By Ron Barry
Managing Editor
While getting ready to tip off a brand new season, Kayla Irvin has been honored for her previous one.
At the West Regional Meeting of the Tennessee Secondary Schools Athletic Association (TSSAA) last week, the organization selected Crockett County’s basketball mentor as its Female Coach of the Year for 2022. Irvin’s young squad – then without a single senior – completed a 21-9 campaign with a loss in the West Sectional game at Fayette-Ware, just one step short of a state tournament berth.
The award is part of the TSSAA’s A. F. Bridges Awards, given in honor of the entity’s first executive secretary, a post he held from 1946 until his retirement in 1972.
“Under his leadership, athletics in the state of Tennessee reached a level of excellence and competence that earned the respect of all people,” the TSSAA said. “Mr. Bridges was a person of high principles who displayed firmness and fairness, as well as the high ideals of ethics and integrity as he and many other school people established the foundations of the TSSAA.”
That same description – except for being a founding father of the group – can be applied to Irvin, a Union University Hall of Famer who came to Crockett County and has molded her own teams around the philosophy she developed playing for the Lady Bulldogs’ Mark Campbell and being the point guard for a national championship squad.
The A.F. Bridges Awards program includes Divisional Awards for schools that have shown exemplary sportsmanship and awards for individuals in the categories of School System Administrator of the Year, Principal of the Year, Athletic Director of the Year, Female Coach of the Year, Male Coach of the Year, Official of the Year, and Contributor of the Year. In total, the awards recognize 63 individuals and as many as 27 schools from all parts of the state that represent what’s best in high school athletics.
Nominations were made by a Citizenship/Sportsmanship Committee and member schools in each athletic district, and the final selection was made by a State Selection Committee.
Irvin’s 2022-23 edition of the Lady Cavaliers debuted last night at Union City in a game scheduled to begin after The Crockett County Times had gone to press. A full report of that contest, along with this week’s Friday night home opener against Millington, will be in next week’s issue.
