This is an opinion piece.

Thirty years after he coached his last game, Dick Atchison still spends his days helping others.

Last week, I had a chance to meet the former McAdory High football coach – Yes, the same man who coached Bo Jackson in high school – as we worked together on a project for the Christian Service Mission in Birmingham.

I was there just for a weekend, serving with some college students from my church in Daphne. Atchison, now 76, serves in different ways at the Mission almost on a daily basis.

“I love it,” he said. “I felt like coaching and teaching was my ministry for a long time. Now, I just love doing this.”

Our meeting was by no means a chance meeting.

It was ordained — as all our steps are — and it was really cool. Well, it was cool meeting coach Atchison. The weather was anything but cool as we worked to paint and restore a house in Birmingham on two sweltering hot days.

No one complained, however.

We were there to serve – all of us – and loved every minute of it.

Atchison retired from coaching in 1992 and served in administration until 1999. For a dozen years after that, he worked with several other former coaches selling golf shirts and hats with school or company logos on them. He then worked for more than three years with UAB on a research study.

For the last 11 years, he’s worked as a part of this particular ministry. Since his wife Judy died of a rare brain disease (Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease) in 2018, the coach has put even more time into his volunteer work.

“I can’t stay home,” he told me. “They told me I could work as much as I wanted to so I work 4-5 days a week. It’s been a blessing.”

Atchison works daily with three other men (Tom Daigle, Steve MacCorkle and Dave Fuqua) in restoring houses in the Birmingham area. All four were professionals and worked together as an efficient team. My group clearly were not professionals. But the guys directed us on caulking and painting, and we certainly did our best to contribute. Most importantly, we were all doing what we were called to do. It was a special time; one this old sports writer won’t soon forget.

Of course, I had to ask about Bo. Coach Atchison said people still ask him about Jackson “all the time.”

On our second day together, he showed me a photo of the two shortly after Bo’s Auburn career and shared some stories of Bo’s high school exploits. The two remain in contact and play golf together whenever Bo visits family in Birmingham. Bo also has been a huge part of several charitable events Atchison has organized to help in research for CJD.

Here are a few of his thoughts about Bo’s high school career and why he chose to attend Auburn:

First memory: “He was in ninth grade playing junior high football the first time I ever saw him. He weighed about 160. I didn’t notice it in football, but I was the varsity track coach, too. He came out for varsity track and was just unbelievable. I could have entered him in 10 events, but the rules say you can only enter five. We finished second in the state his ninth-grade year. I also took him to the decathlon as a ninth grader. I could have entered him in the junior high meet, but I put him in the varsity. He finished 10th in the ninth grade. He finished second in the decathlon his sophomore year and won it as a junior and a senior. We didn’t even have a track at McAdory at the time.”

McAdory football: “Bo basically never came off the field for us. He played linebacker, defensive end and, late in games, we played him at safety, basically center field. We said, ‘Bo, nothing gets behind you.’ He kicked off, kicked extra points and field goals, returned punts, returned kickoffs and obviously played running back. He ran for almost 1,500 yards his senior year. We had two other running backs who both got scholarships as well. All three of them split time. The only time we could rest Bo was at running back because we had two other players there.”

Bo’s recruitment: “He went down there (Auburn) for a visit and really got tight with Chris Woods and some of the other players. Chris Woods was his sponsor, the player who showed him around. The other side of that story obviously is that Alabama wanted him, too. Coach (Bear) Bryant wanted him, but coach (Ken) Donahue recruited our area. Coach Donahue told him – in front of me – ‘we are recruiting you as a linebacker.’ He said, ‘You won’t play until you are a junior.’ Coach Dye came in and said, ‘Bo, I don’t know if you can start for us at running back, but we will give you a shot,’ and he did. The rest is history.”

I always enjoy hearing about what Bo Jackson accomplished in high school, but our weekend in Birmingham was about so much more than that.

Colossians 2:23 reads: “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.”

As I listened to coach Atchison pray for our small group and watched he and his friends work tirelessly on this house on a hot summer day in the name of helping someone else, I couldn’t help but think if that verse.

And now I can’t help but thank the coach and his group of volunteers.

Thank you for a life dedicated to serving others, a dedication that continues today.

Thought for the Week

Who can you serve this week?

Ben Thomas is the high school sportswriter at AL.com. He has been named one of the 50 legends of the Alabama Sports Writers Association. Follow him on twitter at @BenThomasPreps or email him at [email protected]. He can be heard weekly on “Inside High School Sports” on SportsTalk 99.5 FM in Mobile or on the free IHeart Radio App at 2 p.m. Wednesdays.