Family tradition

Fathers and sons reflect on state championships

December 17, 2006

By RON COX
Index-Journal sports editor

Thanks to their win over Conway in the state championship game, kneeling, from left, Andrew Tims, T.J. Baylor and Sloan Lloyd have one more thing in common with their fathers. Back row, from left, Carter Tims, Alvin Baylor and Steve Lloyd helped the Eagles claim the trophy in 1976 with a win over Summerville.

One of a father’s more meaningful responsibilities is imparting wisdom to his children through his own first-hand experiences.
A father relishes in helping guide his son or daughter down the right path when his child is facing a similar course he once had to trek through.
But it’s a rare occasion when that similar path is as important to the child as it was to the parent.
When Alvin Baylor, Steve Lloyd and Carter Tims knew their sons would be standing on the same field they were on almost 30 years to the day, striving for the same goal that they achieved, the three were ready to fulfill their fatherly duties.
Baylor, Lloyd and Tims, all members of Greenwood High School’s 1976 state championship football team, knew how important that night — the 2006 state title game at Williams-Brice Stadium — would be to their sons, T.J. Baylor, Sloan Lloyd and Andrew Tims.
“I told him before the game to go out and cherish the moment,” said Alvin Baylor, who was a senior on the ’76 Eagles team. “You get very few moments like that in life. And very few people get to enjoy something like playing for a championship. It’s something that might never happen again. And speaking from experience, you have to relish those moments.”
Steve Lloyd took a different approach to relating to his son. Knowing that children, and almost more specifically sons, don’t always heed advice given to them, the elder Lloyd put his thoughts down on paper the morning of Dec. 1.
“I just wanted a way to tell him how proud I was of him regardless of the outcome of the game,” Steve Lloyd said. “Most kids, when you talk to them, they tend to do the opposite or they just don’t listen. So I thought I’d write it down for him.”
Like most men, the Lloyds, who both played on the offensive line for the Eagles, didn’t spend much time discussing the father’s letter to the son.
Until recently, Steve wasn’t sure of the effect, if any, it had on Sloan before the game or even since.
But the letter most definitely touched a special place in the boy’s heart.
“It meant a lot to me,” Sloan Lloyd said. “I must have read it 10 times. I read it again right before we went onto the field.
“He told me how proud he was and how he wanted me to enjoy playing that game because he remembered how much fun it was for him. I just knew how much it meant to him.”

THE FATHERS QUICKLY HAD to face a new experience first-hand before the game started. There’s a certain sense of helplessness when a father watches his son play any sport at any level. But while looking down at their sons from such a far distance as the seats at Williams-Brice, the momentousness of the event left them even more powerless.
“It was different seeing it from the stands,” Carter Tims said. “I’m pretty sure I was more nervous than Andrew was.”
“It was a strange feeling, seeing him out on the same field I was on 30 years ago,” Alvin Baylor said of his son T.J.
“I was more nervous than when I played in the game 30 years ago,” Steve Lloyd said. “I enjoyed this one as much or maybe more than my own. It’s something special when you see your kid accomplish something like this.”
Like their fathers before them, the sons helped bring a state championship back home to Greenwood, defeating Conway 14-7.
“After it was over, some of them came up into the stands and we went to the bottom rail, and Steve actually got to Andrew before I did,” Carter Tims said. “But it was great. We all were hugging each other. It really brought back some memories of the time we were here.”
“We stayed until they left the field. We stayed until the final picture was taken,” Steve Lloyd said. “We had to get run out of the parking lot by the police because we didn’t want to leave.
“It was a remarkable feeling. It was great to see (Sloan) grinning from ear to ear. It was special.”
But the feeling of overwhelming joy wasn’t just limited to those on the field. The players could see it on the faces of those in the crowd, especially on the faces of their fathers.
“I got to see my dad in the stands right after the game, and it was one of the happiest that I’ve ever seen him,” Andrew Tims said.
The Tims, like the Lloyds, played the same position for Greenwood 30 years apart. But the Tims, father and son, had more in common than just being placekickers for the Eagles.
Neither Tims had aspirations of playing football. Both were soccer players by trade and both were brought over to fill a void. And both were state champions in their first season of football: Carter as a junior and Andrew in his senior season.
“Our case is even stranger,” Carter Tims said. “I never intended to play football. I was a soccer player. But the football coach asked the soccer coach who would want to kick, and we went on to win a championship in my first year. And the same thing happened to Andrew.
“It’s funny the way things work out sometimes.”
But the Tims’ similarities are but a microcosm of the resemblance between the 1976 team and the ’06 squad.
Neither team was expected to win, or for that matter play for, the state title. Both lost a close game to a region foe (’76 lost by 3 to Easley, ’06 fell by a point to Westside). Both responded to those losses by winning eight straight, including the title game.
“It’s a situation very similar to ours,” Alvin Baylor said. “They’re a smaller team in size, going up against so many bigger teams. And like us, they had such great teamwork.”
“We just got on a roll and didn’t stop,” Carter Tims said. “We weren’t supposed to win, but everything fell into place, just like this year’s team.”
However, the fathers pointed out that their win was much bigger: a 47-7 blowout of Summerville.
Another big difference between the two championship teams didn’t happen on the field. But it has been a bone of contention between father and son.
Both teams got a trophy. The ’06 players were presented with medals after the game and will also procure a state championship ring, while all the fathers got was a jacket with a special patch.
“I still have my jacket,” Alvin Baylor said. “It doesn’t fit too well, but I still got it. But that’s pretty much all we got.”
“Yeah, I joke with him about it sometimes,” T.J. Baylor said, “about how we get a medal AND a ring.”

Ron Cox is the sports editor at The Index-Journal. He can be reached at: rcox@indexjournal.com.