After four decades of loyal service, local legend Wilson Blair has decided to retire from his duties at Athens High School.

Blair, a 1960 graduate of Athens, has worked as the maintenance supervisor at the high school for 30-plus years. He’s also in his 50th year as a radio broadcaster for the Golden Eagles’ football and basketball teams.

So why has Blair dedicated so much time to his alma mater?

He claims that the Athens black and gold is just something that grew on him.

“Being an Athens Golden Eagle means a lot to me,” said Blair, who was inducted into the Limestone County Sports Hall of Fame in 2004. “I was raised up as a Golden Eagle and that’s what I’ll always be. There is so much tradition at Athens High School, it’s just hard not to be proud of it. I’ve been real lucky to have been around so many good people at Athens.”

Blair said he can thank former Athens coach Ferman Elmore for giving him his start as a broadcaster for the Golden Eagles.

“He’s the one who was responsible for everything,” Blair said. “He ran the sports program at Athens back then and he was a great coach. If I had to compare coach Elmore to someone today, then it would be coach (Rush) Propst at Hoover. He was real tough and ran a solid program.”

In the late ’50s and early ’60s, Athens competed in the Tennessee Valley Conference. Blair said he misses the old days when the conference was at its peak.

“Back then, we played against teams like Sheffield, Deshler, Coffee, Decatur, Cullman and Huntsville,” he said. “All of those teams were strong and there were some good football games every week. I’d rather have the old Tennessee Valley Conference today instead of the playoff system we’ve got now. All of the schools were close and it made some huge rivalries. Those were the good ol’ days.”

One of Blair’s best memories of broadcasting an Athens football game was the 1953 and 1954 series with Decatur. He said Athens-Decatur was already a good rivalry, but that’s when the series became what it is today.

“Athens-Decatur is probably the oldest rivalry in the state, but before either 1953 or 1954 Decatur had pretty much controlled the series,” Blair said. “But after we beat Shorty Ogle and Decatur that year, it’s pretty much been an even series from that point on.

“They say that’s when the traditional pep rally on the square started, but actually we had every pep rally on the square back then. It didn’t matter if it was a home or road game, we had a pep rally out on the square. The only thing we did different was we had the pep rally on a different side of the square every week. We’d start the season on the west side steps and end the season on the north side steps.”

Some other good memories are is the 1975 and ’76 state championship football teams and watching Philip Rivers play at Athens Stadium.

“The championship years were real fun,” Blair said. “Coach (Larry) McCoy had some good teams those years. Philip (Rivers) did a lot of great things at Athens too. But I remember another Athens quarterback who I think was just as good. We used to call Paul Wayne Bolton “Mr. Quarterback” because he could do anything. I’d have to say Bolton was the best quarterback Athens has ever had, with Rivers right behind him.”

Blair was quick to note that football isn’t the only great athletic program he has seen in his years at Athens.

“Athens has great athletic tradition in almost everything,” Blair said. “We’ve got strong tradition in football, boys and girls basketball, softball, wrestling, tennis and golf. The main reason for that tradition is because we’ve been blessed with some wonderful coaches and players. That tradition is what makes this school so great. It gives the students something they can be proud of.”

Blair said he doesn’t have any official plans after retirement, but he knows he will continue to broadcast athletic events for a few more years. He said he also plans to work with the National Weather Service by helping broadcast severe weather situations on the radio.

“I guess I’m going to have a lot of free time now,” Blair said. “I’ll probably do a lot of volunteer work at church and go see a lot more UNA games. I’m definitley going to miss working at Athens because of the kids. Anytime somebody asks me if I have any kids, I always tell them I’ve got about 800 different kids a year. All the students who’ve went to Athens are special to me because they’re the ones who make this school special.”