Alan Cross was the 2011 Star Male Athlete of the Year. He is now back at Millington Central High School as an instructor and coach guiding players like ace Wesley Culley toward the upcoming 2020 season.
By Thomas Sellers Jr.
A familiar face to Millington Trojan Athletics, Alan Cross won The Millington Star’s 2011 Male Athlete of the Year with All-District honors in football, basketball and baseball.
After racking up the best stats for any tight end to ever play at The University of Memphis, the Flag City product made his way to the NFL playing three seasons for the Tampa Bay Bucs.
Then Cross decided to make a career move joining the staff of Mike Norvell at The U of M. Fast forward to 2020, the son of Brad Cross is now being referred to as “Coach Cross” by some on the campus of Millington Central High School.
“It sounds good,” the 2011 MCHS graduate said. “I was at Memphis last year and it took me a while to get used to it. But I got used to it last year at Memphis. They call me ‘Coach Alan’ every now and then.”
Now the Alternative School instructor with a degree in Chemistry, has joined the staffs of Head Coach Colter Millican in baseball and Head Coach Chris Michael in football.
“It feels great to come back home and give my knowledge,” Cross said. “I don’t have a lot of baseball knowledge but its hard work, dedication and doing the little things right will carry you a long way in any sport.”
The current group of Trojan players have seen Cross around over the years because he always came back home during his down time. Several of the children can pull up his biography on Wikipedia and other Millington products in the pros like George Odum of the Indianapolis Colts.
“It means lot with George still in,” Cross noted. “Coach (Ray) Wilmer played a little bit of pro ball. It’s really cool to have the guys say, ‘Hey you really played in the NFL.’ I say, ‘Yes and I set in that very dugout.’
“ It comes back to doing the little things right and soaking up things like a sponge like Coach Wilmer taught me,” he added. “You try to get better at something every day.”
Cross said his main focus is getting better daily at being a direct positive influence on the students of Millington.
“I am becoming friends with them, not to friendly,” he said. “But giving them somebody to be there, being their mentor I guess. They don’t have a father figure. They don’t have a mother figure, similar situation to me.
“I grew up with just my Daddy,” Cross continued. “I can kind of relate to those kids. It’s kind of cool seeing them get better. Just like in baseball, seeing them get better with something every day.”
The everyday element Cross misses about the NFL is his teammates.
“I miss the guys,” he noted. “When I got to the league, everybody said it’s more of a business. I definitely learned that by my second year. You’ve got to pay taxes in state you play in. It’s a lot that goes into it that takes away from the fun of the game. I do miss the guys for sure.”
But his new duties as a coach will give Cross a chance to have fun with sports again.
“I never lost the love of the game,” he concluded. “It just took the fun out of the game with the business element. I’ve always loved the game. I still go out there and play with them right now. I was just really tired of it and ready to move on. This will hopefully restore the fun for me doing this here. That’s the plan.”
