David McGee was probably the second Barrow County School System employee I met when arriving here in 1997. (If memory serves, Jeff Beggs was the first.)
McGee was a teacher and coach at Winder-Barrow High School at the time. I ventured to the softball field at Victor Lord Park early one morning where McGee was conducting a preseason practice with his team.
Despite being involved with the task of preparing his squad for the upcoming season, he took the time to walk over, shake my hand and talk with me for several minutes while his assistants directed the practice session. From that simple beginning came a strong working relationship that I am glad to say has continued all the way until the year 2011, almost 15 years later.
McGee became one of the coaches I enjoyed talking with the most. His honest, down-to-earth nature made him an easy coach to work with and get quotes and information from. He also coached the Lady Bulldogg basketball team at the time and many nights we would sit on the edge of the stage in the old WBHS gym and talk while the boys game was being played.
I remember asking McGee why a college like Princeton seemed to have so much success in basketball when they obviously didn’t have the five-star athletes to do so. I recall McGee diagraming plays for me and explaining how they worked (even as someone who played high school basketball many moons ago I learned a great deal from McGee about the sport.)
While I moved on to a newspaper in a neighboring county not long after I arrived, McGee and I stayed in touch. Whenever I needed a quote for a story I was working on, be it a player one of his teams competed against or about a coach he knew, McGee was always quick to respond and help. It elevated the stories I was putting together and I figured it wouldn’t hurt to keep the line of communications open. Who knew what might take place down the road?
As it turned out, McGee would eventually work his way up the education ladder to become a principal. I continued to try and climb the newspaper ladder and by 2008 we launched the Barrow Journal, McGee was principal at Apalachee at the time.
Once again I found myself going to McGee if I needed a quote or information that seemed elusive. He was the same way he had always been, quick to respond and help in any way I needed.
A story would break, however, that I feared might damage our working relationship. The Ashley Payne story has been covered extensively by this newspaper as well as others. I often wondered what McGee thought when he saw story after story on our front page with his name featured throughout.
Showing his high level of professionalism, however, McGee has never said one thing to me about those stories. He has never tried to get me to not print them in our paper. He has handled the entire situation as well as a school official could. It has probably impressed me more than anything else about him (other than the fact he is a dedicated family man.)
When he could have called and complained, he didn’t. In fact, he and I have never once spoken of it. I can assume he understands I have to do my job. Rest assured, other school officials could take a lesson from McGee in how to handle a situation like this.
McGee resigned last week as principal of AHS and I admit to hating the news. I wish him well in whatever he takes on in the future. I also wanted to thank him for almost 15 years of help and for understanding the role of the media as well as those who work in it.
Chris Bridges is editor of the Barrow Journal. You can reach him at cbridges@barrowjournal.com.
