The Rotary Club of Warren met Tuesday, August 11 at noon inside the Donald W. Reynolds YMCA of Warren and Bradley County for its first meeting of the month. The club members enjoyed lunch before Rotarian Carlton Davis inducted Lena Lambert of Chapel Woods Health and Rehabilitation as its newest member. After the induction, Rotarian Bob Milton introduced his program of Warren Head Football Coach Bo Hembree, which has been a yearly tradition for more than 20 years. Coach Hembree is entering his 27th season as the head football coach at Warren. He recapped last year’s semifinal squad, which included a lot of seniors, before he gave a rundown of what to expect from this year’s team.
Coach Hembree said they will be young, but there is a lot of size on the lines on both sides of the ball and one of, if not, the biggest team he’s had at Warren. The team also has 50 players on the roster, making it the largest number of players he’s had during his time at WHS. The team returns some players at key positions on offense, but the offensive line will feature five new starters. While the defense was not a strong point last year, he believes the front 7 has the potential to be very good but has some concerns in the secondary. The team has two kickers on the roster, and both are talented. The 4A-8 Conference is strong with Stuttgart, Monticello, and Hamburg expected to be tough opponents, but Hembree pointed out all three of those games are at home this year opposed to last year when the team had to travel to all three. The conference also gained Watson Chapel in place of Helena-West Helena. Coach Hembree also touched on the recent success of the girls’ sports at Warren and said he attributed some of that success to athletes, male and female, from multiple sports showing up for summer workouts at 7 a.m., over the last few summers. He said this year they averaged between 180 and 192 kids at every summer workout. He concluded his speech with some questions from the crowd that ranged from this year’s team, other sports at WHS, and what he thinks of the current college athletics landscape. The Rotary Club of Warren’s next scheduled meeting is Tuesday, August 25 at noon.
