Blizzard of ‘93 left a mess for Gordon County coaches

Following the “Storm of the Century,” March of 1993 was not a fun time for local coaches and athletic facility crews.

With spring sports rudely interrupted by 100-year blizzard, schedules were a disaster, and so were baseball, soccer and track fields.

Calhoun Times Sports Editor Jay Stone reported in a March 20th story that the end of that particular month was quite interesting for local athletics.

With coaches still unclear if missed games would be made up, Calhoun High School baseball was the first to get back into action, playing Cass in the Spring Baseball Classic at Adairsville less than 10 days before the storm first hit. Model and Armuchee teams were unable to play in that tournament, causing a format restructure.

Then coach Larry Bailey told the newspaper that a game his team had missed versus Armuchee would be made up later in the season.

“The biggest thing now is that we need to be playing,” Bailey said.

That sentiment was echoed by Gordon Central’s Keith Hall, but he had a bigger scheduling mess on his hands at the time, with the Warrior Invitational Tournament left with three games yet to be played. The Warriors baseball squad also had three other regular season games postponed by the storm.

“Our players were just beginning to get in shape,” Hall said. “And boom ... we have a week off.”

Calhoun’s golf team missed its season opener versus LaFayette in 1993 as well, finally beginning their season over two weeks after the snow hit. Meanwhile, Warriors golfers also missed a match in Dalton due to the storm.

Gordon Central soccer had moved their Friday, March 12 match up a day to the Thursday before the storm, but missed two other games.

“The state will only let you schedule one event per week on a school night,” GCHS soccer coach Greg Fetzer said. “I don’t know if we’ll be able to find open dates when we can play.”

Calhoun soccer, coached by Rick Correll, saw their games in the Berry Invitational cancelled, costing the team four season matches.

CHS track missed two meets, while GCHS runners lost a home meet to the storm.

At the recreation department, tennis court damage delayed both Calhoun and Gordon Central matches even further, after both teams had already lost play during the storm itself.