Dear Bearcats,
What you have accomplished over the last few years is truly remarkable, and the groundwork that was laid out by the 2022 team will never be forgotten. People do not realize how hard it is to reach a State Championship game, much less win it. To accomplish the feat of playing for the title three years in a row is what dreams are made of. I hear people talk about the “Glory Days” of the 80’ and 90’s all the time but understand this…YOU are now the standard of Ruston High School football.
Take the time to thank your parents, thank your grandparents, and thank your friends for the support they have shown you. Without them it wouldn’t mean nearly as much to you.
Take a moment when you are walking around the field house or school building over the next few days to thank Coach Baugh, thank your position coach, thank the trainers, managers, and support groups. They do what they do because they love you.
As the great former UCLA basketball coach John Wooden said, “Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there”. Those words identify you more than anything else in my eyes. Coach Baugh and staff have taught you so much more than how to be a good football player. They have taught you how to be great young men.
Enjoy the next few days. For you seniors, you may not realize it now, but it’s not the games you are going to miss the most. What you will look back on after it’s over are the times spent with your teammates in the locker room and field house, the bus rides to away games, your senior dinners, etc… This is what being a high school football player is all about.
Thank you for letting myself and others be such a small part of your high school football career. It has been an honor.
Remember your main goal when you started the 2024 season. As I am sure Coach Baugh told you after the game Friday night, “You have one more ballgame to win!”
FINISH!
Wes Clark
RHS Class of 1991
Bearcat Football Club President
