Murray County High School Indians

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September 10, 2012

Murray five-sport standout passes on

By Chris Whitfield chriswhitfield@daltoncitizen.com

Douglas “Bubba” Griffin Jr., one of the most decorated athletes in the history of Murray County High School and a mentor to generations of Chatsworth’s youth as a physical education teacher in Murray County Schools, passed away on Saturday at Erlanger Hospital in Chattanooga after a brief illness.

Griffin was 54.

“Bubba was just an outstanding person, and if you talked to anyone who knew him, they would all say the same thing,” said Bagley Middle principal Spencer Gazaway. “It was certainly a shock and a loss for our family. It is going to be a tough day at school for all of us (today).”

Griffin was a veteran teacher of more than 25 years, working at Gladden Middle and Chatsworth Elementary before joining the faculty at Bagley before the 2011-12 school year. Along the way, he was also a coach for the Indians at Murray County High School.

A 1977 graduate of Murray County, Griffin was a standout athlete for the Indians, earning 19 varsity letters — four each in football, basketball, baseball and track and three more in tennis. After high school, he went on to Tennessee Tech on an athletic scholarship at wide receiver and also played two years of baseball for the school in his junior and senior years.

In 2010, Griffin was selected as one of the 50 Local Legends in a special publication by The Daily Citizen.

“I coached him in junior high school, and when he was a ninth grader, they moved him over to play with the varisty,” said longtime Murray County coach Pete Adams, who helped select the Local Legends.

“Back then the ninth grade was over at the middle school and most of the ninth-grade athletes were on the junior varsity team, but they moved Bubba over right away. He was probably the first sub on the varisty basketball team and the back-up quarterback on the football team as a ninth grader.”

Michael Kimsey, who is currently the head wrestling coach at Coosa High, played for Griffin and said his former coach gave him his start in coaching.

“He was a tremendous guy,” Kimsey said. “He would do anything you needed. He was unwilling to let me fail. He did whatever he could to help me.”

Kimsey was a substitute teacher at Gladden when he expressed his interest to Griffin of becoming a coach. Griffin put him straight to work. He would later be an assistant football and wrestling coach at the high school. He said the loss of Griffin will be felt throughout the area.

“I was pretty devestated,” Kimsey said. “I had heard he had some medical problems, but you never expect to hear the news that he passed away. I was shocked. That is way to soon.”

Griffin is survived by his wife, Denise Pritchett Griffin, and parents, Douglas G. Griffin Sr. and June Griffin.

Services to celebrate Griffin’s life will be on Wednesday at 4 p.m. at the First United Methodist Church of Chatsworth with the Rev. Roger Vest, the Rev. David Evans and the Rev. Robert Staten officiating.

Burial will be in Murray Memorial Gardens, and the family will receive friends at Peeples Funeral Home and Crematory of Chatsworth on Tuesday from 4 to 9 p.m.

Flowers will be accepted or memorial contributions may be made to Cisco Baptist Church, c/o Charlotte Pritchett, 261 Cochran Road, Chatsworth, GA 30705 or Chatsworth First United Methodist Church, P.O. Box 152, Chatsworth, GA 30705.

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