A legendary coach. A legendary man.
Carl Roland was born in Chester, Georgia, the youngest of 7 kids to a single mom. His family moved around a lot to anywhere his mother could find work. And everywhere they went, Carl and his brother made sure they found friends to play baseball with. Carl started playing baseball when he was 4 years old at the neighborhood sandlot and then organized baseball when he was around 6. Being that money was always tight, he depended on hand-me-down equipment for many years. When Carl was 10 years old, his family moved to Smyrna, Georgia where Carl and his older brother Bill attended Belmont Hills Elementary School. The story goes that the principal, Mr. Parker, asked if the Roland boys played basketball. The brothers answered that they could, but had never played on a team. Mr. Parker, undeterred, asked if they had shoes. They did not. Their principal didn’t seem to care and told them to be at practice on Monday. When they arrived, there were uniforms and brand new shoes waiting for them. Carl remembered that feeling of having his very own uniform until his last day.
Carl started working as soon as he was old enough to make sure he could buy his own equipment, but one time, he was happy to use a hand-me-down. During high school, the baseball team’s equipment manager was also the assistant equipment manger for the Atlanta Braves. That worked out very well for the Campbell High School team, especially Carl. He found himself batting with the legendary Hank Aaron’s discarded bat for two seasons until no amount of glue or tape would save it. A used bat was never loved so much.
When Carl became head baseball and softball coach at McEachern High School, he noticed he had players who, just like him years before, couldn’t afford new equipment. He recalled one player showing up to practice with a glove that had a shoestring where the webbing should have been. The next day, Coach Roland gifted his very own Wilson A2000 to that player. That was the first gift of many. Coach made sure any kid who wanted to play had the equipment to do. Each season he would purchase an assortment of bats so every player who needed one would have one.
Even after he retired, he sponsored countless players from rural areas in Georgia who couldn’t afford their equipment or registration fees. And so we continue the tradition in his name.