The entire Moultrie and Colquitt County community is very proud of the accomplishments of not only our football program but all of youth who participate in extra curricular programs in our schools, and I say thank you to all of the men and women who work with our youth. Please be aware that all of your hard work is greatly appreciated.

Over the years a large number of scholarships have been awarded to athletes in our football program. For that we applaud the coaches who miss evening at home, Little League games, dance recitals, etc because you are working with the young athletes in our community not only to help them with athletics but to also to help to build character, develop leadership ability and head them in the right direction to becoming good men and productive members of society. My question over the past years has been: Why are there so few of these scholarships awarded from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)? We all know that the ability levels of these young men are different; we also know that not all of these kids are Division I level athletes, and some are not even Division II and that’s okay, but my question is, are the kids allowed to talk to all recruiters whether they are D1, D2, HBCU or the smallest football program in this country? My question to coach Propst is, are all of recruiters given as much of your time as is the D1 recruiters? Are the HBCU recruiters given any of your time? The word in the black community is a “NO.” You are always too busy or you don’t have time. I am not one to listen to idle gossip, so I ask you, is this a true statement?

I thought the whole idea is to get as many young men in college as possible and it does not matter on which level they participate. If football is the vehicle by which he can earn a degree, then does it matter which school it is? A degree is a degree.

What are the chances of a kid playing professional football in this county? The percentage is very low, but his chances of earning a college degree is much higher if given the opportunity. We have an HBCU 40 miles west, 60 miles south and one that is 105 miles north of this community — and there are very few athletes who attend them or earn a football scholarship, why? It can’t be that we don’t have the athletes, because have some of the best in the nation so again, why?

As a citizen of this community, a former educator, and an HBCU graduate, who is married to an HBCU graduate, whose children are HBCU graduates, I say the young men and women in this community deserve the opportunity to make choices, and you as coaches and educators should not hinder them in any way, whether its UGA, VSU, or ASU an education is an education. If it takes football, basketball, band, choir, softball or any other extra curricular activity that will help a kid to get a degree, I say to you, help them as much as you can.

I don’t know that it’s fact that Coach Propst being head coach, doesn’t take time for HBCU recruiters or that he doesn’t allow players to talk to them, or whether he even allows his coaches to talk to these recruiter, or he does not encourage player to attend HBUC. If this is idle gossip then, please accept my sincere apology, but if it is true then I say to you “Shame On You” and the allegations need to be investigated by the Colquitt County Board of Education. I dare not think that in 2018 that this is the kind of attitude that persists among the people who work every day with young African American males, that those days in 1965 that I spent in jail for the cause of freedom, were spent in vain.

Packer Fan and Proud WBHS Ram,

Judy Yearby Holton