charlie mcfall: a remarkable history
In the spring of 1970, Charlie McFall was anxiously preparing to graduate from Randolph-Macon College and take his chances in the real world.
Problem was, he wasn’t sure exactly where the real world would take him.
His dad was a coach, athletic director, and math teacher. His mom taught high school English and French.
Education was the only profession he knew, but beyond that, he hadn’t given his career path much thought.
Along the way, McFall had gotten to know Mac Pitt Jr., the director of Camp Virginia where he had been a camper, then a counselor.
He was also the head of what was then called The Collegiate Schools, and, seeing his protégé’s potential, offered him a contract for all of $6,200 a year.
Meager as that looks today, it was a deal he couldn’t pass up.
“When Mr. Pitt said, ‘Sign the contract and send it back,’ you didn’t tell him, ‘No I want to think about it,’” McFall said with a smile.
“I signed it and sent it back the next day.
“The rest, I guess, is history.”
A remarkable history at that.
During his 43-year tenure on North Mooreland Road, McFall taught math, coached varsity football and baseball, pitched in with younger teams when needed, and, since 1987, served as director (or co-director with Karen Doxey) of athletics.
He’s also set the tone for the total program and in so doing continued the legacy established by A.L. “Petey” Jacobs, the AD from 1960 until his retirement in 1981.
“We all learned from Petey,” McFall said. “He was a great advocate for his coaches, but the coaches had to understand that the game is for the kids.
“Here, it’s always been about letting the kids shine. I truly believe that.”
When this school year ends, McFall will retire to his workshop and his various hunting venues and fishing holes.
The time has come, he says, and he has absolutely no regrets.
“I’ve always enjoyed getting up and going to work each day,” he said.
“If you can go through your working career enjoying what you’re doing, where’s the down side?”
There have been many highlights and certainly improvements during his time that began when Collegiate’s athletic campus included a barren wasteland that’s now the Grover Jones Field and the tract just to the south that became waterlogged each time it rained.
In the ensuing years, the area on the east side of campus was cleared of trees, and the Robins Campus became a garden spot.
In 1986, Collegiate’s structure changed to the current Middle School/Upper School setup, and the girls’ athletic program came into its own
“When I got here, we had eight varsity head coaches and the girls had maybe three,” McFall said.
“Now, when I look back at the total program, we’ve had a great staff, both men’s and women’s. Our girls’ program is as big as our boys’. The kids have been great. We have very few complaints. We’re really spoiled.”
One bump in the road came a decade ago when the football team went 1-6 although the other varsity teams were holding their own against tough competition.
“Everybody was saying, ‘What’s wrong with the athletic program?’ McFall said, “so we started a task force.
“Nothing was wrong. The football team just wasn’t very good.
“The next year (’03), we won the state championship, and everybody forgot about the task force.”
Other highlights, he says, were coaching his son Chuck ‘98 and Russell Wilson ‘07, who led the Cougars to state titles in ’04, ’05, and ’06 and now is a national sensation as the quarterback of the Seattle Seahawks.
Superstars, though, have been few and far between at Collegiate, and, as a coach, McFall proved a master tactician who found a way to put undersized, less talented athletes in positions where they could succeed.
As AD, he counseled coaches that success was measured more by the quality of each athlete’s experience than by a win-loss record.
And in an era when recruiting appears the norm, he’s stood fast to the time-honored principle that Collegiate will develop its athletes from the ground level up.
“It’s a cliché, but we’ve done things the old fashioned way,” he said. “You take the kids the parents send and do the best job you can.
“Solid coaching and our strength and conditioning program are critical.
“If a kid applies and meets the criteria, that’s fine, but our coaches aren’t going out and recruit them like they’re in college.”
When we begin anew in August, the landscape will be different without the long-time face of the program on deck from dawn ‘til dusk.
Doxey will be the AD. Andrew Stanley and Will O’Brien will serve as associates.
Rather than handle a million challenges and inquiries that came his way, McFall will be adjusting to a well-earned slower lifestyle and enjoy the activities he often put on the back burner amidst his 70-hour weeks.
“I’ll try to go hunting every day until I get sick of it,” he says. “I love to garden and build stuff like wood duck boxes, bluebird boxes, and picnic benches.
“The next generation can take care of business, but it’s not like you can leave the kids. That’s why I got into this in the first place.
“I definitely think I’ll have enough time to go hunting and then go to games.”
