People Along the Way----Sex Education, Enterprise Style

The photo of the PE field at Old Junior High brought to memory a humorous story, one that involved Coach Alfred Peavy, Jr. He was my first African American male teacher and was very much a role model to not only the black students in Enterprise, but also to the white kids. He was a giant of a man when I was in 9th grade. He had an incredibly proud, erect gait that reminded me of John Wayne, yet there was humility and love in his heart to all he encountered. He truly had a calling to teach and challenged countless students to continue their education after high school.  He left us too many years ago. I loved him. And I think he may chuckle at this story.  You can read about him here. It is an emotionally charged tribute to this great educator. 
 
I encountered Coach Peavy at Old Junior High in 1971. He was a

man you immediately loved, feared, respected and revered. I was a skinny little 9th grader, and along with my best buddy Ron Bissell, we joined our other 15year old  male students with that toxic brew of adolescence running through our veins in his PE class. He didn't dress like your typical coach; he wore golf shirts, dress slacks and leather soled dress shoes most days. During our PE class, his favorite spot was under a shade tree, balancing an old rusty folding metal chair against the tree trunk. 

Coach Peavy had a special command when he wanted your attention. He would holler, "NOW NOW NOW NOW BOYS!" It was actually more like the first 4 shots of a Thompson machine gun without any spacing..."NOWNOWNOWNOWBOYS!" It was  usually followed by "STOP ALL THAT PLAYIN'!"

One day a classmate, Willie, walked up to 'the spot' and boldly went where no kid had gone before, even though there was kidding in his voice.
"Coach, you sit there in that chair and order us around. You mighta been a good basketball player once, but you just old and fat now." 
"Boy you need to hush. Stop that playin'!"
"Coach, you couldn't catch me if you tri......"

Before Willie could finish the sentence, Coach Peavy pounced like a 'wildcat' on an unsuspecting hare. Willie was fast and made a few jukes, as he knew Coach was wearing leather soled flat shoes and may be able to outmaneuver him. It didn't last long. Coach Peavy's huge hand swatted Willie's boney butt much like a big cat would do to its prey, knocking him off balance and sending him tumbling to the ground. He immediately put a knee on his back  and asked him, "WHO IS SLOW?" to which Willie hollered, "ME ME!" 

It was great fun back then; nobody was hurt (well, except Willie's pride) and there was plenty of laughter.  This incident  reminded me of the scene in 'To Kill a Mockingbird' when Atticus was forced to shoot the rabid dog. His son Jem was speechless, not knowing that his scholarly father was also the best shot in Maycomb Co. Coach Peavy made a huge point that day. He was an athlete and the relaxed state against the shade tree was merely what predators do...until they are ready to hunt.

We were 'dressing out' one day and Coach Peavy came into the locker room and shouted, "NOWNOWNOWNOW BOYS! Get changed because I want to talk to you about some issues relating to the human body! Hurry up!"

Ron Biss and I looked at each other. Finally, an adult was gonna set things right. The locker room was revving like a '68 Chevelle awaiting the start of a drag race on a country road.

Left to our own devices, most of what we knew about sex was limited or just plain wrong. A few years back in 7th grade, 3 of us boys were goofing off in homeroom before the first bell. One kid announced to me and our other friend that he knew how babies entered the world. He described (perfectly, mind you) the exit point of a human infant from the mother. My friend and I listened in utter horror and shamed him beyond belief. We didn't know what was 'down there', but we were sure that it was impossible for a baby to enter the world from such a mysterious region of the female body. (I am sure many mamas have said the same thing during labor. Ron Biss told me years later that a female friend of his described childbirth by telling him to imagine pulling his upper lip over his nose, and stretching it to his forehead. And then she said, "You are half way there.")

Coach Peavy reentered the locker room and thundered, "NOWNOWNOWNOW Boys! You see that commode over there? When you have to pee, flip that lid up. When you have to take a dump, flip that lid down. Nobody wants to sit on a lid with pee on it. Oh, and you are gonna get 'the blue ball' at times.  Just deal with it. Any questions? OK, go get your laps in."

That was it? To say that the energy of that locker room dissipated was an understatement. Forget the hopped up Chevelle. We were more like a  lowly Ford Maverick with four deflated tires and a dead battery in the Piggly Wiggly parking lot. There was only one comment in the entire 'lecture' that was slightly interesting and that was this phenomenom called 'the blue ball'. (Feel free to google it, I won't go into detail.)

We figured it must be some mysterious and subsequently terminal disease for bad behavior and sordid living. It actually became quite a punch line for things related and unrelated: 
"Dude, you have had too many beers, you are gonna get the blue ball." 
"Girls from Daleville are such teases. Give you the blue ball."
"I'll see you about 7. I gotta get a shower, that nasty water at Little PC is gonna give me the blue ball."

The way I look at it, Coach Peavy was a genius. With no internet then, he allowed us to develop our own interpretation, thus preventing some, but not all, nefarious acts in our futures. What ever it was, it was linked to a discussion about a dirty toilet and therefore could not be very good. Coach, I hope you are laughing from your heavenly home.

As I left Enterprise Jr High for the high school, I was pleasantly surprised to see Coach Peavy promoted to one of two Vice Principals at Enterprise High. He and his counterpart, Coach Thad Morgan, (there are so many colorful stories about this man -- I would need a week to write) were 'running buddies' during my entire high school years and had a special mix of fear and love that kept students on the straight and narrow back then. Coach Peavy served the Enterprise System for 36 years and left this world in 2001.