Coach puts parent attack in perspective

"Being a coach, sometimes you're a father, sometimes a brother" to the athletes, he said. "You get to know them personally. Find out what's going on with them, their family life."

To Moses, coaching is more than serving as a role model, especially for boys from single-parent homes. It is a continual search inside each player's soul to discover what is special about him. Also, for what motivates him, so Moses can punch the right buttons of inspiration.

"I use what you'd call tough love, he said. "I wouldn't let that incident change my style of coaching."

But the incident has changed the man.

Moses pays increased attention to adults attending practices, especially those he does not know.

"I keep my eyes open. I keep my ears open," he said. "I make sure I know what's going on around me."

His comfort level, while far from normal, marks an improvement from the early aftermath of the attack. Engulfed by paranoia, he would peek out the living room window at the sound of a car heading down the street.

Facial injuries, mainly around his mouth, that necessitated 15 stitches and surgery have not fully healed. For six weeks after the assault, he could eat only soup and dropped 20 pounds.

Moses said his wife urged him to quit coaching or, at least, transfer to another school.

He told her, "You have this one jackass. . . . I can't stop doing what I was put on earth to do."

The couple already was dealing with other issues. The assault, he saidsuggested, was one too many logs on the fire. They have since divorced.

"It happened at a bad time," Moses said. "It brought out more problems."

Another victim was their son, Joshua, now 9. A constant presence then at practice, he witnessed the aggression from close range.

"I took the physical part of it. Emotionally, it hurt my son," said Moses, grimacing at the memory of the youngster's sleepless nights that required therapy.

"It all kind of terrorized my family."

The Moses were acquainted with the parent who committed the assault, Ronald Lee, and his family. Hurricane Katrina had driven the Lees out of New Orleans, and they had settled in Mableton. Lee's wife oversaw the high school's athletics booster club. Their son, also named Ronald, competed in track, too. One of his coaches was Moses.

In an interview, Moses said he had ordered the young Lee and other players who were tardy earlier that week for weight training to run sprints. According to Moses, Lee refused and was instructed to join in or quit the team.

"I'd never really seen the kid act like that before," said the coach, whose younger brother Quentin is a former University of Georgia player and fifth-year pro linebacker with the Miami Dolphins. "He was real disrespectful that day."

The player was so upset, Moses said, that he went to the dressing room, tore off his uniform and cut his hand while pounding a locker. Moses said he and another coach patched up the cut.

Lee's father, a truck driver, came to a subsequent practice. During full team running, the final ritual before adjournment, he approached from across the field and said, "Coach, I want to talk to you," presumably about the player's status, according to Moses.

As the coach turned to blow his whistle, he was punched, dropping him to one knee and darkening his shirt with blood. He is convinced that Lee was wielding brass knuckles, but no such evidence was found.

Ignoring Lee's claim of self-defense, a jury took less than an hour before finding him guilty of aggravated battery of a teacher/school employee, which calls for more severe penalties than most other forms of battery. Lee, who later expressed remorse in court, also was declared guilty of child cruelty. He is serving a five-year sentence at a state prison in south Georgia.

"I feel like justice was served," Moses said, regarding the sentence. "Next time, it might not be a punch.

"If he'd wanted to fight me, that would have been fine. He could have said to meet me in the street. . . . I've forgiven him, but I"ll never forget."

Moses missed two games of the 2008 season to recover, then returned to work on Senior Night. He said some players angry at young Lee went through his locker and wanted to fight him.

"There is no need to retaliate," Moses told them. "We don't need any more violence."

As a young teen, Moses was surrounded by violence in a rugged neighborhood in the Athens area. He was a ninth-grader when a Coach Williams -- Moses never knew his first name -- began riding driving him to and from practice to make sure he stayed engaged in sports.

"Coach Williams showed me the way, how to work hard," Moses said. "He kept me off the streets."

Moses said he raised his dismal grades to A-level and was admitted to Clark Atlanta University, where he played sports, met his wife and scored high academically. "Sports saved me," he said.

He strives to pass it along to his players, including to young Ronald Lee, whom he considers another victim.

"He's a good kid," said Moses. When they first met after the assault, Moses said he received an apology and told the teen he held no grudges.

"He's turned into a real gentleman," Moses said. "I'm proud of him."

Soon after the beating, the young Lee joined the Navy. He continues to serve, according to his mother, who declined to comment for this article, deferring to her husband. Attempts to reach him for comment by telephone and mail were unsuccessful.

This spring, Moses, who also has a young daughter with his wife, will complete his 10th season as a coach and teacher at Pebblebrook. He has scaled back slightly, handing over defensive coordinator duties in football to focus on the linemen, but remains involved "24/7; no time off," he said, even extending his involvement with kids to Sundays by working with his church's youth ministry.

He cannot imagine being addressed as something other than Coach Moses. Yes, he acknowledged, maybe the attack did alter one aspect of his coaching.

"I have," he said, "a deeper passion for it now."