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Waters

Celebration of Life to be held for Waters

By Michael Butler

It is probably fitting that Coach Leslie Waters had "Waters" as a name. The man loved to be on the water with a fishing rod in hand.

That is why the middle pond will provide the setting for a celebration of life for the former Tallassee coach.

Waters passed away last week. He was 56.

His friends have organized the event as a tribute on Wednesday, March 31 at 6 p.m.

Waters during his early years at THS

Friends - there were many. Waters had that instant likability. And, he had that knack for storytelling and tall tale fish-story telling.

Waters fished in 47 of 50 states plus Costa Rica, Mexico, the Cayman Islands, the Bahamas, Panama and the Seychelles.

He was a 25-year teacher and coach, who came to Tallassee High School in 1989. He was an assistant with seven different football staffs. Even when there was change, Waters was a mainstay.

Waters was an assistant for the 1999 Tallassee team that went 13-1 reaching the semifinals. He told of Justin Williams' big night at Booker T. Washington that season.

Yearbook photo for the new teacher

"They had an explosive offense. Our gameplan was to get in our overload set and keep them from getting in any rhythm on offense. Eric Cagle, Ryan Johnson and Jason Stough were telling them, 'We're running right here and you can't stop us.' We'd give the ball to Justin and he'd get 20 yards, boom - 20 yards. We ran one play all night long. They took pride in that."

Williams ran for more than 300 yards in the Tigers' 28-6 win in Tuskegee.

A native of Jackson's Gap, Waters attended Auburn High School and was a 1988 graduate of Auburn University.

A private family service was held on Sunday. A memorial service will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to Tallassee High School fishing team.

*WTLS Interview

The Best Waters Coached (1989-2014)

CB - Antonio Hutchinson
CB - Demond Washington
S - Derrick Ansley
S - Trey Cochran-Gill
LB - Joe Hall
LB - Jared Blair
LB - Ron Griffin
DT - James Wallace
DT - Dan Benson
NG - Fernando Lewis
DE - Perez Hicks
DE - Marc Hayes

WR - Dijon Paschal
WR - Bernard Hutchinson
TE - Andrew Bianchi
OT - Shane Moseley
OG - Eric Cagle
C - Tyler Hale
OG - Cody Kilgore
OT - Ryan Johnson
QB - Jonathan Rivers
RB - Justin Williams
FB - Darren Taylor

Waters and Davis Melton coached the 1989 junior high Tigers
Waters' football game program pic
Waters with his first B-team basketball squad in 1989