Home Care In Oak Ridge, LA

Zach Witherspoon never played a minute of football before his junior year of high school. He came to Oak Ridge as a basketball player, but the atmosphere at the Wildcats' iconic Blankenship Field drew him toward football.

"Oak Ridge is a special place for football — the pride and tradition, the steps, when I was there it was all grass," Witherspoon told Knox News. "When you think of the high school football Friday night experience, it's impossible not to fall in love with being an Oak Ridge Wildcat, because it is the storybook of what it could possibly be."

On Sunday, Witherspoon will be on the sideline of one of the most iconic stages in all of sports when the Cincinnati Bengals face the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LVI in Los Angeles. Witherspoon is an assistant strength and conditioning coach for the Rams. Another Oak Ridge graduate known more for his football skills, Tee Higgins, is a star receiver for the Bengals.

TEE HIGGINS:How Tee Higgins' Tennessee high school coach convinced him to switch from basketball to football

VOLS FOOTBALL:Tennessee football investigation: Here's what we know about the timeline, nature of probe

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OAK RIDGE FOOTBALL:Longtime Oak Ridge coach Joe Gaddis retires after 38 years in high school football

Witherspoon graduated from Oak Ridge in 2010 and went on to play football at Carson-Newman. He also studied exercise science, a passion he inherited from his fathe.

"It was something I always kind of grew up around," Witherspoon said. "My dad is a personal trainer in the area ... so I saw what it was like from a young age. Then for myself as an athlete, I always had to work to maximize my own physical talents, so I fell in love with the training process."

After interning with Exos, a personal training company in Los Angeles, before his senior year of college, Witherspoon knew he preferred to work in a team setting rather than one-on-one with clients.

He started his career as an intern at New Mexico State University through another Oak Ridge connection, Doug Martin, who formerly coached the Aggies' football team. Witherspoon moved up the ladder to strength and conditioning assistant, then to director of Olympic sports in 2016.

Witherspoon worked with several athletes who are now competing professionally, including Toronto Raptors forward Pascal Siakam and Jemerrio Jones, who plays for the Los Angeles Lakers' G League affiliate.

Witherspoon's ties to East Tennessee start with his family, who all have roots here.

His father, Robert Witherspoon, graduated from Oak Ridge in 1978, and Robert's wife Judith graduated from Sweetwater. Zach Witherspoon's mother Corinne Kirby was born in Virginia but has lived in Tennessee for more than 30 years and graduated from Knoxville Catholic. Kirby's husband Derek, also a Knoxville native, is a firefighter with the Knoxville Fire Department, and Kirby is a retired firefighter.

While at New Mexico State, Witherspoon met his wife Nicole, who worked in events and community engagement for the Aggies. When his parents and their spouses traveled to Los Angeles together for the Rams' divisional round win against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Nicole surprised them with pregame sideline passes.

"She really helped him make that transition and getting into the whole lifestyle of being a football family," Corinne Kirby said. "She helps him stay grounded and see a little fun in it. He sometimes is so serious about what he's doing and she brings some fun to it."

Witherspoon joined the Rams in February 2021, and though most of his work is behind the scenes, Witherspoon gained national attention while shadowing coach Sean McVay on the sideline as his "get-back" coach, pulling him out of the way of officials.

The two bear a striking resemblance, and social media was quick to make memes of them standing side by side.

"He's never seemed like the moment was too big for him, not once," Robert said. "I mean, I'm awestruck looking at the TV and seeing my son on an NFL sideline."

Witherspoon's favorite part of the job so far, besides game days, is the culture in the Rams' organization. He also enjoys the analytical side of exercise science — from tracking athletes' vitals during competition to studying wear and tear on their cleats — that is made easier by the resources of an NFL program.

"I'm just super happy for him," Kirby said. "From the time that your kids are born, you want the very best things for them and to see something like this that I never could have imagined for him, it just makes me really happy to see how hard he's worked through the ups and the downs."

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HIGH SCHOOL

Knoxville News Sentinel

Former Oak Ridge football coach Joe Gaddis was shocked when he heard Tee Higgins' introduction ahead of Super Bowl 56 on Sunday night.

The Cincinnati Bengals star receiver who played for Gaddis didn't mention his college team, Clemson, when he introduced himself on the NBC broadcast. Instead, he said to millions of viewers, "Tee Higgins, Oak Ridge High School."

"The expectation is most people say their college and for him to say that, I think tells you how much he values his time here at Oak Ridge," said Gaddis, who retired after the 2021 season. "He obviously loves his hometown and his high school ... It was just a great thing because it was so unexpected."

Gaddis "doesn't tweet much," but was so touched by the moment that he posted about it on Twitter. His tweet has garnered more than 900 likes and 81 retweets from Oak Ridge fans.

Paige Taylor, who was Higgins' guidance counselor at Oak Ridge, said that small moment meant a lot to the community and showed Higgins' character.

"A lot of people get to that stage in life and their their egos take over. That's not Tee," she said. "I think a lot of people in Oak Ridge support him and cheer for him and truly want to see him do well. I think him showing that loyalty and that love for his hometown was just special to the community."

Taylor is also the girls basketball coach at Oak Ridge, and Higgins' niece Ze'Yana Stewart is a freshman on the team. Higgins' sister and mother still live in Oak Ridge and all three traveled out to Los Angeles to watch him play on one of the biggest stages in sports.

Despite the Bengals' 23-20 loss to the L.A. Rams, the trip was well worth it. Higgins was the leading wide receiver between both teams, logging equal touchdowns and more yards than Rams receiver Cooper Kupp, the game's MVP. He had four receptions for 100 yards and two touchdowns, including a 75-yard touchdown catch just seconds into the second half.

"'I'm not a guy who can jump very high but I was up as high as I could possibly get," Gaddis said. "I was very excited. You could tell (Higgins' first touchdown) was a trick play. You could tell (Joe Mixon) was going to throw, but you couldn't see who he was throwing it to for a second, and I remember thinking, 'I hope it's Tee,' and it was."

Taylor, who watched the game with her son, still saw the young teenager that spent hours in her office working on his grades in high school in those superstar moments. She said she and her son were cheering at their television for "Puppy," a nickname she had for him in high school because of his young face.

"It's almost surreal, like you're living in a movie and you're just watching it all play out for him. He's scoring touchdowns in the Super Bowl and we're just sitting there screaming "That's Tee!" Taylor said. "It almost makes you speechless to see the success and the opportunities. No one deserves it more than he does."

Higgins was a two-time Tennessee Titans Mr. Football winner at Oak Ridge and logged 945 yards and 17 touchdowns as a senior in 2016-17. Gaddis knew in high school that Higgins had the potential to be a special player, and he said Higgins' success helps inspire the next generation of Oak Ridge athletes.

"Every touchdown that Cincinnati scored in the Super Bowl, Tee Higgins scored. It's incredible," Gaddis said. "I think for young for young kids it means keep dreaming big, because this guy was at Robertsville Middle School, at Oak Ridge High School, and all of a sudden he's playing in the most watched sporting event in the in the world. It's one of the proudest moments for any Oak Ridger."

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LIFE

It takes a special person to dedicate his life’s work to the memory of his late wife. But that’s what Oak Ridge native Joe Cooper Rolfe has done by creating and developing Starr Homeplace Heritage and Cultural Center.

“My wife was Starr Marie Rives from Cumming, Georgia.” He explained, “Not only was she the love of my life (I found love at the ripe old age of 35), but she was a very talented artist who studied at the Ringling Art School in Florida.”

Very much a free spirit, just a creative and just a fun person, she passed away very suddenly from complications of diabetes in the fall of 2002. Devastated at his loss, Rolfe was determined that she be remembered for her creativeness, her artistic abilities and generally for her love of life.

In 2003 Rolfe began Starr Homeplace, as a memorial to both Starr and to his parents, Jim and Isabel Rolfe.

“My hope then and is still, that it be a place that nurtures creativity and quality craftsmanship of many types to flourish,” He said.

Starr Homeplace is located on Louisiana 133 North (Old Mer Rouge Road) just outside the town of Oak Ridge on property that was purchased by Rolfe’s maternal ancestors, the Coopers, in the 1840s. Another branch of the family, the DeHarts, came to the area (then Ouachita County) in the 1790s. The Rolfe family didn’t arrive until the 1890s. They lived in a large plantation home a mile south of Starr Homeplace where the Cooper Rolfe gateposts still marks the spot.

“Sadly, that home was destroyed by fire in 1968,” noted Rolfe, “but we have moved four of the outbuildings associated with it which are now part of Starr Homeplace.”

Rolfe’s family home, which was built by his father, is now his home and also serves double duty as the Starr Homeplace office, but also as a meeting and gathering place for groups. His father, also named Joe, started building the house in 1952.

“We moved into it in 1957, thought it was still not finished,” Rolfe said. His father continued to work on the house until the mid-70s. “As I have grown older I understand and appreciate what a great accomplishment building such a home, completely alone was and is.”

Rolfe attended school in Oak Ridge from grades one through 12.

“It was the smallest school in the state, just over 100 students in 12 grades,” he recalled. “It must have been a pretty good school since its graduates have, for the most part, done fairly well.”

He later studied interior design at Louisiana Tech under Mary Moffett and from there operated an interior design firm called Designers Guild for more than 30 years. He still does some design work.

A self-avowed book-o-phile, He says his love of books and art began with a set of books, “My Book House,” his parents bought him when he was quite young.

He also recalls that the Oak Ridge librarian, Mrs. Reese, kept him supplied with good reading materials.

“I started working for Harry and Betty Stone at the Twin City Bookmark when I was 14 and a half. I worked there for eight years and some occasional stints after that,” he recalled fondly. “I think I took home more books than money. It was a very happy time in my life and I still keep in touch with the Stones. They were kind enough to donate the last of the store’s inventory for us to use for fundraising efforts at Starr Homeplace.”

Rolfe noted that he is interested in a lot of different artistic areas.

“The last creative thing I got involved with was crafted gourds. I still find them quite interesting but have not found a ready market for them here. I keep thinking that I will get back to doing watercolors but haven't put brush to paper in decades,” Rolfe said.

He also does a little blacksmithing in the blacksmith shop and designs things such as signage and whimsical items to enhance the site and the experience.

He is often asked when he decided to do the Starr Homeplace project.

“Beyond wanting to build a place to honor Starr and my parents, I can honestly say I never decided to have 19 buildings full of collections. It just happened to me a little bit at a time,” Rolfe said.

In addition to the extensive collection of tools that he inherited from his father and grandfather, other collections have been added, notably those of Charles Depoe, Bill Lattimer, Oren Robertson, Percy Hotard, and also some nice tools from Harry Stone. Cumulatively they make quite an impressive assembly of tools and equipment showing the many and varied skills these men had and the tools they had to work with, many handmade and quite inventive.

Because they are not, for the most part, fine collectable tools, they are able to allow them to be used and enjoyed by visitors and visitor-workers to Starr Homeplace.

He noted that his overriding hope is that Starr Homeplace will be used and enjoyed by more people.

“Although money to operate is always a problem, although we operate on a shoestring, and more funding would be great, but if we can get the people, especially families and children out here to visit to enjoy and appreciate what we have to offer we will be OK,” he said.

Starr Homeplace, staffed by a small cadre of loyal volunteers, is open for Community Days on the second Saturdays of April through October (except for the month of August) and there is usually a theme for the day. Especially popular is the twice-yearly Hammer In where professional and amateur blacksmith’s from the region meet and show off their skills, techniques and finished work.

An interesting and exciting project that Rolfe and a few volunteers are working on is the restoration of a vintage 20HP single cylinder Witte engine.

“Hopefully, it will be finished and operational at the Blacksmiths Hammer In next April, he said.

Although Starr Homeplace is his vocation in addition to his avocation, Rolfe does have several hobbies which take him away from the property for short stints: including hiking, backpacking, camping and canoeing when the opportunity arises.

“I occasionally take short road trips to visit friends and relatives, but I hope that I will be able to travel more in the future,” he said. “I would like to visit similar sites to ours for ideas and it will give me an opportunity to share what we are doing here at Starr Homeplace with others outside our local area.”