Cloudland will be honoring a legend on Friday night.
The ‘Landers will officially dedicate the press box as the Garry Oaks Pressbox in honor of longtime Cloudland assistant and teacher Garry Oaks in honor of his years of dedication to the school prior to Friday’s game against Hancock County.
Oaks served as a coach for the Cloudland football program for 40 years. Oaks served as head coach of the program from 1970-1975, and then stepped into an assistant coach role after a year off. From there, Oaks served as an assistant for 35 years under Head Coaches John Orr, Mike Lunsford, Gary Keith and Robbie Turbyfill.
During his coaching career, Oaks coached in 428 games –missing only two games – for the Highlanders. Cloudland recorded 24 playoff appearances, 20 conference championships, 15 playoff victories – including Cloudland’s first win in 1987 – and a state runner-up finish in 2001 with Oaks on the staff. During his 40 years, Oaks worked on five undefeated regular season teams.
In 2014, Oaks was inducted to the Carter County Sports Hall of Fame.
