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When he wasn't coaching, Fisher DeBerry and his wife, Lu Ann, did just about everything together.
So, when DeBerry retired Dec. 15, 2006, he turned in the extra car and figured that Lu Ann's would be all the couple would need. Just over a year later, he's in the market for a new truck.
That's because, after 23 years of coaching football at Air Force, DeBerry -- who will be the featured speaker at the Orangeburg Touchdown Club's end of the year banquet Saturday night -- hasn't used retirement as a time to settle down. On the contrary, he's cranked it up.
"We are having a great time," DeBerry said. "We knew it was the right time (to retire) and nothing has caused us to think otherwise. We've had a great time doing things that previously the job and recruiting keep you from doing. We spent most of the fall traveling, renewing frie-ips and meeting new people."
There was a lot of football along the way. DeBerry took in the Air Force-Navy game, watched Boston College play, watched Wake Forest play, watched Wofford play, watched Appalachian State play and closed the year out by taking in Air Force's 42-36 loss to Cal in the Armed Forces Bowl on Dec. 31.
DeBerry described it all as a "big party," but not all the miles were recorded in the name of retirement bliss. In fact, many of the miles were recorded on the way to speaking engagements and the like which support the Fisher DeBerry Foundation and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA). The Fisher DeBerry Foundation, in its fourth year, aims to help children in single-parent households.
"Traveling so much, what I saw appalled me," DeBerry said. "Every year it seemed like I was in more and more single parent homes. It's a national concern."
And, one that is close to DeBerry's heart because he grew up in a single parent household.
"I watched the sacrifices my mother ('Mimi') made," DeBerry said. "We never had a lot, but we were never deprived of love. I worked the whole time I was in school to buy my clothes and tennis shoes and things. I went off to college and they somehow sent me spending money here and there.
"I did a book about four years ago called, 'For God and Country,' and it reflects on my perceptions of life," he continued. "I gave all the proceeds from the book to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and I'm going to try to do another little book on the power of influence with testimony from former players and coaches about the power of athletes and athletics. All of the proceeds from that book will go to my foundation."
And so, Saturday, DeBerry will fulfill another speaking engagement to support his foundation when travels from his home on the Isle of Palms to speak at the Orangeburg Touchdown Club's end of the year banquet.
"I'm disappointed that I didn't get to coach against (Buddy) Pough and South Carolina State this year," he said. "But, I am excited about coming down and seeing him and Willie Jeffries who I have admired and appreciated throughout his career. If I would have had a chance to play them it would have been good because I know what they are trying to do with their program."
DeBerry doesn't figure to be the only star in the room for Saturday night's banquet at the Cinema in the Old Orangeburg Mall. According to Touchdown Club President Don Tribble, many of the players named to the Touchdown Club's All-State college football team -- including such names as Clemson quarterback Cullen Harper and tailback James Davis -- are expected to be in attendance.
Doors open at 6 p.m. Tickets are $30 for adults and $15 for high school or younger, and are available for purchase at the Orangeburg Chamber of Commerce, Centrex Promotions, South Carolina Bank and Trust, Hibbits Insurance and Community Resource Bank. For more information, contact Tribble at 803-533-6821.
-- T&D Sports Editor Brian Linder can be reached by phone at 803-533-5553 or via e-mail at blinder@timesanddemocrat.com. Check out his blog, Welcome to Linderland, at www.thetandd.com. --