Cristian zaharia
President George Autry welcomed all 65 present to the October 20, 2025 meeting of the Gulf Coast Athletic Club at Craft Farms Golf Resort in Gulf Shores, Alabama. The meeting started at 6:56pm. All guests and new members were introduced.
Our 21st annual Golf Tournament will be this Friday, October 24th at Craft Farms with an 8:30am shotgun start with approximately 100 players. Partnering with the Maidens of Mischief, our Silent Auction will have a preview Thursday afternoon at the Craft Farms Happy Hour starting at 4:00pm. Conclusion of the Silent Auction will be after play on Friday. Winners do not have to be present to win. Bid often and bid high!!
Mayor Steve Means came to the GCAC podium to preview excerpts of his upcoming book about Papa Rocco, our very own Bill McGinnis, who passed away earlier this year. Papa left Steve handwritten notes about many things in his life, including some great comments on his time and feelings in GCAC. Also, he mentioned some nice thoughts about Dr. Gaylon McCollough. Looking for a release date soon, and a Celebration of Papa’s life will occur in January 2026 when the Snowbirds get back in town. Go, Blue!!
President George gave an update on the Football Pick ‘Em Pool for Chairman Zach Estes. Week 7 saw ChiliCheeseDog on top for the week with Matt Akin ahead for the year. Week 8 saw Keith Roberson, Rolltide#1 and Linda “Coastal Girl” Jones as the leader again with MagicPicks Akin slightly ahead yearly, followed by your Editor, Battleship60, in second, Greg Edmonds in third, and two-time Pick ‘Em Champion HiYield aka Cynthia Tunnell closing in. Momma needs new shoes!!
Coach Watt gave the Dolphin Report. Volleyball is headed to Montgomery for Regionals and, if successful, on to State. Swimming is doing well with 10 State qualifiers. Football has been close, but disappointing. Two closing wins gets us into the Playoffs. Go Dolphins!!
Dr. McCollough introduced the second of four sets of Scholar-Athletes vying for GCAC scholarships awarded at the end of the year. Our Female honoree, Kate Cimino, has a 4.3 GPA and 28 on the ACT, and excels in Basketball and Soccer. This National Honor Society member also has a part-time job. Finance will be her Major at FSU, Georgia, or Alabama.
Our Male honoree, Tres Moore, a Baseball standout, has a 4.3 GPA with 27 on the ACT. He was named the 2025 Man of Character, plus memberships in the NHC, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Turning Point and others. College plans are still up in the air.
Team Reports were again handled by Mr. Irish himself, Dec McClelland. After the usual reports, well, call them what you want, the coveted Crying Towel was awarded to the Nebraska Cornhuskers (Jim Walker, where are you?) for their disappointment against Minnesota 24-6. Thanks, Jeff, for being a good sport.
Dr. McCollough introduced one of our most unusual, but incredibly interesting programs ever. Dr. Christian Zaharia, OLV, a distinguished Olympic Games winner from Romania with a Bronze Medal in Team Handball in 1992 while competing with a torn ACL. His wife also won medals in Swimming at the 92 Games as well and shared some startling facts about her careers and the Communist athletes she competed against. He turned to Coaching and had success with the World Team and also in the US, being honored as Coach of the Year in 2002-03. He currently is Director of International Sport Business Development for the United States Sports University (formerly Academy) in Daphne, Alabama.
He earned a MBA in Business and then his Doctorate in Business Administration, and titled his presentation as “Pursuing Excellence: Olympica and the Role of Skillcourt in Athletic Development”. Several NFL teams are using this technology to “rewire your brain to become more efficient” through Visuals, Communications, and Kinetics to improve results.
This phenomenal training program teaches the athletes to increase their reaction time and reflexes in sports and other situations by conditioning response to stimuli by “slowing down” but actually increasing a response effort to situations, whether it be in sports, military or police happening among others. He cites determination, integrity, and resilience as developmental tools incorporated into SkillCourt training to create faster reaction with more efficiency. As he said, sports can change your life. Well done, Sir!!
The 50=50 was awarded and the Meeting was adjourned at 8:26pm.
Next speaker on November 4th will be former Alabama and NFL star Antonio Langham.
Respectfully submitted,
Bill Tunnell, GCAC Secretary
