Pat Townsend steps up for the youth of the community

Published 12:06 am Sunday, September 24, 2017

As a father to his daughters growing up in Murray County, Pat Townsend always loved to coach his two girls. As they grew older, he was heavily involved in their lives, working with band boosters and softball boosters at Dalton High School.

In talking to him and hearing stories about his daughters and their successes, it’s clear that Townsend enjoys being a dad.

It’s also clear that he has a message for some who are fathers in name only — step up.

“What kids need today are fathers in their lives,” said Townsend, who has been coaching recreation softball and basketball teams in Murray and Whitfield counties for the better part of three decades. “It’s time for the dads to step up to the plate and be dads.”

Now that his own children with his wife Teresa have grown and moved away — daughter Lauren Reaves lives in Memphis, Tenn., and Linley Townsend lives in Atlanta — for the past seven years, Townsend has volunteered his time coaching girls softball and basketball in the Eastbrook community for the Whitfield County Recreation Department.

Whenever there is a need for a coach, Whitfield County Recreation Department coordinator Ryan Hollingsworth said Townsend, who works for Synovus Banking through Cohutta Banking Co., has always answered the call.

“I really think he would coach badminton if we asked him to,” Hollingsworth said. “You know how hard it is finding coaches, and when you have a guy like that you can just call on whenever you need something, it is a tremendous help. Not enough people are stepping up like that. With Pat, he hasn’t had a kid in our program for 13 years, and he does it because he knows that the community needs it. He has seen it too many times where parents can’t step up.”

Townsend has an athletic background, graduating from Murray County High School in 1971, saying he “played everything.” He was quarterback on the football team and played three years of college golf at West Georgia. Last year, he was inducted into the Murray County Sports Hall of Fame.

“I wish we had 100 people like Pat Townsend who are giving of their time and do it for no other reason than they want to make a difference,” WCRD director Brian Chastain said. “It helps me out because it gives us a coach, but the main thing is that it is so beneficial for those girls he coaches each season.”

Making a difference and having an impact is what Townsend said he his hoping for most of all when he coaches his teams. And it isn’t the star players he remembers most as he said some of his fondest memories are of his lesser-talented players.

“One girl had been on my team for two years in softball and never got a hit,” Townsend said. “And when she finally got a hit, her eyes lit up and she didn’t know what to do because she had never hit the ball before. They make you smile so much and I am just trying to teach them the game and have an impact in some way on them.”

Townsend said after not coaching as his girls got older and moved out of recreation department and travel ball, he was contacted in 2010 by Randy Mashburn to help coach a 9-10 year-old girls softball team. Before the season began, Mashburn died of a heart attack. Townsend and Jennifer Mashburn finished out the year and kept the team together. One of the members of that team was Rana Mashburn, who died of a rare autoimmune disease in 2015.

The next year, Townsend said he was contacted by the rec department and was asked to coach that group again. He has answered the call ever since then.

“No one else stepped up,” Townsend said. “We have a fantastic recreation department and staff, and they do a wonderful job for the kids, but as parents, we have to step up. I have been very fortunate throughout my life to have great teammates in sports and wonderful co-workers, but the best thing I ever had growing up were two wonderful parents that spent endless hours helping me. It’s obvious there are a lot of people who weren’t as blessed as I was, and if you can make an impact in a child’s life, what better thing could you possibly do with your time?”