Tales about larger-than-life Billy Napier
What Billy Napier is as a coach can’t be separated from Billy Napier’s development as a person. Bill Napier, his late father, and a small, northwest town at the base of Fort Mountain molded him into a success story. Will it translate as he takes over as the new coach of the Florida Gators? The Orlando Sentinel spent two days in his hometown visiting with those who know him best.
CHATSWORTH — Billy Napier’s high school resumé was impeccable — honor’s student, star quarterback and solid citizen of Christian faith in a small, tight-knit community.
“He was what you think of as an All-American kid,” said Sarah Hicks, now the librarian at North Murray High and former classmate of Billy’s brother, Kurt. “He wasn’t about getting in trouble … being cool.”
Dr. Daphne Winkler, the principal at Gladden Middle School, was a grade behind Napier at Murray County High in northwest Georgia and a classmate and close friend of his other brother, Matt Napier.
Winkler recalled Billy Napier stood out without trying.
“He was quiet,” Winkler said. “[Parents] Bill and Pam expect their kids to be at a certain level. You wouldn’t have seen the Napiers in the office.”
But to Napier’s inner circle, he was no goody two shoes.
“He was mischievous,” Soloman Douhne, his No. 1 receiver and best friend, recalled.
Toilet papering some houses one night earned Douhne and Napier a spot in Coach Bill Napier’s doghouse.
Billy Napier’s capitalist spirit got him sideways a time or two with school administrators.
Recognizing a business opportunity, Napier made sure rival Dalton — a town 14 miles west of Chatsworth — didn’t forget Murray County’s comeback win during his final high school game.
The team’s quarterback and coach’s son produced a few hundred T-shirts with the Murray County Indian mascot holding the Dalton Catamount by the neck. The shirt back featured the 26-21 game score.
“I don’t remember if he was reprimanded, but he was told he can’t make money for himself during school time,” said Keith Robinette, now the athletic director at North Murray High.
Whatever the case, Robinette said Napier proudly wore the ‘T’ when he visited Dalton.
Robinette’s future wife, the former Tara Sexton, was Murray County High’s 1998 female athlete of the year when Napier won the honor among male athletes.
Mrs. Robinette recently recalled the time Napier got his hands on the so-called “senior wills” passed down from 12th to 11th graders each spring. Not all items were considered PG-13, leaving the list on the cutting room floor until Napier got his hands on it.
He made copies and sold them for $10.
“I had forgotten about that,” Robinette said with a laugh. “He was sharp. He was looking for an edge.”
Napier’s entrepreneurial spirit was born of necessity.
Roger Rainey played for Napier’s father and later coached under him. Following a Friday night game, Coach Napier sent Rainey and a fellow assistant to scout a possible playoff opponent in Gainesville, Ga., 80 miles away.
Napier, who also taught students to drive, told his coaches to fill up the driver’s ed car and handed each a $5 bill for meal money.
“Billy selling shirts, that gives you a good reason for that because Dad was a little tight on the money,” Rainey said, smiling at the memory.
DEDICATED MOM WITH
KILLER INSTINCT
These days, Pam Napier lives alone in the house in Chatsworth’s Woods
Estates where she and her late husband, Bill, raised their four children.
Bill’s passion for football rubbed off on the three boys, Billy, Matt and Kurt — now coaches themselves. Pam instilled in their competitive fire.
Well into her 40s, she played in a softball league. Pam and neighbor Lori Townsend were formidable pair in canasta, with card games against their husbands lasting hours.
Chris Townsend boasted he and Bill were undefeated during four matches against the wives in 2017, the year he passed away.
“Rest of time, they’d kill us,” Townsend said.
Townsend knew well Pam Napier’s killer instinct. They coached their sons in T-ball and baseball.
“She would get so nervous over the game and tore up if we got beat and wonder what we were going to do to win the next time,” Townsend said.
Pam could not sit still watching Billy Napier, her oldest, coach Louisiana the past four seasons.
“If you watch a football game with her and Billy’s coaching, oh my gosh,” Townsend said. “She’s up, she’s doing something. When a play gets ready to start, she’s there.
“If you’re not there, she’s texting, ‘Why are they doing that?’”
Back when Bill and the kids were around, the family’s matriarch had little time for Monday morning quarterbacking.
“I love Bill to death, but she’s what kept that family together — a kid needs a pair shoes, needs to go to the dentist,” Townsend said. “She’s a gamer. That’s a fine woman.”
The Townsends and Pam Napier share a a group text and go eat at Waffle King once or twice a week. All the waitresses know by heart their orders.
Kurt Napier remains in town, coaching at Gladden Middle School. Matt left two years ago to coach at LaGrange High School, 150 miles away. Florida hired Billy last month.
Pam sat in the front row of his introductory press conference Nov. 28, captivated by her son and holding his 5-year-old, Charlie, in her lap.
Several days later, Pam Napier returned home, where Bill’s forest green Chevrolet Silverado pickup sits in the driveway more than four years since he died.
A Louisiana Ragin’ Cajun flag still hangs out front. It soon will be replaced.
“She sent me a picture today,” Billy Napier told The Orlando Sentinel. “She said, ‘I’m keeping this up until the bowl game. Send me a Florida flag.’”
DIVIDED LOYALTIES
Florida flags and apparel are a rare sight in Georgia Bulldogs country. For Wes O’Dell, business is business. “No offense,” he said. “It just doesn’t sell that well here.”
The owner of J&W Sports Apparel now plans to mix in a little more Gators’ orange in blue with the sea of the Bulldogs’ red and black at his shop.
Billy Napier’s hiring has created a demand. Ragin’ Cajuns T-shirts sold in Chatsworth before Napier left for Florida.
“My girlfriend said we need to get Gators stuff since Napier’s the new coach,” O’Dell said. “So that’s what we’re going to do. The Gator stuff
will sell. He’s local kid here; his dad coached here.
“Everyone loved Coach Napier and they love Billy.”
O’Dell hopes if Napier visits, he will do an autograph signing.
Napier does not get home often, but will be in Dalton on Feb. 8 to speak at a Fellowship of Christian Athletes event, where tables going for $5,000 have sold out.
To have any chance for Napier’s signatures, O’Dell first might have to remove the life-size cutout of Georgia coach Kirby Smart in the window next to the entrance.
CUTTING IT CLOSE
Haircutz by Lavon is a local institution.
Lavon Headrick opened in the spring of 1994 after working for years at the Murray Plaza strip mall. All hands were on deck the weekend before the store’s Tuesday debut when Bill Napier appeared at the door.
“I thought he was coming to offer help,” Headrick recalled.
Napier actually needed Headrick’s assistance.
The normally clean-shaven coach had botched a beard trimming as he prepared to play Jesus during the local Easter pageant.
“It wasn’t bad; it was just what you would expect from someone who doesn’t trim their own beard,” Headrick said. “It was kind of jig-jagged under here.”
Headrick had to rummage through boxes to find a pair of clippers. Napier took a seat in a straight-backed chair because the shop was not set up.
When Headrick finished, Napier paid and went on his way.
The $5 bill sits in a frame on the wall, with the date March, 26, 1994.
Headrick’s first customer at his new place was a longtime patron. Napier would come in with his three sons and each would wait their turn.
Billy, the oldest, took charge when dad was in the barber chair.
“Out of the three he was the quiet one,” Headrick said. “He was always kind of instructing the younger brothers to behave themselves. He was the little Dad when Bill was busy getting his haircut, everything was organized and not letting the little ones get rowdy.”
In high school, Billy Napier and his teammates would come in and stand along the walls as Headrick worked on each one. Bangs were the style then, but Bill Napier preferred his players have a clean, close military-style cut.
Billy Napier, the star quarterback, was always popular with the other customers, eager for information.
Headrick was all ears. Still thickthighed at age 63, he played fullback for Murray County High in the 1970s.
Even then, though, Napier knew the score.
“Billy definitely wasn’t one to thump his own chest,” Headrick said. “Even at the time he had coachspeak. He would brag on the upcoming opponent, what a difficult task he had on the game ahead. He’d brag on his teammates, but not on himself.”