Q&A: Blanton thrived behind the scenes at East Burke

Tommy Blanton never served as a head coach at East Burke High School despite spending the last 20-plus years involved in Cavaliers’ athletics.

And he wouldn’t have it any other way.

Blanton retired from his carpentry teaching role at EBHS at the end of the spring semester about three months ago after starting at the school in the 2007-08 school year.

The 1981 EBHS graduate and Icard native started as an assistant coach with the Cavaliers boys basketball program prior to that time and was an EB assistant football coach each of the last 18 years until this fall.

As a student-athlete at EBHS, Blanton played quarterback in football all three years, played infield and pitched in baseball all three years, and played two years of basketball.

After graduating from EBHS, Blanton earned his undergraduate degree from East Carolina University, where he played intramural sports. He was then in the management program when he worked for Milliken and Co. and lived in three different states for about six years out of college before going into business for himself briefly.

Blanton entered the education field in 2001 at East Burke Middle School, where he served as a coach in both football and basketball and was a career decisions teacher for six years. During that time, Blanton became a national board certified educator, a title he held for 20 years spanning his time at EBHS.

He later went back and earned his masters degree from Appalachian State University.

“Coach Blanton had been the head (basketball) coach at East Middle for several years (before he arrived at EBHS),” 13th-year Cavaliers boys basketball coach Jerome Ramsey said. “He and I worked under Coach (Jon) Hancock as assistants until I got the head job in 2013-14.

“There are few other people that I can think of that have had the impact that Coach Blanton has had on the EB community, specifically athletics. He loved kids and was a natural communicator and encourager. He could relate to the kids in a deeper way because he grew up in the Icard area and played on the same fields and courts as an EB graduate. We always joked about how he and former assistant Lee Shook would battle it out on the Icard blacktop. There’s no way to tell how many kids Tommy has helped through the years.”

Ramsey said Blanton didn’t just help the kids. Rather, Ramsey leaned on Blanton on more than one occasion and was not left disappointed.

“As for his impact on me personally, it has been immense,” Ramsey added. “He is the most positive person I have ever been around. He is a great motivator and organizer. But, more than anything, he has been my friend. He’s been there in the highs and the lows, early in the morning and late into the night. He is always willing to do anything asked of him, no job too big or too small. He has supported me personally, professionally, and spiritually. They’ll never be another like Tommy Blanton and the impact he has had on the EB community.”

Crystal Bartlett, East Burke’s 11th-year head girls basketball coach, agreed.

“Tommy has been a wonderful mentor over the past 18 years,” she said. “He has always been someone who I could go and talk to not only about coaching but life in general. He has always been a great leader in our athletic department, and we will miss him dearly.”

Blanton and his wife, Cindy, have two children, Jared and Ashton. Jared and wife Kelly have two children, Kennedy and Blakelee, and Ashton and husband Jay also have two children, Nathan and Ava.

Blanton recently discussed various topics with The Paper. Here’s some of what he had to say:

Q: When and how did you get started in athletics?

Blanton: “My dad (Willie Blanton, who passed away in 2018) spent a great deal of time with me there on the ball field at Icard Elementary, hitting groundballs and tossing footballs. As a kid, you grew and that’s what you did. We grew up playing sports. That translated into youth football, and I played there on Icard school ground for the Hildebran/Icard Little League, and I played basketball and baseball through Hildebran/Icard too. My dad was very instrumental in my participation in athletics as a kid, high schooler, and young adult. He was very encouraging, and so was my mother, Kay. That was a big part of my life on up through Hildebran Junior High, where I played all three sports.”

Q: What are some of your favorite memories from your days as a student-athlete at EBHS?

Blanton: “I remember in football, of course, Fat Fridays. That was a very special time to be a part of that as a player, all the fans that would come to those games. It was a tremendous opportunity for a young kid to be able to play in front of that many people.

“Our coaches were, in my mind, tremendous men that led us back in those days. Coach (Danny) Williams, Coach (Jerry) Murray, Coach (Wayne) Fletcher, and many more, you never forget those people. … We were a pretty competitive football team, and we usually enjoyed the playoffs and were able to go and be a part of that experience.

“My junior year, we went to the third round of the state playoffs. And then it was a little different where the next game would have put us in the state championship game. I have a lot of memories around that, and the people I played with, we were like a family basically.

“In baseball, Ron Hastings was our coach, and I just enjoyed that time with him. He was a very good coach. We were not at the top of the conference, but we were a competitive little team. Just the experience of being part of something bigger than yourself and being out there and playing any sport for your high school is an opportunity that I’ve looked back on many times in my life and am very thankful for. When you get older, you appreciate more how those opportunities helped develop you as an individual.”

Q: How did you first get involved in coaching?

Blanton: “After college, I went into the workforce and didn’t think too much about coaching. I played softball and played a little pickup basketball and stuff like that. I came back home and was asked to coach a youth rec team at Hildebran. I started coaching a little old pee wee football team at Hildebran and just enjoyed being around it and taking care of those kids. I probably spent six or seven years doing that and helping Hildebran/Icard football.

“From there, I ended up going to East Burke Middle School as a teacher and wasn’t even thinking about coaching, I was just looking for work and a different career path at that time. And dag gone, if you’re a male in the school system and have any idea to tell the kids which direction to run, they’re gonna want you to coach. So I quickly became a football coach and the head basketball coach. I also worked with the athletic director on organizing events and stuff like that.”

Q: Tell me more about some of those events?

Blanton: “From East Burke Middle School, I was the founder of what was called ‘Raider Stars of Tomorrow.’ It was an effort for all the youth basketball teams in the county to come together and have a two-weekend tournament, and it was a very successful fundraiser for our school. I was really glad to be a part of that.

“And then about 20 years ago, we started the Burke County youth football jamboree at East Burke. It’s got as high as 36 teams in the past.”

Q: What are some of the things you take the most pride in from your coaching days at EBHS?

Blanton: “I coached basketball at East Burke High School for over 20 years. I never worked under (former coach) Rob Bliss, but I looked over our feeder program, East Burke Youth Basketball, at that time. Then after Coach Bliss, I coached under Billy Anderson and Andy Hodges for one year each and then under Coach Hancock and Coach Ramsey.

“We had some really good teams there. One of the things I’m most proud of is East Burke basketball went to the playoffs like 20-something years straight. For a long time, we were able to get into the playoffs and play every year. We had some great kids to play, and I’ll always cherish that as a coach, some of the things we were able to do. It was a wonderful time in my life.

“With football, we made the third round of the playoffs in 2015, and that was a great memory to be part of that. Before that, watching Tyler Shatley play and lead that (2007) team to where it was able to compete at a high level was memorable.

“Initially, I came to the high school because I was asked by Coach (Mike) Biggerstaff to be part of his staff. I was the youngest of the staff, and every other coach on that staff had high school head coaching experience. Just to be able to be part of a group of men like that as just a flunkie from Icard was very special to me.

“Aside from coaching, my carpentry class would do handicap ramps in the community through Foothills Service. We would do small projects and roofing with the kids. And (masonry teacher) Bruce Abernathy and myself took kids out and built single-family houses in the Connelly Springs, Rutherford College, Icard area.

“Bruce and I would find the land, the county would buy it, we would go out and clear the land, dig the footings, build the houses, and they would sell on the open market. It was a tremendous project that Burke County Public Schools allowed us to do. We probably built four or five houses while I was there. And to this day, I build houses primarily because of that time at the high school. I’m a licensed general contractor now. I launched out from that and started doing it on my own. In retirement, that was sorta my plan.”

Q: I used to see your dad at all the EBHS games. Tell me more about his support of Cavalier athletics?

Blanton: “My dad supported East Burke athletics financially. I remember as a kid, him loading us on the back of an old open truck and driving us to Asheville to watch East Burke play a football game up there. When the school first started and they were playing (home) games over in Hudson, we would go watch them there. He supported East Burke athletics in general my whole life. He was a huge fan of the kids and the community and helped coach at the youth rec level and watch some of those kids develop into high school athletes. His life centered around sports, and I guess that’s why I took up sports and wanted to be part of it. I watched him cheer on his Cavaliers, and through good years and bad years, he was always positive and would cheer them on.

“The school came to me when my dad was sick and recognized him and put a plaque up in the gym. It says ‘Willie’s Corner.’ Coach Ramsey and (former EBHS athletic director) Jim Childers were instrumental in recognizing my dad for his support. He came to every ball game really from the time the school opened. He was kinda behind the scenes, he was never the person out front. He would just quietly give, sacrificially a lot of times. … He bought East Burke’s first giant inflatable helmet that the team runs out of to open games, and after he did that, you started seeing those helmets pop up at Shelby, then at Crest. Everybody wanted one.”

Q: What makes EBHS so special that you dedicated that much of your life to it?

Blanton: “I remember when the people from the community were building that (football) stadium, I would ride my bike over and watch them. … When I was a kid, (EBHS) was a community. It’s a community that you grew to love. It’s a community that pulls for its kids, and I was one of those kids. And being able to experience that growing up playing ball there, it gave me a desire to give back.

“The community support and encouragement, the togetherness that was built around not only athletics but the school itself made me want to be able to give back. East Burke is home to me. It wasn’t a job. It was where I felt most comfortable. I could’ve probably done a lot of other things in my life with my background and experience, but I don’t think I’d trade it for anything in the world. I wouldn’t want my time spent anywhere else than in this community helping kids along. Now that I’ve got a couple generations of kids under my belt, they’re parents now, and you start seeing their kids. It’s rewarding. I’m coaching my grandson’s youth football team this fall over at Drexel, and there’s three or four kids I had there that are adults now and have their kids out playing. It just fills your heart up exchanging memories with them now. Hopefully, I’ve had a positive impact on some kids who will feel the same way I felt and want to come back to their community and give.”

Q: You also served as EBHS’ Athletic Hall of Fame chair for a number of years, correct?

Blanton: “Yes, and over my time, we inducted about a dozen people into the hall of fame. I haven’t handed that off to anybody, so I guess technically I could still be the chair. … Bruce and I got donations and built a wall over inside the football field to put the plaques on as we induct people.”

Q: Not many folks stay at one school as long as you did and prefer to remain an assistant coach. What made that role, as opposed to head coach, the right fit for you?

Blanton: “I never minded being in a support role and being the person that could just support my head coach. I don’t have to be out front and have to be in that role to make the final decisions. There were opportunities throughout my coaching career to probably be that person, but I felt more content and useful in a role of support and it not being about me. I just never pursued (being a high school head coach).

“I remember a conversation that Coach Ramsey and I had after (Coach Hancock) left, and I said, ‘Coach, listen to me. I want you to be our head coach. I know there’s talk about which one of us will be the head coach. I want you to do it, and I want to support you. I’m not going to put my name in the hat.’ I was honored to support him as the head coach and wanted to let him know where I stood on it.

“My heart has always been helping the kids. Every coach in football that came gave me a voice. And every coach in basketball was the same. I had a voice with Coach Ramsey that he would trust me. I just felt good in that role. I didn’t have to be the one in the limelight, I didn’t have to be the one talking to the newspaper. But if the chips were down, I was going to be there to support you and that kind of thing.

“I served on committees that helped bring coaches to the high school and was asked why I wouldn’t consider the job. I felt like I was better-equipped to be a support person.”

NOTE: Excerpts of this Q&A were edited for brevity and clarity.