News

Savannah Country Day Head of School Kef L. Wilson made sure no one mistakenly thought that Thursday’s day of celebration of teacher and coach Lamar Kirkley was a sendoff after 50 years of service.

“He’s not retiring, by the way,” Wilson told a large crowd gathered that evening at Mingledorff Hall on campus. “Sometimes people assume that. Lamar’s got a few more years in him, I believe.”

Kirkley, 73, believes it, too, and gave no indication he’s close to hanging up his whistle, which was represented by dozens of whistles distributed on tables. The event concluding “Lamar Kirkley Day” featured food, drinks, music, storytelling and printouts of archival photos of him sporting a thick mustache.

One theory is that Kirkley, who started teaching physical education at the school in 1975, will stay long enough to see his grandson Chris Wynn, a sophomore, graduate in 2027. Lamar and his wife GeeGee Kirkley’s daughter Darla is a Country Day graduate (Class of 1989), as are son-in-law Chris Wynn (1990) and granddaughter Stella (2024).

“I don’t know if I’ll retire then or not,” a clean-shaven Kirkley said Thursday of the younger Chris Wynn receiving his diploma. “He’s got two more years, but I still like it. It’s still fun. I don’t feel like I have to get up and go to work. I love what I do.”

While he’s taken on various athletic department roles over the decades – coaching nearly every boys sport as well as serving as athletic director for seven years – Kirkley has been a constant as a physical education teacher at the lower school, grades pre-kindergarten (or “junior K”) through fifth grade.

For Kirkley, “every day is a different day, and it’s just fun.” He loves his job and said the students are great to teach.

James Franklin, in his first school year as the athletic director, said Kirkley’s longevity has a consistency of purpose to serve the children.

“He often uses sports or physical education as his vehicle to teach the future leaders of tomorrow how to be great young women and great young men,” Franklin said. “That’s his purpose in life. He’s a servant/leader in that way.”

Kirkley is leading the perennially strong varsity boys tennis team for the 24th season this spring, and they have made the state playoffs for the past 23. The Hornets have 15 region championships, five quarterfinal finishes and three state runners-up, the school said.

His varsity boys and girls cross country teams combined for 33 region titles. He also has coached varsity football, track and field and boys basketball, as well as middle school football, boys and girls hoops and tennis.

He was inducted in the Greater Savannah Athletic Hall of Fame in 2018 as a Citation Honoree for coaching -- a career achievement award for a career not yet complete.

“He expects a lot. He demands a lot. But he always cares about them,” Wilson said in addressing the audience at the event. “He always loves them. You hear that in the way he talks and the way he coaches. You see it in the way he interacts with everybody.”

Wilson described Kirkley the coach and teacher, and then him as a man.

“What’s fascinating and amazing to me about him is he is the most humble, kindest and most-forgiving person that you will ever meet,” Wilson said. “You cannot ever lose Lamar’s respect or love. That’s the kind of person he is.”   

Generations of SCD families

Kirkley has been in one place for so long, he has experienced teaching generations of students from the same family trees. Wilson asked for a show of hands of how many in attendance were taught and/or coached by Kirkley. 

PHOTO (far right): Lamar Kirkley with Family - Nathan Dominitz

 

Many hands shot up. Then he asked how many of Kirkley’s colleagues were there. Again, a strong representation.

The third round was for those whose children and/or grandchildren were Kirkley’s students. More than a handful of hands.

Finally, Wilson inquired if anyone there ever had a tooth or one of their children’s teeth pulled by Kirkley, which raised many knowing giggles and a smattering of hands from several age groups, including the youngest ones there.

“It’s amazing how many times kids will go up to him and say, ‘You had my mom, you had my dad, you had my sister,’ ” said Sean Sweeney, Country Day’s first-year  varsity boys basketball coach and a physical education teacher who works alongside Kirkley. “Literally, I’m pretty sure kids have said, ‘You had my grandparents’ at this point.”

That would be true, as Corrine Reeves confirmed when she greeted Kirkley at the event. She was Corrine Stewart when she graduated in 1977 and later married her high school boyfriend Michael Reeves. They have three sons, who graduated in 2005, 2007 and 2008, and three grandchildren who have been taught by Kirkley.

Sharon Eswine said that Kirkley had told her how rewarding it is to see former students visit years later and they’ve become really good people.

“It’s like a time machine,” said Eswine, who taught art and now is the school’s director of curriculum and instruction. She called Kirkley her “colleague for a brief 36 years.”

Maybe “brief” in the context that her husband, Bill Eswine, actually has been at Country Day longer than Kirkley. He started teaching science there in 1972 and the 76-year-old is now the lower school’s science coordinator. 

Like his fellow institution at Country Day, Bill Eswine also played college basketball in Savannah at Armstrong, though he was ahead of him and they were not teammates. 

They both ended up being hired at Country Day as young men and found a home in the school’s community. Eswine said that Kirkley is a family man and welcomed him as if he were related.

“He’s been a great colleague. To me, he’s been a family member,” said Eswine, who confirmed he also was celebrated on his 50th year at the school. “There’s not anything that we’ve come up against at Country Day that he’s not willing to do or help out with, whether it’s in the science area or P.E.”

 

Ready and willing to help

Sweeney, as a new hire at the school this summer, has like many others at Country Day come to rely on Kirkley’s knowledge and experience. Not just about coaching and teaching. When Sweeney’s car broke down on his first week in Savannah, his new colleague drove him around and helped get him to local auto repair shops that he recommended.

“He’s been awesome,” said Sweeney, who came on board after the boys basketball summer league had started play. 

He asked if Kirkley would continue coaching the squad for a bit in games at night until he became more familiar with the players through running practices during the days. Kirkley obliged, for which Sweeney is thankful.

“That’s what you do at Country Day,” Kirkley said on Thursday. “We help each other.”

Country Day junior basketball standout Stone Wells said the summer league gave the basketball players a taste of what it’s like to be coached by Kirkley.

“You can just see the experience in whatever he coaches,” Wells said. “He’s been here for a long time and he knows exactly what he’s talking about. If you just listen to him, things will work out.”

Things have worked out well for Kirkley, who thanked event organizers as well as those in attendance, which he said included family members, coaches, administrators, players of various sports, parents, alumni, students and others, including referees.

“It’s just really special. It makes you feel like you’ve accomplished something,” Kirkley said. “It’s great to feel appreciated, no matter how old you are.”

He noted with a smile that the fifth-grade P.E. class walked in wearing fake mustaches on Thursday, and made him stick one on, too.

The junior kindergarten class in the morning kept him grounded as well.

“They said, ‘Happy 50th anniversary year.’ And the first comment was, ‘Are you old?’ I’m like, ‘Pretty much.’ ”

 

PHOTO CREDIT: Courtesy Nathan Dominitz for the Prep Sports Report

FOLLOW the Prep Sports Report on Twitter @PrepSav and Instagram savannahsportsreport. If you have any scores, information, or story ideas to share, please email kdemasi@prepsportsreport.com.