Captain Gabe Thomas, Captain Allan Walsh, and Sheriff Steve Lawson of the Bradley County Sheriff’s Department visit BGCOR Tucker Unit; Walsh and Thomas reminisce about time spent at Club during childhood.
Monday, March 25, special guests from the Bradley County Sheriff’s Department—Captain Gabe Thomas, Captain Allan Walsh, and Sheriff Steve Lawson—visited the BGCOR Tucker Unit to share from their perspective about the impact of the Club.
Sheriff Lawson was the first to address the capacity crowd of board members and guests.
“As I thought about what I was going to say to you today, I thought about how I can compare the Boys & Girls Club to the job we do. It is a privilege to be the sheriff, and I’m blessed to have this job. But, like you, we have good days and bad days. You said you have 800-900 kids walk through your doors on a daily basis. Well, I have about 500-600 walk in my doors. We want to reduce that number. One of the slogans I’ve heard is, ‘Build more Clubs and less jails.’ Dr. Linda Cash, Director of Schools for Bradley County, is here today. Where do we start on that, Dr. Cash? I want to make a trend at the Sheriff’s Office where our people can get into the schools and communicate with the youth. I want them to know that we’re not bad guys, we’re your friends. We have a D.A.R.E. program, which is good, but maybe we need to look at expanding on that with something that fits our community and works well with the Boys & Girls Clubs. I’d really like to create programs where we actually get to know the students and they get to know us. I think that’s where we need to go.
“We have SROs [School Resource Officers] in every school. We want to be trained to respond to active shooter scenarios, yes, but we also want SROs to have a bond with kids. And we need to educate kids about drug avoidance. We’ve got to educate our kids early and get their attention early as to how drugs will affect them. I’m all on board with what we need to do to join hands with the Boys & Girls Clubs and whatever we can do on our end to help. We appreciate what the Boys & Girls Clubs do, how they’ve always been involved with the community. We need to go to different Clubs and be seen. We want to be part of your Clubs. I’m blessed to have your Club in this area.”
Sheriff Lawson went on to say that two members of his Command Staff, Allan Walsh and Gabe Thomas, grew up in the Tucker Unit [formerly the Boys Club of Cleveland]. As the three men toured the Club earlier in the day, memories came flooding back to Walsh and Thomas. The first thing they noticed was the long pine bench just inside the front entrance. A relic from days gone by, the pine bench brought lots of laughter as they recalled the many time-outs they received and were forced to “ride the pine.” In the gym, the men noticed that the walls all around were decorated with signs signifying the Boy of the Month from each year. In 1975, Captain Walsh was Boy of the Month twice, July and August. But it wasn’t always a smooth ride.
“Let me tell you I spent a lot of ‘time-out’ time on that bench,” recalled Walsh as the room erupted in laughter. “You know how it is: a lot of people will say, ‘You were awfully mean as a kid. I don’t know how you ended up working for the sheriff’s department.’”
More laughter filled the room, probably because so many of us can so easily recall how much trouble we, too, caused as kids.
“The Boys Club has meant a lot to me through the years” Walsh continued. “Growing up with a single mother working two to three jobs to support three children who didn’t have a father, the Club was a trusted babysitter for my mother. But for me, it was a lot more than that. I had a lot of Father figures at the Club. I really don’t know what I would have done growing up if it wasn’t for the Club. Colonel Tucker is probably somebody that I admire more than anybody in my life. He was a great example growing up. Mr. Tucker made everybody feel special, like they were something, like they had a bright future. Several years after I began working at the Sheriff’s Department, Mr. Tucker came to the Sheriff’s Department to see me. He just wanted to tell me that he appreciated me and how proud he was of me. He helped build a lot of that foundation in me.”
Like so many of our kids over the years, the Club gave Walsh an opportunity to experience things that would not otherwise have been possible. He recalled working all summer at the Club in order to earn a trip to Florida the following summer, making lifelong friends (such as Ed Deming, Clyde McGuire, and Lonnie Grooms), and participating in sports, which Captain Gabe Thomas also recalls fondly.
“I grew up in a different era, me and George [Gray]” said Thomas. “If there was a sport offered, we were in it. Where I grew up, over here in the Northeast section, what they used to call 6th Ward, you had two choices: You could spend time at the Club and do positive things like sports, or you could spend time over there and do negative things all day.
“My mom was a single mom raising two knucklehead boys. We used to walk from over there across the tracks to over here every day except Sunday during the summer. One thing I do remember is that the Club was so welcoming. There was always something to do. If you didn’t get involved it was because you didn’t want to get involved. We used to be here from sunup until sundown. And there were times when we would leave school, come straight to the Club, and stay here until it closed at 9 p.m. because my mom had to work so late. Basically, the Club had a huge part in raising myself and my brother.”
At the conclusion of their addresses, former Youth of the Year and current BGCOR junior staff member, Wendy Armenta, presented a birthday cake to Sheriff Lawson to help celebrate his big day. After several friendly jokes from the crowd, Sheriff Lawson successfully blew out all the candles and everyone enjoyed a bit of cake before resuming another busy day of preparing kids for Great Futures.
Sheriff Lawson was the first to address the capacity crowd of board members and guests.
“As I thought about what I was going to say to you today, I thought about how I can compare the Boys & Girls Club to the job we do. It is a privilege to be the sheriff, and I’m blessed to have this job. But, like you, we have good days and bad days. You said you have 800-900 kids walk through your doors on a daily basis. Well, I have about 500-600 walk in my doors. We want to reduce that number. One of the slogans I’ve heard is, ‘Build more Clubs and less jails.’ Dr. Linda Cash, Director of Schools for Bradley County, is here today. Where do we start on that, Dr. Cash? I want to make a trend at the Sheriff’s Office where our people can get into the schools and communicate with the youth. I want them to know that we’re not bad guys, we’re your friends. We have a D.A.R.E. program, which is good, but maybe we need to look at expanding on that with something that fits our community and works well with the Boys & Girls Clubs. I’d really like to create programs where we actually get to know the students and they get to know us. I think that’s where we need to go.
“We have SROs [School Resource Officers] in every school. We want to be trained to respond to active shooter scenarios, yes, but we also want SROs to have a bond with kids. And we need to educate kids about drug avoidance. We’ve got to educate our kids early and get their attention early as to how drugs will affect them. I’m all on board with what we need to do to join hands with the Boys & Girls Clubs and whatever we can do on our end to help. We appreciate what the Boys & Girls Clubs do, how they’ve always been involved with the community. We need to go to different Clubs and be seen. We want to be part of your Clubs. I’m blessed to have your Club in this area.”
Sheriff Lawson went on to say that two members of his Command Staff, Allan Walsh and Gabe Thomas, grew up in the Tucker Unit [formerly the Boys Club of Cleveland]. As the three men toured the Club earlier in the day, memories came flooding back to Walsh and Thomas. The first thing they noticed was the long pine bench just inside the front entrance. A relic from days gone by, the pine bench brought lots of laughter as they recalled the many time-outs they received and were forced to “ride the pine.” In the gym, the men noticed that the walls all around were decorated with signs signifying the Boy of the Month from each year. In 1975, Captain Walsh was Boy of the Month twice, July and August. But it wasn’t always a smooth ride.
“Let me tell you I spent a lot of ‘time-out’ time on that bench,” recalled Walsh as the room erupted in laughter. “You know how it is: a lot of people will say, ‘You were awfully mean as a kid. I don’t know how you ended up working for the sheriff’s department.’”
More laughter filled the room, probably because so many of us can so easily recall how much trouble we, too, caused as kids.
“The Boys Club has meant a lot to me through the years” Walsh continued. “Growing up with a single mother working two to three jobs to support three children who didn’t have a father, the Club was a trusted babysitter for my mother. But for me, it was a lot more than that. I had a lot of Father figures at the Club. I really don’t know what I would have done growing up if it wasn’t for the Club. Colonel Tucker is probably somebody that I admire more than anybody in my life. He was a great example growing up. Mr. Tucker made everybody feel special, like they were something, like they had a bright future. Several years after I began working at the Sheriff’s Department, Mr. Tucker came to the Sheriff’s Department to see me. He just wanted to tell me that he appreciated me and how proud he was of me. He helped build a lot of that foundation in me.”
Like so many of our kids over the years, the Club gave Walsh an opportunity to experience things that would not otherwise have been possible. He recalled working all summer at the Club in order to earn a trip to Florida the following summer, making lifelong friends (such as Ed Deming, Clyde McGuire, and Lonnie Grooms), and participating in sports, which Captain Gabe Thomas also recalls fondly.
“I grew up in a different era, me and George [Gray]” said Thomas. “If there was a sport offered, we were in it. Where I grew up, over here in the Northeast section, what they used to call 6th Ward, you had two choices: You could spend time at the Club and do positive things like sports, or you could spend time over there and do negative things all day.
“My mom was a single mom raising two knucklehead boys. We used to walk from over there across the tracks to over here every day except Sunday during the summer. One thing I do remember is that the Club was so welcoming. There was always something to do. If you didn’t get involved it was because you didn’t want to get involved. We used to be here from sunup until sundown. And there were times when we would leave school, come straight to the Club, and stay here until it closed at 9 p.m. because my mom had to work so late. Basically, the Club had a huge part in raising myself and my brother.”
At the conclusion of their addresses, former Youth of the Year and current BGCOR junior staff member, Wendy Armenta, presented a birthday cake to Sheriff Lawson to help celebrate his big day. After several friendly jokes from the crowd, Sheriff Lawson successfully blew out all the candles and everyone enjoyed a bit of cake before resuming another busy day of preparing kids for Great Futures.
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