Former Anson High School football player and track team member Anthone Harris has taken his acquired skills into a coaching career.
Harris has been a teacher in Cumberland County since 2010 and is an assistant football coach at Fayetteville’s Seventy-First High School. He is a former tight end and wide receiver for the Anson High School football team, and competed in the shot and discus on the track team. He also played basketball for the Bearcats.
Harris moved to Anson County his fourth-grade year from Chesterfield, South Carolina.
“I played football under Fred Davis my first three years and Jody Grooms my last year,” Harris said.
He said tight ends coach Toby McLaurin told him after the last game of his freshman year, “Anthone you are a good athlete, but you will never be any good to any team unless you get your attitude right.”
He added he didn’t consider coaching until spring semester of his junior year.
“I really got close with my position coaches Mike Currie and Josh and Toby McLaurin,” Harris said. “I used to like talking to those guys about the strategy side of football and started looking into coaching.”
Harris graduated in 2004, and attended Fayetteville State, where he played football freshman year. He later stopped due to personal reasons.
Harris said his conversations with his former coaches steered him into graduating from Fayetteville State with a physical education degree in 2009.
Westover Middle School needed a coach the week before the season started, so Harris landed his first field job as head coach there.
“After a terrible year, I had to switch teaching positions, which caused me to leave Westover, and sit a year out from coaching,” Harris said. “In 2013 I ran into an old college teammate and he told me that he was on the staff at Seventy-First High School and they needed coaches, so I should come to talk to the head coach, Duran McLaurin.”
After a short talk on a practice field, Harris was hired.
“Anson County shaped me into the man I am today, by not being a really easy place to live,” Harris said. “I grew up on 109 South in the trailer parks and Morven, and those two places helped me develop a really thick skin. Not much shakes me up or rattles me.”
Harris said he also had great mentors outside of his family and in his coaches.
“It took a special kind of kid to play for those coaches back then, and they wouldn’t let you quit or give half effort,” he said. “My teachers and principals also played a big part in always showing support and interest in what I was doing, especially Mr. McLeod, Mrs. Sparger, Mr. Stinson, Mr. Smith, Mrs. Royal, the Chapmans, the junior ROTC staff, and the best carpentry teacher in the business, Marshall Ray, who was also a coach.”
Harris has been busy since he left Anson County over a decade ago, including receiving his teacher and administrative licenses. He is a 2014 Gardner-Webb graduate with a master’s in executive leadership and is enrolled in Florida State School of Social Work, pursuing a master’s in social work.
Harris also remains involved in the community.
“I have worked with at-risk youth and families that are struggling financially since 2006 in the mental health field as a one-on-one and group home worker in Anson County, Hoke County, Cumberland County, Scotland County, Robeson County, and Harnett County,” he said. “I also take the time to talk with any young person that will listen, especially in Anson County when I am home.”
Players he’s coached at Seventy-First have earned a number of awards. One, Reggie Bryant, was all-state in 2017. The Falcons have been to the playoffs each of the last four seasons, including this past fall with an 11-4 record and appearance in the state semifinals.
“My advice to all the youth that would want to follow me is taking all the advice you can get, study everybody you can study, and then do things your way,” Harris said. “Always approach anything you’re doing with an open mind to suggestions but do it your way. Add your spin to anything you do.”
Harris also quoted Proverbs 27:17: “As iron sharpens iron so one person sharpens another.”
He stated his advice for the community is not to wait for anyone to put you in the position to help the youth; rather, take initiative and do what you can.
“If it is just a conversation to a kid, everything helps. Because I honestly feel that the youth these days, especially in Anson County, need tough love,” Harris said. “Stop giving kids passes and hold them accountable in a way that they know you care but also that you mean business.”
Anthone Harris is an assistant coach at Fayetteville’s Seventy-First High School.
Anthone Harris has coached several players earning awards at Seventy-First, including one that was acclaimed all-state.