| sports | words & photography by Becky Taylor
Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College announced a new cross country program in May , also introducing the squad ’ s first-ever head coach , Mike Beeman .
After 20 years teaching at Tift County High , it ’ s a new adventure for an individual who ’ s had plenty of them . Beeman is a multi-sport athlete , a multi-sport coach and the holder of one of the longest active Boston Marathon streaks in the world .
“ I wanted to slow down , enjoy life a little bit ,” Beeman said in July . He spent the summer of 2022 doing just that . He boarded Amtrak in Jesup to take a lengthy vacation up the East Coast . He reunited with former students in New Hampshire , visited New York City and took in a Boston Red Sox game .
Beeman was looking to slow down , but of course , he ’ s not even close to stopping . Besides being named ABAC ’ s inaugural cross country coach , he ’ s also teaching a pair of classes at Tiftarea Academy and will be working with the track teams next spring .
“ You can ’ t teach forever and you ’ re not going to live forever ,” Beeman said . “ I felt that it was my time to do less .”
Working the two part-time jobs at ABAC and Tiftarea will probably add up to less hours than the classroom and athletics involvement he had with the Tift
County Board of Education .
“ Everybody has their time to retire and I think the timing was perfect for me ,” Beeman said .
The Tiftarea opportunity came up toward the end of the 2021-22 school year . Specifically , he ’ ll be teaching personal finance , a subject near to his heart ; Beeman majored in the subject at Merrimack College .
Like it would be for most people , he ’ s filled with varieties of nervous anticipation .
“ It ’ s a nice change ,” he said . “ Change is scary sometimes but change is good because it gives you almost like a new start . Your attitude is fresh , you ’ re dealing with new people , so that ’ s good .”
Given Tift County ’ s cross country relationship with ABAC , Beeman already had connections with the school and athletic director Alan Kramer . Tiftarea won ’ t be completely new , either . Beeman knows upper school dean Chance Benson and he ’ s coached with Mark Ledford , who will be assisting football and middle school baseball in Chula this year .
For most people , having a Boston Marathon streak anywhere near Beeman ’ s 45 years would be their biggest and best life achievement . But that ’ s not Beeman . The streak is something but it ’ s not everything . It ’ s not everything for him and it ’ s not everything for those who know him .
“ I ’ m proud of it but it ’ s not the first thing I ’ m going to say in a conversation ,” he said .
Mike Beeman ’ s life has been filled with achievements but what he has achieved in athletics pales to what he ’ s done for athletics and what he ’ s done as a teacher , as a community booster and as a friend . He is considered by many one of the most loved individuals in Tift County and , before Tift County , the same applied to Londonderry , New Hampshire .
Beeman has spent 31 years in education , 20 in Georgia . He had two stints in New Hampshire , separated by years in his retail business , Total Sports . Even when he wasn ’ t in a classroom , Beeman was impacting youth .
“ Its target market was high school kids ,” he said of Total Sports , which was located in Londonderry . The business sold athletic apparel and shoes . “ Very high school-friendly .”
He said he realized as a college junior that he wanted to teach . That was influenced by his focus in accounting ; Beeman realized he didn ’ t want to be a full-time accountant . He tacked on teaching credentials to his major . Combined with the three sports he was participating in at Merrimack , offers began heading his way .
“ Instead of going into accounting , I got recruited to a high school to be a coach and athletic director and a teacher ,”
SEPTEMBER 2022 | TiftonScene 13