Highlights - Front Page - Christ Church Episcopal School

Opportunities for Students and Alumni
I will never forget Sam Wyche, former
Furman football player, professional
football player, sports shop owner, and
NFL head coach, who spoke to us at
the former Lower School downtown
sometime in the 1970s. He was always
second-string quarterback in college,
second string in pro football, second to
open a sporting goods store in Greenville,
and always assistant coach in the NFL.
Then, when someone retired, he got to
be first: head coach of the Cincinnati
Bengals.
You never know when your chance will
come and you never know when you will
receive recognition for your efforts.
Though I will speak today of my
career and experiences with some
words of wisdom thrown in,
this occasion has given me an
excellent opportunity to reflect
on my career, my strengths, my
weaknesses, and, most of all,
my passions. For after having
a fantastic thirty years after
graduating form CCES, my life
has changed; and I am having to
re-establish my career for the next
thirty years. Life will constantly
throw opportunities and threats
at you, many times beyond your
control; but be thankful your
education here at CCES is part
of an enlightenment and social
foundation that will help you
handle those obstacles and seize
those opportunities the rest of
your life, especially in your career.
I am not going to try and compete
with the wonderful careers and
presentations of those alumni who have
addressed this forum previously, but I
will attempt to give you some insight
and encouragement about someone who
was not first in his class, but did study
hard and maintain above-average grades;
who was never most valuable player on
the soccer or tennis team, but always
won the sportsmanship award; who
began playing a very different musical
instrument—bagpipes—when his friends
were learning the guitar, piano, or drums;
who did not go to an Ivy League school,
but did attend Sewanee, the Harvard of
the South; who took the first job he could
land out of college in New York at the
bottom of the totem pole, and ended up
working in Dallas, Texas, soon after with
continued on page 19
English teacher Barbara
Carter introducing
keynote speaker Appy
Apperson '79. After he
expressed amazement that
she, his former teacher,
is still alive, and she that
he graduated, Mrs. Carter
teared up with pride at
“how Appy turned out.”
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