MOULTRIE – James Kling grew up in Dalton and went to college at Georgia Southern in Statesboro, so he was a mite taken aback when he drove into Moultrie in mid-December 1994 to interview with Rick Gehle for a job with the recreation department.

The community was a bit smaller than he had been used to and he wasn’t sure about those Christmas lights cascading down from the cupola of the courthouse.

But after more than 22 years here, Kling and his family have become fixtures in the community, and he has no plans to leave.

He’s even grown to appreciate the seasonal beauty in the downtown Christmas lights.

Kling has worked out of the same office since the recreation department moved from the old barracks building between the pool and the tennis courts to its current building during the summer of 1995.

But he has spent more of his time around the playing fields coordinating recreation sports programs, most noticeably baseball. Many folks probably cannot remember a spring evening at the Magnolia Complex without Kling in ball cap, polo shirt and cargo shorts overseeing the proceedings.

And overseeing them with competence, confidence and his singular laughter.

His knowledge, ability and work ethic have not gone unnoticed by recreation director Terry Peek, who promoted Kling to his assistant two years ago.

“He handles all the athletics for me,” Peek said. “Any questions that come up, I refer them to James. And that’s such a blessing. It lets me concentrate on administration and swimming.”

Kling was a linebacker and sometime offensive guard for Dalton High and its legendary coach Bill Chappell from 1987-1989.

In 1988, when Kling was a junior, the Catamounts went 13-1. The team slipped when he was a senior, going 7-4.

Kling went on to Georgia Southern, where he got a degree in recreation and heard about an opening in Moultrie from Gehle, also a Georgia Southern graduate.

Also on the recreation department staff then were Jim Burrows, Beth Redding, Kurt Stringfellow and Connie Leigh.

If Kling, 23 then, was confident in his knowledge of baseball and running a program, that confidence was tested his first summer.

Harry and Larry Spires, Jimmy Spires, Richie DeMott and Darrell Flowers were among the recreation coaches. They were knowledgeable and experienced.

“They educated a new college kid real quick,” he says with a laugh. “Let’s just say it was a learning experience.”

Kling has also coordinated the department’s football and basketball programs over the years, but baseball has been the marquee sport.

Despite the rise in recent years of travel baseball, the program’s numbers have been fairly consistent, he says. Pony League was dropped for several years, but was re-instituted with four teams and 48-50 players each of the last three years.

With many of those youngsters also playing seventh- and eighth-grade baseball, the league doesn’t start until those school seasons are completed.

“It’s a fun league for them,” Kling says. “They get to go out there with their buddies.”

Travel baseball has not impacted the recreation program to a large degree.

“We’ve been fortunate,” he says. “Other communities have been devastated by it.”

Farm and Midget league baseball had strong and consistent participation over the years and draws large crowds during the spring season and during the summer tournaments.

Recreation football has been affected to some degree the last few years by the Pop Warner teams, which Kling compares to travel baseball.

Regardless of the sport, the success of the program depends on volunteers to coach the young players and to officiate the games.

“And we’ve been blessed with volunteers, good volunteers,” Kling says. “They are the backbone. Without volunteers, we don’t do anything. We couldn’t coach 24 teams.”

Coaches are often easier to come up with than people who call the games.

There again, the recreation department has been fortunate.

Kling ticks off the names of Bobby Davis, James Stancil, Ronnie Holt, Andy Kistler, Phillip Brinson, Willie Key, Johnny Robinson, James Stancil III, Dusty Dalton, John Rowley and Mitch Marchant as residents who have trekked out to the diamonds in spring and summer to don shin guards and chest protectors and umpire youth baseball.

And, for the most part, fans have been content to watch the youngster play and urge them on with a minimum of problems.

“Ninety-nine percent of the parents will do anything to help you,” Kling says. “Most of them want to help the kids out.”

In fact, Kling says the recreation department itself takes little credit for the youth teams that have won state championships and have their players’ names on banners at the Magnolia and Jim Buck Goff recreation complexes.

“We’ve been blessed that our rec program often wins in GRPA state baseball and softball,” Kling says. “A couple years, we’ve had multiple winners.

“But that’s all the players, the coaches and the parents.”

Kling and wife Angie, the social worker at Sunset Elementary School, have seen both of their daughters play recreation sports and go on to compete at the high school level.

Older daughter Amber was an outstanding infielder for the Colquitt County High softball team and currently plays at Valdosta State. She also was a fine soccer player.

Younger daughter Jami is currently playing soccer and softball for the Lady Packers.

As the regular season in baseball is coming to a close and tournaments are on the horizon, Kling is getting to share the recreation department office with an old and dear friend.

Kevin Giddens, the former Colquitt County football coach and athletic director, was hired to join the staff and is handling softball. He replaced Lynn Bennett, who retired.

Not only do Giddens and Kling share an affinity for sports, they also have been known to find a pond and wet a line.

Peek, Kling and Giddens are looking ahead to the future of recreation athletics in Colquitt County. Volleyball will soon be a sport played by girls at the high school. The recreation department will have to decide if and when – and how – to integrate it into its program.

The department also is facing something of an unknown in that as of July 1, it will no long fall under the auspices of the city and county governments, but rather will be directed by a new recreation authority.

Regardless of the future, it was the enjoyment of athletics that has led Kling to a career in recreation. He has no complaints.

“It’s all worked out,” he says. “I’ve told people that there’s never been a day that I dreaded going to work. Oh, there have been some long days and some hard days.

“But when you see kids playing ball, that’s what it’s all about.”