," Carole said. "But I said I am going to pray for this one."
With the game tied 3-3 at the half, it didn't take long for Carole's prayer to be answered in the third quarter. A Taylor Henkle interception set up Kyle Morris' second field goal and Brian Randolph scored a touchdown a few minutes later to give the Longhorns a relatively comfortable 13-3 lead - relatively comfortable for everyone except Carole, who was trying to watch the game with her grandchildren.
"It got to a point where I didn't even know they were there," she said. "My hands were clenched so hard my muscles hurt the next day."
And as the final seconds ticked off the clock, Carole had a feeling she knew someone, somewhere may have been pulling a few strings.
"I really don't know a word to describe what I was feeling," she said. "But I was convinced Corky's little spirit was around."
Whether he was present at the Dome or not, the hundreds of players who came to play, and the thousands of fans who came to watch, helped continue the legacy of Corky Kell.
"Corky's purpose was to get every kid on the (Georgia Dome) field." Carole said. "To see everyone there, (and to know why he developed the Classic) he has accomplished what he wanted to do."
sportseditor@mdjonline.com
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