Section I: Todd Wheaton, where are you now?
I now live with my wife, Susan, in Marietta, Georgia. We both work at Kennestone Hospital, where I am an Anesthesiologist and she is a nurse in the Cardiac Cath Lab. We work on separate floors of the hospital and thus are still happily married after almost 2.5 years! We have no children as of yet. We have a little time, as Susan was in the 4th grade when I graduated from Midway. (cradle robber)
Section II: Q&A
SORSN: You come from a family rooted deeply in Midway High School lore. Your mother, Janet, a long time school teacher at Midway, your father, Glenn, legendary football coach, principal and community member and your brother, Lance, still holds most of the football passing records at Midway. Tell us how the Wheatons of Middle Tennessee and western North Carolina ended up South of the River. Tell us what it was like growing up SOR.
Todd: To be honest I am not sure how they ended up here after they finished college in Middle Tennessee. (Job opening I suppose)
Small, isolated area especially in hindsight after living in Memphis, Atlanta, and Durham, NC. BUT the isolation is missed!!! SOR is not as isolated as it used to be. I can still remember the curves along the river just after Hilltop on your way to Kingston. They would add 10-15 minutes to your trip into town and take 1-2 years off of your life if the wrong person was behind the wheel! Six Flags over Georgia has nothing on Coach Branson or Sybil Jean driving a “big yellow dog” around those curves. (Both were excellent drivers, but the ride was something else in a school bus going through 90-degree hairpin turns)
SORSN: Your dad, Coach Wheaton, there is so many stories, many of which can be read and reminisced on this website. The pant leg cutting incident, the “Coach Branson, somebody shot me in the back of the leg” during the Kingston game story, the legendary “Whoop, Whoop, Whoop” during tackling drills. Do you have a favorite story you can tell about your Father?
Todd: Here’s one that not many know about. Dad grew up on a farm and had, of course, chores to be done around home. His parents did not believe in or allow him to play sports during early high school. So Dad did what he had to do. He sneaked off to practice football after school and eventually did his chores, much later than usual. It didn’t take long before my grandfather figured out what was happening and punished my dad. And back then there was no sitting in a corner, time out, or being grounded from watching television! Dad however continued to practice and my grandparents soon realized the boy’s love for the game since the beatings didn’t seem to be working. My grandparents eventually relented and allowed dad to play. They soon understood the benefits of team sports and all are lovers of the game today.
SORSN: Tell us about growing up the son of the elementary school principal/football coach and a schoolteacher. Could you get away with anything at school without your parents knowing about it?
Todd: With Mom at the high school (7th-12th) and dad at the elementary school! Are you kidding? I didn’t even try to get away with anything that an adult parent might frown upon. ☺
SORSN: You played for head Coach Stanley Branson during your high school football days and played basketball for long time Coach Stanley Galyon. Tell us what you learned from pulling on the Green and White number 81 in football and lacing up the high tops for Coach G.
Todd: They taught me a great deal about cooperation, patience, competition, the thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat. The friendships, laughter, struggles of practice and getting your butt kicked in game all came together to help me establish an identity. Twenty or thirty different individuals coming together for a common goal. Part of me didn’t need football or basketball but I chose not to quit. Team sports are a great deal like life outside of school. Most jobs and careers will have a need for cooperation, patience and will be filled with competition, struggles and defeat. Many different individuals coming together for a common goal. Life lessons learned early and how to deal with them; that’s what these two coaches helped to foster at Midway HS. The second most important thing Coach Galyon taught me was “only a stupid man continues to make the same mistake.”
SORSN: Has your wife seen a photo of you in either of these uniforms? What was your 40 time back in those days? 4.5 and if the wind was blowing just right, 4.4. Those shorts you used to wear were kinda short weren’t they?? How about the basketball warm-ups? Pure polyester?
Todd: Those shorts were in style back then! As for the warm-ups, pure polyester and plenty warm. But I never understood why we had warm-ups in the first place? We only wore them for what seemed like 5 minutes and spent the next 10 trying to get them off!
SORSN: Growing up in Anglers Cove, you were part of what would be considered by today’s standards, a gang. You, your brother, your neighbors Lance, Lori, Lisa and Lucky Easter, Mary Jo Sneed, Brian and Melissa Ogle, David and Eddie Eastburn, Keith Thornton. Who have we left out? Were you a participant or recipient of any “drive by eggings”, or any all out “assaults by water pistols or water bombs?”
Todd: I’m afraid that I am too old to remember much about the good ole days and “all that we did” back then. Next question, please!
SORSN: There were some vicious hits in the “Annual Anglers Cove Ice/Snow Bowl” that traditionally was held in your side yard (cedar tree is out of bounds) on a snow days from school.
Todd: It is a miracle that no one broke any bones or a skull with those games, especially with the large out of bounds trees! Those cedar trees ate more footballs, kickballs, Frisbees, and spears. Spears!? Yes, spears, sticks, broom handles, rakes, anything that could be thrown into the tree to dislodge the ball that was stuck there after being thrown or kicked into it. Of course, the spare balls were the first things that were thrown into the tree to dislodge the ball we were originally playing with. Many a game was forfeited or ended prematurely this way (obviously, I did not have the privilege of being taught by Coach Galyon yet).
SORSN: Anything you look back on and say “how did we survive doing that?
Todd: Bottle-rocket wars with my best friend Jimmy Russell against my brother and Lance Easter. Never knew that little thing could knock down a 200+ pound man. Learned something new about physics that day, didn’t we Jimmy.
SORSN: Did you or anyone you know ever participate in the “long standing but difficult to pull off without getting caught” tradition of rolling Coach Mike Hayes yard? Do you keep in contact with any of the old “gang”?
Todd: I personally never attempted such a feat, but did hear several stories from a few close acquaintances. But then again didn’t just about everyone try to roll Coach Hayes yard?? In my younger days, around Halloween, I was usually at Coach Wheaton’s trying to scare off any would be TP rollers because Lance and I would be the only ones cleaning it up the next day!!
SORSN: Summers growing up SOR were spent on Watts Bar Lake, in the hayfield making a couple dollars or cruising the Dairy Queen or Kingston Park in “town”? As a grown up resident in the big city of Atlanta, do you ever long for a day when you can hang up the white coat, skip the endless stream of northbound traffic, jump in the Old Blue Ford truck and head down highway 58 and spend the day fishing for some crappie/bluegill or chucking some hay bales onto the wagon at the Tilley farm? We know you have a lake story or hay hauling story you can tell.
Todd: Lance and I would go “inner tubing” in the early fall when the lake was no longer busy with summer boaters. Dad’s bass boat would easily scream 45-50 mph down the lake. One day after trying to break each other’s neck on the tube, we decided to go down the main channel as fast as we could on the way home. Lance said if the surface was just right and he set the trim just right we might hit 55+ mph. Well, I think we hit the mark, but I KNOW we hit a big wave made by a passing fisherman. The boat as well as everything and everyone in it went airborne. Time stood still, my heart stopped, and my life passed before my eyes. Needless to say, I have never tried to go that fast again. Neither has my brother.
SORSN: You have proceeded far in your educational and professional career? Any advice that you can give for the student population that makes up a high percentage of our readership at SORSN.com?
Todd: Study, study, study. Nobody wants to hear it, but making the best grades that you can now, will often have a big impact on your life later. The higher your GPA, knowledge base, and test scores are, the greater your opportunities will be for the next stage in your life. Take it from some of us who have been there, the more opportunities the better. Of course you must balance school with your responsibilities to your family, chores, physical health, God and/or work. By the way, consider a career in the medical field. The need for doctors, nurses, and technicians is great and will still be there many years from now. It is Guaranteed employment for those who apply themselves.
SORSN: Being a doctor and all, maybe you could consider “referring” some of the pharmaceutical reps that most likely visit you from time to time to our website as potential sponsors? SORSN.COM as brought to you by Pfizer, or SORSN.COM sponsored by Merck has a nice ring to it don’t you think? Just a small co-pay would be sufficient. Any help here at all? You know both the editor and developer have formula and diapers to buy right?
Todd: The reps do not visit very often or give us (anesthesiology) much attention as compared to other physicians. The hospital provides us with the drugs that we use for surgery and these are contracted through the hospital and drug company/supplier. The best we ever get is a nice lunch or dinner provided by the drug rep.
Todd thanks for taking time out of your schedule to speak with us and the community. SORSN.com is proud to claim you as one of our own.