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As Director of Athletics since 1989,
Coach Sails has directed one of the nation’s finest programs. Great
coaches have been hired including Andrea Martre (women’s
basketball), Keith Gentry (softball) and Bo Reynolds (baseball).
Budgetary matters have improved and all of our athletic teams are
competitive for league, regional, and national honors.
In addition to hard-working and
effective coaches, our facilities have improved. With the help of
Dr. Essex, a total renovation of our gymnasium has been done which
makes it one of the finest in the state. On the drawing board is a
new complex for baseball and softball.
Beginning his 31st year as the
Saluqis' head basketball coach, Verties Sails has guided his teams
to 20 Western Division titles, 16 TJCCAA State Championships, and
ten Region VII Championships and National Tournament appearances.
Sails holds a
664-248 career record at Southwest for a .728 winning percentage.
Thirteen times Coach Sails has been named TJCCAA Coach of the Year,
and was inducted into the Tennessee Junior and Community College
Sports Hall of Fame in 1994. In 2005, Sails was inducted into the
Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame. In 2004, Sails was inducted the
National Junior College Athletic Association Hall of Fame in
Hutchinson, Kansas and also the Memphis Amateur Sports Hall of Fame.
Sails was named
head coach at Shelby State in 1979 after serving as assistant coach
at Memphis State University for five years under Wayne Yates. He
came to MSU from Melrose High School in Memphis, where he compiled a
132-35 record and led the Golden Wildcats to the Tennessee State
Championship in 1974 with a perfect 35-0 record. Sails was twice
voted high school Coach of the Year while at Melrose (1970 and
1974).
Coach Sails has
been involved in many community activities, including Board of
Directors for Dixie Homes Boys Club, Special Olympics, Heart Fund
Board of Directors, Leadership Memphis, Charles Williams'
Scholarship Committee Member, Memphis Park Board Member, and Memphis
and Shelby County Sports Authority. He was also honored as one of
President George Bush's 'Thousand Points of Light', and is a Trustee
and Deacon Board Member of First Baptist Church, Chelsea.
Born March 28,
1942 in Rosemark, Tennessee, Sails graduated from Woodstock High
School in 1960. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Education
from LeMoyne-Owen College in 1964, and a Masters in Education from
Memphis State University in 1967. Sails is married to the former
LaFrancina Wilson, and they have two children - Francesca Monique
(age 34), and Verties III (age 29).
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