Heritage Falls

1

Charlie, Charlie,

Charlie, Charlie, Charlie...

Charlie, Charlie, Charlie,

Charlie, Charlie, Charlie!

Charlie, Charlie, Charlie,

Charlie, Charlie, Charlie!

We're all ready for you, Coach.

Charlie, Charlie,

Charlie, Charlie, Charlie!

All right, all right...

all right, all right!

Well, love that energy.

Love that energy.

You know, when you think of

Stevens County High School basketball,

when you mention it,

when you say those words,

there's only one name

that comes to mind.

Charlie Fitzpatrick.

An amazing man,

but now this mountain of a man

is retiring

from being our basketball coach.

I know.

I know, I know.

I love coach Fitz, too.

But this is a day of celebration

of this man's amazing career.

So without further ado,

ladies and gentlemen,

I present to you right now

the most winningest coach...

Say "winningest"!

Winningest!

Yeah! The most winningest coach

in all of Georgia.

My coach, my friend...

Coach Charlie Fitzpatrick!

Let's give it up!

Wow, guys, this is fantastic.

You know, I was one

of the original players back in the day

with Coach Charlie.

Coach Charlie

was always there for me.

Whenever

I needed someone to talk to

or just to pick me up, he was there.

Man, Coach Charlie

always had time for us.

Coach Charlie treated us as equals.

He always listened.

I mean,

anytime I needed someone to talk to

or just somebody to pick me up,

he was there.

He held us Mustangs,

to a high standard

and himself to an even higher one.

He was like...

He was, uh...

He was like a father.

He was like the father that I never had.

Thank you all so much.

Thank you, Joe.

Most of y'all know Joe

as Principal Allen.

But when I first met Joe,

he was a scrawny little kid

we called "Jumbo."

He ran more suicide sprints

and did more burpees

than any player I've ever coached.

I just never thought

he'd end up harassing me

about filling out my timecard.

Proud of you, Joe.

Proud of all you boys, you men.

I tell you who really should be up here

is the love of my life.

Thanks to her patience

and persistence

and her uncanny ability

to defuse what some call

my dynamite temper,

which I don't know much about.

I think it's overrated.

Technical foul, right there, right there.

Stand up, Laura.

Stand up, sweetheart.

Take a bow.

Give it up for my wife.

One of the greatest privileges

I have ever had as a coach

and as a father is watching my daughter,

Harvey play basketball

for the Lady Mustangs.

Give it up for Harvey.

Stand up, sweet girl.

Harvey, Harvey, Harvey!

Lastly, I don't want to leave out my son.

Proud of him, where are ya?

You here?

Where are you, Junior?

Oh. I, uh...

I'm proud of him, too.

Y'all, I couldn't have done

any of this without my family.

Give it up for my family!

What I'll miss most about this job...

is the people.

The students, the teachers, parents.

We are a team.

We are one.

We are a family!

Hey, Mr. Munpower,

this is Evan Fitzpatrick

over at Southern Scribes.

Yes, sir. I just wanted to let you know

that we got your copy of The Last Ride,

that Tom Edison novel

that you ordered.

Well, do me a favor,

you take a read, and if it's any good,

I'll put it on my reading list.

Mm-hmm. Mmm.

Well, fantastic. Just let me know.

Well, it's here waiting for you,

so whenever you want to come in,

just pick it up.

All right, bye.

Hey, Cedric.

It's Evan over at Southern Scribes.

Yeah, your new Medford book

just got here.

Yeah, fantastic.

Wonderful, yeah.

You have a great day, too.

Thank you so much. Bye.

We should've been there.

Yeah, well we weren't invited.

- Yes, we were.

- No, not by him.

Look at that smile on his face.

I bet he didn't even realize

that we weren't there.

What? Look, I hate going

back to high school.

It's terrible. It's so fake.

The fake smiling

and the fake handshakes.

And then being introduced.

Being introduced,

"Hey, this is Charlie's boy."

"Hey look, it's Charlie's son."

And my personal favorite,

"Hey, look, it's Junior."

Last night wasn't about you.

Yeah, well.

Those are his people.

They love him.

I was never part of that world.

He didn't need me there.

Then stop trying to convince yourself.

Convince myself? I'm not.

Good morning!

Welcome to Southern Scribes.

I am not.

No, I'm not.

What was I supposed to do?

Not announce him?

Oh, call him. Talk to him.

He should call me.

Call him!

The only one that doesn't respect me

is my own son.

He loves you.

He's just different from you.

You think?

Hey, remember the time

he tried organizing your tools?

Yeah, told him not to.

I got a system.

There's a method to my madness.

Mmm.

I've always hoped so.

Don't you think

it's a good idea?

What, to call Dad?

- Yes!

- Oh, darlin'...

every conversation

I've ever had with that guy,

just teakettles into a complete

and total argument.

I mean, it's a brilliant idea though.

I mean, with any other guy,

that would make complete

and total sense.

- What, you mean like with you?

- Oh!

Hey, what does that mean?

It's always his way or the highway.

Well, that doesn't sound

like anybody I know.

I'm his dad.

My way is the highway.

Hey, guys!

Brought your sander back.

Hey, Harv. That was you?

Mm-hmm.

Thought I lost that thing

three years ago.

- Sorry.

- It's all right. I bought a new one.

And it wouldn't kill you to ask.

I'm borrowing this.

Sorry. May I borrow this?

Yes, you may.

So...

you, uh, having Evan's party here?

Well, I'm still his mother, aren't I?

Maybe he'll show up for that.

Come on, Coach.

What'd you expect?

That my own son would support me.

Well, now that you're retired, and,

you know, getting...

You better not say old.

Getting older,

maybe it's time for you guys to...

you know!

No, I don't know.

Bond!

It's too late. It's too late.

- It's too late.

- No, Evan. It's never too late.

Sometimes,

look, just one little phone call

can make a big difference.

I gotta get going.

Markie is coming home at six from college.

Wait, the kid's coming home?

I thought he had exams.

You guys are gonna talk.

- We are?

- Love you, feed the cats.

But... Sure. I love you!

"Winningest" isn't even a word.

It's ridiculous.

You gonna hog 'em,

or hand one to me?

You want plain or jelly?

Jelly.

Laura knows you still eat these?

What's wrong, Coach?

In all the players,

over all the years,

all of 'em looked up to me.

Eventually.

Except my own son.

Just never connected with him

like I did Harvey.

Didn't he try out

for the basketball team?

I had to cut him.

Could've just made him

the team manager or something.

He didn't want to have

anything to do with it.

I had to make him try out.

Okay, so you made him try out,

then you cut him.

Ouch, Coach.

Back when tryouts was over

when we played,

how'd you get us to come together?

How'd you get us

to start being a team?

Took you up to Heritage Falls.

Heritage Falls.

Man, you'd run us up there

for four weekends.

Long ones!

Campfires, comradery.

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