Loren Maxwell at 14:11, 17 May 2020

2020-05-17T14:11:02Z

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'''Background'''
* Welsh was raised outside the little South Carolina town of Bishopville. His family still owns the land where he toiled as a boy beside his parents and grandparents. Welsh graduated from Mayesville High School, where he played football and baseball and took those skills to Presbyterian College, where he played both sports until multiple concussions made playing football his final season impossible.

'''Coaching career'''
* After graduating from Presbyterian, Welsh took the head football job at [[Warrenton Blue Devils football program|Warrenton]] in Georgia at the age of 23. He was hired because the school had experienced success with other Presbyterian graduates. Although Welsh led his first team to a 7-4 record, he was unable to finish the school’s academic year after being drafted into the Army.
* After fulfilling his military obligation, Welsh returned to his native South Carolina as head football coach at rural Maywood High School, which had started football the year before he arrived. He left after three seasons (10-19-1 record) for better pay at much larger Sumter High School as an assistant to [[Sandy Hershey]] in 1961. Welsh followed Hershey to Georgia in 1965. Welsh went to [[Albany Indians football program|Albany]] as an assistant for two seasons until he took the head job at cross-town rival [[Dougherty Trojans football program|Dougherty]] in 1968. Welsh built a competitive program in one of the nation's toughest high school regions (1-AAA), facing off against [[Valdosta Wildcats football program|Valdosta]], [[Thomasville Bulldogs football program|Thomasville Bulldogs football program]], [[Colquitt County Packers football program|Colquitt County]], [[Tift County Blue Devils football program|Tift County]], among others. He had some fine teams, but he won only the 1976 region championship in a system in which only the region champion went to the state playoffs.
* Welsh’s Dougherty program was destroyed by court-ordered bussing in 1979, when he lost 17 varsity players they were moved to another county school. Welsh left Albany for good after the 1982 season and spent a year as offensive line coach at [[Warner Robins Demons football program|Warner Robins]] under [[Robert Davis]].
* In early 1984, at the urging of former Thomson football star Al Guy, an assistant at rival [[Northside (Warner Robins) Eagles football program|Northside (Warner Robins)]], Welsh applied for the Thomson job and was hired. In his first staff meeting with his new coaches in Thomson in March of 1984, Welsh stated, "You don’t out-coach people; you out-work people." His first two seasons at Thomson proved him right. The Bulldogs would go 29-0-1 and win back-to-back Class AAA championships. In seven seasons, Welsh finished 77-16-1 with five region championships.
* Welsh left Thomson for [[Camden County Wildcats football program|Camden County]] in 1991 and moved on to [[Greene County Tigers football program|Greene-Taliaferro]] in 1994 for two seasons and then to [[Screven County Gamecocks football program|Screven County]] in 1996. In 1999 when the Thomson job opened, he was urged to consider returning by many fans and supporters and did so. In his first season, he showed that the magical chemistry between himself and the Thomson community was no myth when he turned the Bulldogs around from a 3-7 record in the year before he arrived to a 9-2 season and a region title. The freshmen from that first season grew into state champions in 2002 in Welsh’s fourth year back with a perfect 15-0 record.
* A few of the notable players coached by Welsh are Eddie Johnson (University of Louisville/Cleveland Browns), Ray Knight (1986 World Series MVP), Lionel “Little Train” James (Auburn/San Diego Chargers), Jerry Mays (Georgia Tech/San Diego Chargers), Jasper Brinkley (South Carolina/Minnesota Vikings, Arizona Cardinals, and New York Giants), and Darius Eubanks (Georgia Southern/Cleveland Browns).
* Welsh is best known for winning three state titles at [[Thomson Bulldogs football program|Thomson]], where he is the school’s all-time most winning coach, and for his longevity. The span of 55 years between his first head-coaching job (1955 at Warrenton) and his last (2010 at Thomson) is the largest in Georgia history. He was age 78 for his final season.

'''Awards'''
* Welsh was posthumously inducted into the Georgia Athletic Coaches Hall of Fame in 2012 and the Sumter County (S.C.) Hall of Fame. He was part of the inaugural class of the Brickyard Wall of Fame in Thomson. Welsh also was awarded the Bob Waters Award for distinguished athletic alumni at Presbyterian College in 2002.

'''Personal'''
* Welsh died on July 14, 2011, exactly a week after his wife Anne passed away. Both had fought long battles with cancer. They were survived by daughters Lucia Welsh Coker and Andrea Welsh Gay and four grandchildren.

Luther Welsh/Notes - Revision history

Loren Maxwell at 14:11, 17 May 2020