Today’s interviewee is Corky Kell Classic executive director Dave Hunter, whose event will kick off the 2020 season with the state’s only two Wednesday games – Carver (Atlanta) at Cherokee and Mays at West Forsyth. The schedule includes nine games at nine sites over four days. The Corky Kell originally was planned with four venues, including Mercedes-Benz Stadium, but was retooled several times, adding and dropping teams and sites, because of COVID-19 concerns.
Dave Hunter, Corky Kell Classic executive director
1. We’re on the eve of the opening games of 2020. Given all the uncertainty of this season, how do you feel about where things stand? “We’re anxious. I’d be telling a story if I said we’re not. Everybody is anxious to get going but also to see if we can do it right, as safely as possible, with concern for the well-being and safety of our fans. I’m forever in debt to all the host schools, and the visitors, who’ve stepped up so profoundly to help us make this happen. Most of our sponsors have stuck with us, and we really appreciate that.”
2. What have the past several weeks been like to organize the event and keep it together? “We’ve been through a gauntlet. My blood pressure is not good. We’ve gone from having games at Mercedes-Benz Stadium to doubleheaders everywhere. We had the medical community recommend we not do that. Then we went through playing at nine different sites, then not playing, to putting one game on TV, to putting all of them on TV. So it’s been an unbelievable roller coaster. Nobody can accuse the Corky Kell of not putting forth our best effort to continue this event. The simplest thing would’ve been to cancel because there’s so much to managing it. Whoever heard of nine games at nine sites? Fortunately, we’ve got great athletic directors at these schools. It’s been a monumental undertaking, and financially tough as well, but we made a commitment, and we’re going to try to honor it.”
3. Why not cancel the event and give the games back to the home teams and let them manage it since they’re now being played at their stadiums? “They are managing their own games really. We’re there for the TV part of it and also to be able to put your name on it. It’s our 29th year. We wanted to keep it alive. Not to do that, we send the wrong message to rest of the state. We want to be the shining light on the hill as far as the early season of Georgia high school football is concerned. And being able to put on these first games in the state on TV, it makes it more special for the players. These are going to be games they’ll be telling their grandchildren about, like the first games we did in 1992. We’ve got the coronavirus going on. My gosh. The last time that happened was in 1918, the year my mother was born. They’re never going to forget this. These are unforgettable times.” [All games will be televised by Peachtree TV.]
4. You decided to require that fans wear masks and social-distance at the games. You could’ve left those rules up to the host schools. Why was it important that you make those rules? “We just think that’s the appropriate thing to do when we talked with the medical people. We feel like it’s our brand as well. Two things we think are big – social distancing and mask covering. I don’t think there’s any question that wearing masks thwarts coronavirus spreading. If we’re going to have people together, we should ask the fans to wear those and the players while not playing and the cheerleaders. Some might think that doesn’t pertain to them, but it might pertain to their neighbor. We’re certainly not going to brow-beat people, but we’re strong in our opinion that masks should be mandatory.”
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