GCAC funds scholarships for local athletes, as well as helping local athletic departments. The membership is made up of more than 80 men and women who are graduates and supporters of college athletic programs across the country, including the SEC and other conferences.
To raise money to support scholarships and athletic programs, an annual golf tournament, several trivia nights and other activities help to accomplish the club’s mission.
Each of the eight Fall meetings includes dinner and a well-known guest speaker as well as team reports and a “crying towel” award. The meetings are held at the Craft Farms Golf Clubhouse on Monday evenings.
Those interested in joining GCAC may contact Andrew Harte,
membership chairman, at 251-223-3622 or email at Andrew@remaxgs.com , or go to the website at
If you have identified anyone you would like to invite to join the club this year, please send me their name and email address. I will work with Andrew Hart to solicit these potential members next week.
Thanks you for your continued support of GCAC!!!
President: George Autrey
Website Publishing: Jim Walker
For the 19th Annual GCAC Golf Tournament!
The Gulf Coast Athletic Club opened its August 28, 2023 meeting in the Clubhouse at Craft Farms Golf Resort at 7:00pm. President George Autrey welcomed the crowd of about 60 members and guests.
George welcomed all members and guests and told all we’d try to stay on schedule with our start time. We do need a RSVP for the Craft Farms team to adequately prepare for the buffet meal (which was extremely good) so there are no delays in the meeting.
The annual Football Prolific Pigskin Prognosticators Contest will start with this week’s 12 or so games. A new wrinkle this year is you may pick a key game and, if your pick beats the point spread, you get 3 points credit rather than just one. Might make a difference in the final results in January!
Shug Jordan aka Mayor Steve Means reports his wife is tired of him winning the coveted PP trophy every year, so he urges all to play hard. Cynthia Tunnell aka HiYield has already stated “Momma needs new shoes”, and, as our first two-time Champion, she’s definitely a force to reckon with. Your Secretary knows that too well.
Our Gulf Shores High School Dolphin report was given by new Athletic Director Paul Wilson. Here since February, he loves the place and competitive spirit seen in all male and female sports. Volleyball has started off winning again this year, and of course, GSHS won the opening football game 41-20 over St. Michaels and Coach Philip Rivers. Go, Dolphins!!
Again this year, we will recognize 3-4 male and female scholar/athletes during the year as they compete for GCAC college scholarships worth a minimum of $2,500 each. Dr. Gaylon McCollough and the Board have had this program for many years and its success is notable. Of course, the Club’s purpose is support for GSHS and our athletes and the Club has contributed in excess of $200,000 over the years in support and scholarships. This year will continue that tradition. Dr. McCollough urged the members and guests to support our efforts and told the Club we contributed $10,000this year for the awesome new teal colored helmets for the Dolphins!
Our major fundraising event is our annual golf tournament to be held on Friday, October 28, 2023 at Craft Farms Golf Club. Get your team together and come out and have great fun for a wonderful cause.
Team Reports were given with 19 different teams chiming in on what may or may not happen to their favorites this year. No Crying Towel yet, but just wait until the next meeting!!
Our Speaker is GSHS Head Football Coach Mark Hudspeth, as charismatic a leader as ever found in the High School or College ranks. We’re fortunate to have him as our team runs as efficiently as a college program, acts great, practices great, and plays hard. Coach was 6-6 his first year, then in 2022, led the Dolphins to 11-2 and the third round of the AHSAA Football Playoffs, including the first ever Playoff game held in Gulf Shores.
Coach led the Club in a Snap Count drill and, sorry to say, some of our members were offsides! Coach talked about the transfer portal and its trickle-down effect, with college players now less accountable and the college game changing daily. He talked about great memories in his college coaching career and noted his record is still 3-0 in the Egg Bowl - you Ole Miss and State fans know all about that.
Some random observations during his talk – Coach Hud has 13 players on scholarship from the first two years and 85 players on the team. He has “Graduate Assistant” coaches and all team coaches work with players at lower/young Rec teams to insure the program thrives. The Administration is very supportive.
* “Look good, feel good, play good”
*”Every drive should end in a kick”
*”The way you do anything, it’s the way you do everything.”
*”Players need to be accountable and disciplined.”
*”Make it fun, but also make tough. Make our community better.”
Another great presentation, Coach. We’re delighted you’re here!
GS School System Head Kevin Corcoran talked about where we were in 1999 and where we are now. “Leave it better than you found it”. Dr. McCollough echoed the same sentiment as it’s “a different culture now”.
The 50-50 was awarded to original Club Member Chuck Norwood.
The 9/11/23 GCAC Speaker will be Coach Tony Franklin.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:27pm.
Submitted by Bill Tunnell, GCAC Secretary
From Our GCAC Meeting
Monday
August 28th, 2023
Mark
Hudspeth
Gulf Shores Head Coach
Coaching: Miss St.- Navy
GCAC
2022-2023
Scholarship Recipients
Lily Zlab and Cameron Cooper
with George Autrey and Taylor Means
The Gulf Coast Athletic Club
Is Proud To Announce Our
2022-2023--Scholar Athlete
$2,500 Scholarship Award Winners!
Lily Zlab and Cameron Cooper
Lily and Cameron will both receive a $2,500 Scholarship Award.
The GCAC, through the continued hard work of their members and partnered sponsors, were able to maintain the scholarship award
at the highest amount in the clubs history.
Lily and Cameron were chosen from a distinguished list of Scholar Athletes from the Gulf Shores High School. We wish nothing but continued success in the futures of both our winners and all the Nominees.
G U L F C O A S T A T H L E T I C C L U B
Sign up for the new season of GCAC!
Click here to download information.
The GCAC will be hosting our annual golf tournament on Friday, October 27, 2023 at Craft Farms Golf Club. Mark your calendars and start getting your teams put together. We are looking forward to having another successful tournament again this year, so get your teams put together and sign up today.
This is our primary fund raiser for the year and this tournament helps to fund the scholarships GCAC awards each year as well as supports our Gulf Shores High School athletic programs.
For those that do not play golf, but still want to help out or know a local business that wants to help sponsor the tournament, please let me know. We would love to have you partner with GCAC for this event! Attached you will see the sponsorship packages we have available.
Lastly, be sure to follow GCAC on Facebook where you will find more news on all things GCAC. Hope to see everyone on Monday, August 28th at our opening meeting for 2023.
George Nick Autrey III
President, Gulf Coast Athletic Club
Celebrating Sports Fellowship, Spirit, and Community Pride
Celebrating Sports Fellowship,
Spirit, and Community Pride
The Gulf Coast Athletic Club opened its September 11, 2023 meeting in the Clubhouse at Craft Farms Golf Resort at 7:00pm. President George Autrey welcomed the crowd of 65 members and guests.
President George asked that all members please continue to RSVP for the upcoming meetings. He did mention the first two weeks of the College Football season was crazy.
Going right into the Prolific Pigskin Prognosticators Contest, otherwise as the College Football Pool, we have 39 paid participants this year, so a good award awaits some savvy picker at year end. He mentioned several who were doing well, and last year’s leaders were giving everyone else a chance to catch up early on. BRAUS14 with 11 won Week 1 and JCB4AU took Week 2, also with 11. This year, a new “trick” ploy, picking a key game worth 3 points, may prove to be the deciding factor.
Gulf Shores High School Athletic Director Paul Wilson gave the Dolphins report. Football starts out kicking with a 3-0 record with Regional adversary UMS coming up at home on Friday. Volleyball is in full swing with another great start. Cross Country has started and the year is in a “full go” mode.
Dr. Gaylon McCollough said this is his favorite time of the year, when the Club introduces GSHS Male and Female Scholar Athletes who will compete for the Club’s annual scholarships awarded at year end. These two young ladies are no exception to the string of incredible Scholar Athletes to precede them.
Our first Scholar Athlete is Morgan McCartney, a young lady who is a one-person track team all by herself. Decathlon, Heptathlon, Discus, High Jump, Long Jump, Triple Jump, Javelin, wow, that’s enough right there. She’s been on Varsity Track since the 8th Grade with multiple records in all events. A 4.1 GPA, and National Honor Society member, she plans to compete in College Track somewhere and plans to be an anesthesiologist. She loves Healthcare and is already a Certified Patient Care Technician.
Our second Scholar Athlete is Dianna Moore, with a 4.26 GPA and a 31 on the ACT. She has played Volleyball for 9 years and is Team Captain and on the All-American Watch List. A member of NHS, Sr. Class Secretary, and a Class Ambassador, she plans to go to South Florida with studies in Biology and a career as an Orthodontist. She has a scholarship in Scuba Diving.
A great shout out to Taylor Means for his coordination in this great program.
Team Reports are really good with almost 20 teams weighing in, with longshot Colorado being the highlight this week! Ably handled as usual by the quick-witted Dec McClelland, his “committee” selected none other than the expected Alabama Crimson Tide for this week’s Crying Towel (sorry, Clemson, you dodged a bullet). Fred Dickinson accepted the CT on behalf of the Bama Faithful.
Tonight’s speaker is Tony Franklin, another great example of GCAC members getting outstanding programs and speakers from the entire football community. Tony has been the Offensive Coordinator at Auburn, Troy, California, Army, Middle Tennessee, Kentucky, LA Tech, and others. Tony says there are only 130 team in Division 1 football and he’s coached at or against 80 of them!
This Kentucky native talked about the “Smell of Football” in the State of Alabama. Obviously, he’s had the experience, plus he worked with the legendary High School Coach Rush Propst in creating The Tony Franklin Fast Tempo Football System, a movement that spread throughout the HS ranks, then to the College level, used by more than half CFP college teams and hundreds of High Schools.
Tony then became successful as an author with “Fourth Down & Life To Go” and “Victor’s Victory”, a story about a 15-year-old who died at Football practice because there was no AED Deliberator available, now AEDs are always available. “Do good for somebody who can never repay you.”. Tony Franklin, a fascinating man who was a really impactful speaker.
The $81 50-50 was awarded to Bill Tunnell, who donated it back to GCAC.
The 9/25/23 GCAC Speaker will be GSHG Defensive Coordinator Coach Brian VanGorder, former college and NFL coach.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:25pm.
Submitted by Bill Tunnell, GCAC Secretary
From Our GCAC Meeting
Monday
September 11th, 2023
Tony
Franklin
Former Off. Coordinator
Auburn, Cal, Mid-Tenn,
Kentucky, Troy
