There’s a lot going on in athletics at Bryan County High School, what with the basketball teams getting ready for region tournament play and spring sports getting underway highlighted by baseball’s Tuesday night opener against Jenkins.
However, school officials, to honor what is now called Legacy Week, put things on a momentary pause to celebrate two Redskins coaching greats whose impact is still felt in the North Bryan community.
At halftime of last Friday’s boys’ game against Claxton, former girls' and boys' basketball coach Johnnie Miller was recognized as part of National Girls and Women’s Day in Sports activities. And on Tuesday in a pre-game ceremony at the baseball game, it was Albert Lodge’s turn in the spotlight.
Along with Miller all girl athletes at the high school and middle schools along with any former female athletes in attendance were invited to join together on the floor. Coach Mario Mincey presented Miller with a signed basketball commemorating his service to the school and community.
The National Girls and Women in Sports Day was established in February 1987 to be held on the first Wednesday in February. It was established to honor the legacy of Olympic volleyball player Flo Hyman who was a pioneer in women’s sports. Hyman died suddenly of Marfan Syndrome in 1986.
Over the decades per the Women’s Sports Foundation participation rates for girls in high school and collegiate athletics have gone from 1 in 27 girls in 1971 to 2 in 5 today.
That’s certainly true at Bryan County where girls’ athletics has a high participation and high success rate. Miller and Lodge both played major roles in the creation and growth of girls teams.
Miller and Lodge both coached boys’ teams at a high level but they were also highly successful as coaches of girls’ teams. Miller coached boys’ and girls’ basketball while Lodge coached baseball and softball.
When the two were in their prime, success in their respective sports wasn’t a sometime thing: it was a given. And their teams competed on a statewide level.
Miller, who won 613 games in his career, had the distinction of coaching the boys and girls teams at the same time. He became the head coach in 1978 and coached both until 1985 when the Board of Education ruled a coach could not be head coach of both sports simultaneously.
“I decided to coach just the girls,” Miller said. “It was a decision I never regretted.”
Miller coached the girls until 2006 and his 1994 team set the benchmark for girls basketball when it reached the Final Four in 1994 where it lost to eventual state champion Wilkerson County.
“It was different back then,” Miller said. “Only the top two teams in the region went to the state playoffs. Now the top four go. But whether it’s the top two or top four when you get to the state tournament nothing is easy.”
Miller was a member of the first graduating class (1969) at Bryan County following integration. He played one season for legendary coach Robert Bowers who later hired him to be his assistant following his graduation from Savannah State.
Lodge finished his career with 422 wins, most of them coming at Bryan County. He coached Savannah High to a Class AAA state championship in baseball in 1976 before moving to Bryan County.
It was at Bryan County that he had unparalleled success in both baseball and softball.
Lodge, a Benedictine graduate, set a state record in baseball with eight straight region championships. In softball his teams won state championships in 1983 and 1986 and all together his teams won 13 region championships.
Both men retired from Bryan County but later were “sucked” back in for one last taste of the competition.
Miller finished his career at Southeast Bulloch. Lodge was an assistant coach at Benedictine and after several years away came back to Bryan County as an assistant in softball for the 2022 season under then-coach Jason Roundtree.