There Was Once a Team

 "There Was Once a Team" by Bunny Fuller Harris with Katie Harris Dodrill.

This book is a MUST READ

Kathy and I took a little road trip to the Crowell Community in Taylor County Sunday afternoon. I haven’t been in that area in a long time but having been in the funeral business for many years, I have memories at almost every house we passed.

It is home to me.

Our destination was the home and farmhouse of Mark and Bunny Harris. Bunny will formally release her book, “There Was Once a Team” on July 10th at the Crowell Community House. It is first-hand account of a high school basketball team that won 132 consecutive games.

Can you even imagine what it takes to win 132 games without a loss?

When I saw the date of the release, my heart sank because we will be on vacation that day. I texted Bunny and ordered a few books and apologized that we could not be there that day. She contacted me the next day and said the books were in and we could get our books before leaving for the beach. We jumped on that and headed to Crowell the next day.

Sitting in the den of their home with that family is something everyone who knows them should do at least once. Fortunately their daughter Katie was also there along with her husband Ryan, their little girl, Sarah Grace. and Mark’s brother, Dan.

Simply stated, the Harris family is a brilliant bunch - not only intellectually but in every facet of their lives. I told Kathy when we left I could sit and talk to that family all day.

Salt of the earth folks, they are.

Katie, by the way, co-wrote the book with her mother. I am glad she did because, knowing Bunny, she would have left out personal accolades about herself if Katie did not get involved. Even so, I still think she left out much more that could be said about herself. 

Bunny’s book and her story is personal to me. Bunny and I started school in the first grade together at Reynolds Elementary School in the fall of 1960. That class stayed together until we graduated in the eighth grade. Many of us went our separate ways to different high schools but we never stopped being friends.

Bunny mentions in the book getting introduced to the game of basketball on the playgrounds of Reynolds Elementary School. I was there. When she says in the book that she and Sandra Arnold were the first ones chosen on the playground, she is absolutely one hundred percent accurate.

Those girls could play. Even as kids.

After they led our junior high school girl’s team to an undefeated season in 1968, I knew big things were ahead for this duo. Although I went on to play basketball in another county, I can tell you I kept up with Bunny, Sandra and the Taylor County Lady Vikings. I read the box scores after every game for the next four years and the articles written about them… and just smiled.

The book is even more personal than that. My future wife, a year behind us in school, also played on that incredible team. We started dating in the spring of 1971. Kathy would begin her junior year that next fall. Kathy played all four of her high school years with the Lady Vikings and was an integral part of the team.

Although I was up to my eyeballs in playing basketball myself, I attended every Lady Viking game when I was not playing during my senior year. (Kathy’s junior year). On a few occasions, when Kathy’s dad was sick, I even drove some of the players to away games in my wife’s family station wagon.

During that year, I got a first hand perspective of not only the incredible players on that team but the coach who drove their success.

Bunny’s book is beyond excellent. I knew it would be because of the mother - daughter combo who wrote it.

This book is for several audiences.

If you live in Taylor County or have ever lived there, you will get to read the behind the scenes stories of your friends who made up that team. Bunny “names names” and gives much credit to all her teammates. There are some stories that will make you laugh. Out loud.

If you are a basketball person, you will read details as to what it takes to play the game at the highest level of success from the perspective of one of the best female high school basketball players to ever play in the state of Georgia. Bunny, who later was named the Scholar Athlete of the Year at the University of Georgia in 1976, is very humble in her account. She averaged 22 points per game in her high school career but rarely played more than three quarters because the team was winning by such large margins.

If you are from Houston County GA (my current residence,) you will want to read also. The Perry Lady Panthers ended the incredible streak in one of the biggest nights in basketball history in Perry and a story that immediately hit the national newspaper wires. Later the same year, Warner Robins High School also defeated them. You will see local Houston County names you will recognize and get insight from the girls Houston County caused to finally know what it felt like to lose a basketball game.

If you are thinking about being a coach, you will learn details of what it takes from one of the greatest high school coaches who ever lived and one who is a member of the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame. Norman Carter accumulated a record of 350 wins and 32 losses in a span of 12 years. That is a 91% winning percentage, in case your calculator is not handy.

You will also discover the Hall of Fame coach personally taped his star players ankles before every game.

Above all, if you are a person who is in a leadership position or aspiring to be in one, this book is for you.

It is a book about building a team where every part is just as important as the stars who lead it and about the unity that always results in that model.

It is a book about overcoming outside difficult circumstances beyond your control. Enter county school consolidation, integration and negotiating and leveraging the hard feelings and chaos to result in incredible success.

It is a book about being willing to lose to win. In this case, the coach continued to schedule games against much larger schools in spite of the winning streak - when he did not have to.

It is a book about making sure the team you lead never loses focus on the basic fundamentals and how everything else depends and builds off of that.

It is a book about relentless and consistent no-nonsense hard work and how to balance hard nose leadership with care and concern for those who look to your for leadership.

It is a book about how to communicate effectively by eye to eye contact to get complete buy-in on the task at hand. Nothing compares to eye to eye contact in communicating and leading.

It is a book about the art of giving someone the gift of significance and how long term relationships are formed and nurtured.

It is a book about being prepared for the tough times in life (and they will come) and how to stay calm when the storm is raging.

It is a book about never quitting even though the odds of winning keep getting longer and harder.

It is a book about maintaining balance in life that will serve you many years after you leave the arena.

It is a book about experiencing the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat and handling loss with the same class in which you win.

“There Was Once a Team” is a story that unfolded in front of small middle Georgia community over five decades ago. Many of the fanatical adults who watched and followed this team all over Georgia are long gone now.

But the lessons we learn from this team and what they accomplished are more relevant today than ever.

Be sure to get your copy of “There Was Once a Team.” If you are local, you SHOULD attend the Big Release at the Crowell Community Center on July 10 from 1-3PM. You can get your books autographed by the authors and the coach and other players who will be in attendance. Katie will be reading excerpts from the book.

You can also email Bunny at bunnyharris35@gmail.com. She accepts Venmo, PayPal and an old fashioned check.

Books are $20 plus shipping if you order in advance, After the release, the price will increase.