Gaither coach Mark Kantor isn’t from this area, so you have to forgive him for not knowing, at first, the legend that is Billy Turner, though he quickly learned. And also learned how much love Turner has for all the area football players.

“It was my first year at Gaither [seven years ago] and we were playing at Chamberlain. I was walking around the field as my team warmed up when this older man came up and started drumming up a conversation about Gaither and the fact that there had been a different coach there every year for the past five years. He then said to me, “if you leave after the first year, I will find you and kick your tail.” I went over to the sideline and told my wide that an old man had just threatened to kick my butt.

“Billy just cares so much about the kids in the county and he wanted to see some stability at Gaither.”

Since Kantor has been at Gaither the past seven years, Turner never had to go through with the threat.

“Two hundred and fifty victories is an amazing accomplishment and I think 100 of those are against Mark Kantor,” Kantor said. “I congratulate Billy Turner and when he is gone from coaching, I think the county will miss a true to heart guy.”