Born to coach

ALBANY — There was something about the blonde-haired frat boy that rubbed Meredith Hamby the wrong way.

When a promising baseball pitching career didn’t work out for the skinny Indiana jock trying to make his way in college at Valdosta State University, the young Gordy Gruhl tried his hand at coaching. And he made an immediate impact.

Granted, it was only a sorority basketball team, but Gruhl nearly became a college coaching legend in the 1970s. He enchanted most of the sorority girls, but not Hamby.

“We had to work at it,” Meredith Gruhl said. “I had a boyfriend and Gordy was really obnoxious. We became really good friends and 42 years later, here we are.”

After being won over, Hamby is now Meredith Gruhl, the first lady of Deerfield-Windsor basketball. And she wouldn’t have it any other way. Her husband has captured a combined 28 region titles and seven state titles.

The legendary coach will go for his 1,100th victory Wednesday night when the Deerfield-Windsor boys entertain Gatewood in the first round of the Georgia Independent Schools Association Class AAA state tournament.

Since Georgia doesn’t keep high school records, it is unknown where Gruhl stands with a 1,099-345 record.

However, according to national records compiled by the National Federation of State High School Associations, he ranks fifth. The all-time leader is Robert Hughes of Texas who retired in 2005 with 1,333 victories.

“Everybody in the GISA knows him,” Deerfield-Windsor headmaster Dave Davies said. “A few years ago when he got his 1,000th victory, I asked the Board of Trustees, I said, ‘Look, I know we named this gym after W.T. Henry, but I feel like it would be appropriate to name this court the Gordy Gruhl Court.’ They considered it and we had a nice ceremony and did that.”

Early days

Gruhl played basketball and baseball at Hauser High School in Hope, Ind., a small town about 50 miles south of Indianapolis. While basketball obviously was the bigger draw In Indiana, the right-hander made his way south at the urging of a friend who played catcher — Steve Rominger — who was a year older than Gruhl.

Rominger had received a scholarship offer to Valdosta State, and he wanted Gruhl to come, too.

“I liked (Valdosta State) a lot,” Gruhl said. “It was 33 degrees when I left, and when I got down to Valdosta in the spring it was 78 or 79 degrees. I thought that was heaven on earth. So I was like, ‘Sign me up.’”

But after a successful stint pitching in the fall league shortly after his arrival, Gruhl’s playing career came to an abrupt halt when a torn rotator cuff ended his career as a freshman. He never got to throw a pitch during the regular season.

While he was in the prime of chasing sorority girls, he never let his love for basketball or sports slip away. As a member of the Delta Chi fraternity, he coached several intramural sports, including a basketball team of Kappa Deltas.

“I guess you could say that is where I started to like coaching,” he said. “I thought about doing it (as a career).”

Gruhl picked up his defensive knowledge watching legendary Indiana Hoosiers coach Bobby Knight dissect opponents with stifling formations. He tried his best to emulate Knight’s coaching styles. He also learned a good deal from his high school coach, Ward Smith.

Gruhl’s Valdosta State team rolled to intramural titles — and he eventually landed Meredith, who became his wife.

Coaching for real

After college, Gruhl landed his first job at the now-defunct Worth Academy in Sylvester. Meanwhile, Meredith got her first coaching job at Irwin Academy in Mystic, Ga.

Gruhl coached a little of everything, including softball, where he coached against his wife. One of his games against his best friend got heated.

“Something happened with the officials and so Gordy called the game,” Meredith said. “Our left fielder caught a fly ball, and it was kind of shallow but not enough to call the infield fly rule. He called the infield fly, and I went ballistic.

“I came out to ask him and he told me to get back into the dugout. I told him that he wasn’t being fair, and he told me to get back into the dugout again. I came out and he told me to get back into the dugout or he was going to throw me out of the game. I told him if he threw me out, he didn’t need to worry about coming home. That was the only work-related incident we ever had.”

After a few seasons, the Gruhls landed at Edmund Burke Academy in Waynesboro in a package deal. He coached basketball and a few other sports, while she coached junior varsity basketball, tennis and softball.

Acting on his desire to return to the Southwest Georgia area, Gruhl knew longtime South Georgia football coach Wayne Profitt, then at Riverview Academy, so he made a visit.

Gruhl got an offer, but there wasn’t a position for Meredith, so Gruhl told his wife he was going to check out Deerfield-Windsor.

In 1983, the Gruhls landed at DWS and have been there since.

They raised both of their children — Kelly and Katie — while coaching. Meredith gave up coaching basketball not long after landing at the school. She has kept the scorebook at all of Gruhl’s basketball games.

“That goes back to Worth Academy,” Meredith Gruhl said. “I had a coach tell me a coach’s wife needed to learn how to keep the scorebook because you can’t sit on the home side during the game.”

Family a big deal

Meredith Gruhl said both of her children practically grew up in the gym, where her husband was investing in the lives of so many other athletes.

“Our kids ate on the bus and did homework on the bus,” Meredith said. “I have boiled bottles at the hotel when we were on the road in state tournaments.”

Gruhl and Meredith kept tight reigns on their daughters and enjoyed raising them. He never missed out on the biggest moments of their lives. Kelly was an all-state softball and basketball player at Deerfield-Windsor. Both went on to successful careers outside of sports.

Gruhl won’t say he treats his players as he did his own kids. He’s tough and often criticizes, but he’s also quick to praise them when they excel.

“I want them to be the best players they can be, but I also want to see what kind of young man or young lady they are going to be when they leave,” Gruhl said. “I want to know that I’ve made a positive impact on a kid’s life.”

Gruhl has mentored countless assistants who have gone on to success. Gene Durden played under Gruhl at Edmund Burke and has built a powerful girls program at Buford High in Gwinnett County.

Dodd Rentz, who played at DWS, guided Monsignor Donovan to the GISA girls Class AA state championship last year.

Then there’s Teresa Brown, who played under Gruhl and went on Florida, as well as Andre Young, who played collegiately at Clemson and was inducted into the Albany Sports Hall of Fame last year.

Young scored 2,062 points in his Deerfield-Windsor career, which broke the school’s scoring record. He also left as Deerfield’s career assists leader (471), career steals leader (498) and was first in free throw percentage (78), 3-pointers (199) and total field goals (780).

He credited Gruhl with a huge part of his success.

“Playing at Deerfield gave me a great foundation in terms of knowledge for the game,” Young said. “Gordy did a great job of teaching the basic concepts, like motion offense. By the time I got to Clemson, I wasn’t that far behind.”

Defense is king

Gruhl wants to mold his players into the best they can be. But they will also learn to play defense before they graduate.

“The thing about defense is there shouldn’t be any slumps. … There are nights when your scoring is off and you don’t have your ‘A’ game,” he said. “When you realize that you have bad nights on offense, your defense and rebounding should be consistent. You have to find ways to win when the offense isn’t always there.”

Davies told a story about a coach from First Presbyterian Christian Academy who played Deerfield-Windsor in a regular-season game during the team’s championship run in 2009-10. FPCA won on a last-second basket, handing the Knights their only loss that season.

“I went over and thanked the coach for making the long trip,” Davies said. “I remember him telling me, ‘We needed a game like this. Nobody we play is going to teach us how to play man-to-man defense like Coach Gruhl.’”

And his coaching peers have often tried to expand on things they’ve learned while coaching against him.

“Every time I play them, there’s always something I’ve learned from him when I’ve gone back and watched the film,” Terrell Academy boys coach Robert Bryant said. “I believe he’s the best. And his record speaks for itself.”

Gruhl coached against Allen Lowe, who is currently Deerfield-Windsor’s head football coach, when Lowe played at Westwood.

Not only does Lowe consider Gruhl a personal friend, he said he’s learned a lot from Gruhl on conducting such simple things as film sessions and practices.

“How you prepare in practice determines how you are going to play in games,” Lowe said. “He’s a measuring stick everybody uses. Coaches like to find a way to beat him, especially at home.”

Not counting

Gruhl’s teams have won a combined seven state titles (five boys , two girls). The coach wasn’t sure how many region titles he had won until a reporter asked. Gruhl went into the W.T. Henry Gymnasium and counted the 28 titles listed on the banners hoisted from the steel beams.

“That’s not something I keep up,” he said. “If you have to go count them because you don’t know, I guess you’ve had a pretty good career.”

The legendary coach has had opportunities to coach at larger schools, but he chose to hang around Deerfield-Windsor. Davies is surprised that Gruhl has coached the Knights for 33 years.

“He and Meredith have found their home here,” Davies said. “He’s coaching second-generation kids now.”

And the longtime coach has no plans to stop. At 65, he still works out regularly. The only blemish is a small limp from hip and knee replacement surgeries he had a few years ago.

He said he isn’t sure what he would do if he wasn’t coaching basketball.

“I don’t look forward to retiring,” he said. “I used to be a decent golfer, but since I had this hip surgery, I haven’t been very good. I don’t like piddling in the yard and stuff like that. I like to coach.”

The Gruhls have three grandchildren, all sons, and while he won’t get the opportunity to coach them, Gruhl said he anticipates roaming the courtside for several more seasons as long as his health allows.

The Knights last won a state title in 2014-15 and lost in the state semifinals last year. They captured the Region 3-AAA title Saturday after beginning the tournament as a No. 3 seed. The Knights appear to be playing their best basketball at the right time — just the way Gruhl wants it.

He has continued to adapt to coaching teenage athletes for more than four decades.

And he’s not stopping — at least not anytime soon.

“I still like (coaching) a lot,” Gruhl said. “I still love the whole process. I guess when I quit loving it, it will be time to stop. I’ll know when that time comes.”

Something Deerfield-Windsor hopes is a long time away.