‘It keeps her alive.’ Picayune’s undefeated season is therapy for grieving coach.
Dodd Lee etched a message in the dirt near the grave of his daughter, Tabatha Lee Smith, in Picayune Tuesday morning.
Seated behind his office desk later that day, the legendary football coach choked back his emotions as he shared his brief note — “Love, Dad.”
At 7 p.m. on Saturday in Hattiesburg, Lee hopes to finish an emotional 24th and final season as the Picayune High School head coach with his third state title. The Maroon Tide will take on three-time defending champion West Point in the Class 5A title game at M.M. Roberts Stadium.
Lee, who says he hasn’t missed a day of practice in 40 years, has relied on his job as the Picayune High School head coach to help him deal with the grief of his losing his 40-year-old daughter in an automobile accident on Feb. 2.
Tabatha was living in the community of Hurley at the time and her son, Ethan, was at the East Central High School football banquet that night. Lee’s younger daughter, Devin, is married to former East Central head coach Seth Smith, who recently took the job to become the head coach at Pearl River Community College.
“(Tabatha) had the flu and wasn’t able to come to the banquet,” Devin said. “That was really unlike her, and she was really sick.
“When (Ethan) got home, he called me hysterical because she wasn’t there.”
Tabatha left her house in a hurry that night so she could offer assistance to an elderly woman.
“She sat for an older lady that thought the world of her,” Devin said. “She preferred her over hired help, but (Tabatha) had been sick and rescheduled her shift. She forgot that she had rescheduled for Saturday night and they asked her if she’d be able to come. She didn’t have the heart to say no. A mile down the road, she hit a tree.”
Word of the wreck quickly got back to Devin. Seth Smith called his father-in-law to inform him of the news.
“Dad jumped in his car and came here immediately,” Devin said.
Remembering Tabatha
Lee, who describes football as “the rallying point of our family,” puts the priorities for his family in the order of “God, family and football.”
While Devin didn’t care to be on the sideline during her father’s games, Tabatha enjoyed the Friday night experience and found a role to work alongside her dad as a student trainer.
“That’s what made her happy,” Devin said. “She was deeply passionate about it.
“If you’ve ever been on the sideline with dad, you know he’s pretty intense. I’m not like my sister. I’m not brave. I could have never done that. There was probably a time or two where it got heated, but she handled it. She’d give it back to him. I would have cried and walked away.”
When asked what it was like to have Tabatha on the sideline with him on Friday night, Lee paused and said, “I don’t know. I know what it’s like not having it. So it must have been pretty good.”
The bond between Tabatha and her father was always tight.
“We love the game, but we love each other a thousands times more,” Devin said. “My sister was just like us. She loved family, loved everything about it. She always idolized my dad. She never found the love of her life, but he was the love of her life. Sometimes to a fault. She wanted his approval for everything.”
To keep Tabatha’s memory alive, the family has set up a scholarship fund at PRCC for students who are interested in physical therapy or athletic training.
For Lee, it doesn’t take much to bring Tabatha to mind.
“I think I’m fine, but if I hear somebody say something that reminds me of her or I smell something that reminds me of her or I hear a song that reminds me of her when she was a baby, or something we shared together, it hits you,” Lee, 62, said. “But I’m fine. I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’m glad I hear something and feel that way. It keeps her alive.”
For much of 2018, Lee seriously considered retiring at the end of the season.
Falling a game short of the state title contest a year ago caused him to reconsider, but he continued to weigh his options after the season ended.
“I knew a piece of him wasn’t finished,” Devin said. “I didn’t want him to do anything he’d ever regret. We had a conversation in our living room and we kind of thought about everything that had happened. He was thinking it might be time to (move to Hurley) and call it quits in the spring. But I told him, ‘If you’re not finished, you’re not finished. If you have unfinished business, go back one more year. You know you have a special group of kids.’
“He just kept saying the whole time that we need to be together. He spent a lot of time here. When it got close to spring, he realized he wasn’t finished and he needed football. He needed it more than he realized.”
God’s plan
After finishing the 2018 campaign with a 10-4 mark, the Maroon Tide will roll into Hattiesburg on Saturday with a 14-0 record after beating West Jones 49-14 last week to take Class 5A South State.
Lee, who has a 223-70 career mark at Picayune and a 265-101 record overall, is thankful that he didn’t cut short his career a year early.
“I didn’t know what kind of offseason we’d have,” he said. “With what happened, I’m glad I had something to fall back on.
“It’s great therapy. I think you’re kind of serving others when you do this job. You’re not getting rich, but we make it OK. When you’re serving others and really enjoy what you’re doing, it’s really a blessing. I’ve been doing this 40 years and I don’t feel like I’ve been to work a day in my life.”
Watching their head coach deal with tragedy has also left an impression on players.
“With something like that and the man he is, he took it on the chin,” senior offensive/defensive lineman Deonta Reed said. “He took it tough. He showed us tough. He showed us how to take chin shots. He’s been remarkable all season.”
“We had his back through it all,” senior running back Cameron Thomas said. “That’s why we want to get that big gold ball for him.”
The players’ admiration is shared by their head coach.
“I’ve been more relaxed because I really know our kids, know what a lot of them have been through,” Lee said. “I know how much it means to them. When you know it means as much to them as it means to you, it’s easy to relax and let it go.”
One bright spot for Lee is his son-in-law’s hiring as the head coach at PRCC. The job change means Seth, Devin and four grandchildren will be moving back to Pearl River County after being 95 miles apart over the last seven years.
“(God) knows exactly what he’s doing,” Lee said. “I would have hated to root up and go over there and then him get that job. God has been good to us. We lost Tabatha, but God knows what he’s doing. There’s no doubt in my mind. That’s how you can go on.”
This story was originally published December 4, 2019 at 2:01 PM.
