Greenville High School facilities get ‘Extreme Makeover' too

By Alexis Stevens

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The field house at Greenville High School has been totally gutted.  That's a good thing.

Now, there are new floors, new equipment, and new uniforms. The coach's office even has a touch-screen computer.

This may have been the surprise of all surprises.

Football coach Jeremy Williams knew a popular home makeover show had selected his family to receive a new house. Free of any mold or cracks in the foundation. But more importantly, a livable home for Williams and his family.

Williams suffers from Lou Gehrig's disease, and his young son has spina bifida.

But when the family arrived back at the school after several days of vacation, football players, students and others in the community were there to greet them. Even NFL stars Hines Ward and Isaac Bruce were in town.

Many lined the field, just steps away from the remodeled field house and freshly painted, matching press box. The field house has been named the "Jeremy Williams Field House," complete with a new plaque on an outside wall.

Not even the superintendent of Meriwether County schools, Carol Lane, could have expected this

"Totally floored," Lane said of the surprise.

Lane learned just over a week ago that "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" had chosen the Williams family to get a new home.

“We have very strong faith and we had so many people praying that he would be chosen," Lane said.

Then, show officials asked for Lane's permission to extend the project to the school itself. She had to get permission from the Meriwether County school board, which gave the green light to the project.

And then the construction and television crews hit town. Lane said everyone involved in the project and the show have left a good impression on the small, rural community. And it's not just show host Ty Pennington.

"They are wonderful people," Lane said. "To my mind, the real heroes are the ones behind the scene."

ABC has not announced when the show will air, but Lane said she believes it will be a season finale.

-- Curtis Compton contributed to this report