By Thomas Sellers Jr.
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Photo By aarron fleming
The Millington Star Sports Editor Thomas Sellers Jr. presents the 2021 Male Athlete of the Year Award to Brighton’s Gavin Haynes
With the voting for The Millington Star Male Athlete of the Year opened to the public for the first time through social media, Brighton’s Gavin Haynes was a little nervous about winning the 2021 honor.
The student/athlete who competed under the banners of Brighton and Munford high schools this past TSSAA calendar stood back and watch his peers TJ Graves of Millington win Instagram, Javaris Tolton of Munford win Twitter and Milton Yarbrough of Millington win Facebook votes.
Moving forward in his mind, Haynes was in Florida when he received a phone call. He was informed he had the most first-place votes edging out Yarbrough for the 2021 Millington Star Male Athlete of the Year.
“I know that Milton was right in front of me the whole time,” Haynes recalled. “I was a little worried about it but if he had won I would totally understand. He was worthy. It was kind of surprising because a lot of people don’t know my name. They might know my football number but they don’t know my name. I am very happy The Millington Star and now everybody else knows my name.”
Haynes competed for the Brighton Cardinals in football helping them advance to the Second Round in Class 5A. Haynes was named an All-Region defender.
Then he headed over to the mat and joined David Cline’s Munford Cougars for the 2020-21 wrestling season. Haynes was Region runner-up advancing to State in the 170-pound division. Haynes won a pair of matches at State in February.
“I never been used to being in the spotlight,” Haynes acknowledged. “I’ve been the underdog in every sport since I was 5 years old. I’ve always been the little guy. I never won anything. I’m just very happy I am getting out there now.”
As a child, Haynes parents Jon and Ashley McGrath encouraged him to participate in youth sports. Jon’s passion of football was the activity he guided Gavin. Meanwhile Ashley who wrestled at Munford and was a teammate of Coach Cline, took the reigns on the mat with Gavin.
“My mom and dad are not beat-around-the-bush kind of people,” Haynes noted. “They’re straight forward and honest. They’re like ‘Boy you are 5-foot, 9-inches, and 180 pounds. You’re going to have to take out their knees or have a seat on the bench.’”
Having a connection with Cline, Haynes quickly made a home at Munford. The Brighton Cardinal became a leader among Cougars as a captain. Cline noted Haynes’ natural abilities, passion for the sport and accountability made him the ideal choice as a captain.
“Coach knew how to keep me calm and straight me out when I started messing up on the mat,” Haynes acknowledged. “He and the staff had my back inviting over to Munford. He made me feel at home.”
Joining Haynes at State were Christian Perez Jr., Moe Moktani, Chase Millican, Kannon Blagg and JD Davis. This past season qualifying for State went from the top four grapplers to the final two wrestlers.
“I had to take out one of my rivals from Houston,” Haynes recalled. “He beat me twice earlier in the year. I had to keep getting better and better. And I ended up beating him three times in a row. I knew he was going to go all out and I knew he was going to try to pull something.
“So he started to try to get rough with me and pushes me out of bounds,” he added. “He tried to wrestle me aggressively. But that’s when I turned it on and he didn’t score another point the second or third period. I held him down and made sure he wasn’t going anywhere.”
Being a Regional finalist allowed Haynes to reach State in wrestling. Being welling to play multiple positions on the Cardinal defense granted Haynes an All-Region spot and helped Brighton win a playoff game.
“It was kind of weird,” Haynes said of the season. “One week we would be scheduled to play this one team and then ‘Hey guys we’re not playing this week.’ We have Dyer County in three weeks. ‘So we have three weeks to prepare for our playoff game?’ That’s why were played so well and was able to beat them 48-28.
“It was definitely weird because you didn’t know who you were playing or if you were playing at all,” he continued. “You had no film on them because it was just a week ahead. We would know the Monday of most week.”
Brighton was able to squeeze in 8 regular season games before playing a pair of contest in the postseason. Haynes packed in several highlights in those 10 overall games like four sacks against Arlington and a defensive touchdown at Millington.
“They just knew if I got a hold of you or grabbed your jersey you were going down,” Haynes noted. “You were getting tackled. I was happy wrestling helped me out with that. That grip strength and getting low.”
His hard work finally got his name some recognition as Star Athlete of the Year. Haynes realizes there was a support system of coaches, teachers, administrators, friends and teammate who helped him achieve this goal.
“Feels warm inside that I can make other people smile and feel proud about me,” he said. “I feel like that I will be successful in life. I know that my mom and dad are happy for me. And they’re surprised like me about this. But they really helped me out with this.”
Haynes remembers the tough love given by his dad that made him a better football player.
“Every night since I was in the eighth grade, I am tired and my feet would be hurting,” he recalled. “ He would go, ‘Boy! You know how many times you messed up out there?’ He would show video of me messing up and every little detail. ‘You see your left hand right there? That’s why you got pushed around.’
“He said stop diving, all that good stuff,” Haynes continued. “He would make me watch my videos to see how many times I messed up. That helped me out with that. He got on me about every little detail he knew about with football.”
As for mom, Ashley was the practice partner for her son until he was able to easily beat her. During his junior campaign, Ashley became the head coach of the Brighton Wrestling team just so her son could officially compete.
“There’s nobody else I would have be my mom,” Haynes said. “She’s helped me out with every little thing school, football, wrestling, keeping my grades up. She makes sure I stay out of trouble. I’ve never left the house without her saying ‘ Stay out of trouble.’
“She has made me who I am today,” he added. “This is probably one of the biggest moments of my life right now making her proud. Well, at least the top 10.”
Haynes said making his parents proud is a bonus to being named Male Athlete of the Year. He also realizes he has to live up to the continuing legacy of past winners.
“I just want to be a successful person in life, happy and loved,” he concluded. “That’s all I will need.”
PAST WINNERS
2006 Buck Wakefield Munford
2007 Joe Glass Brighton
2008 Mario Justice Millington
2009 Tausean Holmes Millington
2010 Demetre Jones Millington
2011 Alan Cross Millington
2012 Ricky Foster Brighton
2013 Antonio Webber Millington
2014 Connor Alexander TRA
2015 Logan Stewart TRA
2016 Kip Fleming Millington
2017 Tyler Denson Millington
2018 Carter Weakley TRA
2019 Corey Smith Millington
2020 Tommy Clifton Millington
