Yellow Jackets pay tribute to Pharo with field house plaque
Rockmart High School honored a beloved coach and educator in the Polk School District with something that students and teachers alike will see daily on their way to and from the field house.
Many decades ago, The Rockmart Yellow Jackets football program was headed up by coach Ed Pharo, who during his tenure at Rockmart High amassed a 55-15-1 from 1968- 1975, amassing in his time only one loss to Cedartown and then only giving up seven points to the Bulldogs following the first year loss.
Pharo, who was also an administrator for Rockmart Middle School during his later years, went on to inspire numerous students including current Rockmart High Athletic Director Barry Williams, who gathered school officials and family members to a ceremony last week to unveil a tribute to the old ball coach.
“Coach Pharo retired a year before I came to Rockmart High School,” Williams said.
“I ended up coming in and playing for someone else, but I always thought and hoped I get to play for Coach Pharo, and that’s what a lot of us thought. But there was another part of Coach Pharo, when you talk to his players, students and teachers who worked with him, they all agreed that ‘he made me a better person.’”
The school placed a plaque honoring Pharo’s achievements and to remind students and faculty of their own duty to give back to Rockmart High School, just as Pharo did.
Family members were on hand for the unveiling with their families, and had nothing but high praise and appreciation for the tribute to their father.
“It means a lot because my dad would have been so proud,” said daughter April Pharo Raper. “He put his heart and soul into Rockmart, especially in athletics. Also I would like in the future see his athletes to be recognized. He always wanted his athletes to be rec- ognized, so I hope that comes too.”
Pharo, who died in May 2015, was a native of Birmingham, Ala. and graduated from Ramsay High School. He later played for the University of Alabama including a 1953 Orange Bowl appearance against Syracuse, and then was draftede that year into the U. S. Army where he served until 1956. He returned to Alabama and graudated with a bachelor’s in education, and then came to Rockmart High School in 1961.
He also coached baseball, wrestling, golf and track.
After his coaching career ended in the mid 1970s, Pharo worked in administration at Goodyear Elementary School and at Rockmart Middle School.
He obtained his Masters in Physical Education from Jacksonville State University in 1973 and his M. ED in Education from the State University of West Georgia in 1979. He was a member of the National Education Association, Georgia Association of Educators and the Polk Association of Educators.