steve.carter@gaflnews.com



TIFTON — Benny Dees, who was the head basketball coach at Abraham Baldwin College from 1962-67, returns to ABAC Thursday night to speak at the ABAC Stallion/Fillie Basketball Banquet.

“I am really looking forward to coming back to ABAC,” Dees said. “I still have a lot of friends in Tifton.”

A native of Mt. Vernon, Dees played college basketball at the University of Wyoming. He returned to Georgia for his first head coaching job. He coached from 1958-60 at Ware County High in Waycross.

From 1960-62, he was the head coach at Manor High in Manor, Ga. From there he was at ABAC until 1967.

“The thing I remember most about my time at ABAC was the fact we drew very well. There came a time where we had to move our games from the campus to Tift County High,” said Dees.

Under Dees the Stallions did move back to campus in 1967.

“In my last game at ABAC we played at the new place (Gressette Gym) against Oglethorpe College. Oglethorpe was coached by John Guthrie, who is now an associate commissioner of the Southeastern Conference,” said Dees.

After leaving ABAC, Dees spent two years as the head coach of Virginia Commonwealth. Then between 1970-1985, Dees was an assistant at Western Kentucky, Georgia Tech and Alabama.

He took the job at the head coach at the University of New Orleans for two years, before returning to his alma mater, Wyoming.

He coached the Cowboys for six years from 1987 to 1993.

After his stay at Wyoming, “I finally wanted to get closer to home,” Dees said.

To that extent he took the head coaching job at Western Carolina. He coached the Catamounts until 1995.

In his time at Western Carolina, Dees was credited with turning around the Catamount program.

In an Internet column found on the Western Carolina website, former WCU sports information director Steve White said this about Dees.

“The foundation for Western’s only Southern Conference championship and NCAA tournament team was laid by Benny Dees,” White said in the column.

Dees went 12-16 in his first year at Western. He then led the Catamounts to a break-even season, the school’s first in eight years, and the conference tournament championship game.

He then retired to his home in Mt. Vernon, leaving the program in the hands of his top assistant, Phil Hopkins. Hopkins took the players that he and Dees recruited and won the league title and earned an appearance in the NCAA’s.

“I was very fortunate. A coach is never better than his talent and I found a player from Baxley (Frankie King) that came up and really played well for us,” Dees said.

King went on to be drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers.

After moving back to Mt. Vernon, Dees held jobs ranging from athletic director for a year at Brewton-Parker College to principal at Montgomery County High School.

After retiring from his professional career, Dees now has other things to keep him busy.

“I have about 200 head of cattle and I am looking after them,” said Dees.

The former ABAC head coach also has limited his speaking engagements since retiring.

“I spoke at the Louisville banquet during Denny Crum’s last year and I spoke in Tuscaloosa last Monday,” Dees said. “But I hardly do any speeches anymore.”

Current Stallion head coach Robert Moore is one of the reasons Dees agreed to come back to Tifton Thursday.

“I don’t really like speaking anymore, but Robert was very persuasive,” said Dees with a laugh.

Moore is excited about Dees coming back.

“I am looking forward to coach Dees coming to speak at our dinner for the Stallions and the Fillies. I am sure he will have a great message for the teams and the fans that attend,” said Moore.

The event will take place Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at Donaldson Dining Hall. Tickets are $25 for couples and $15 for singles. To purchase tickets or to receive more information, you may call Moore at 386-3932 or Fillies head coach Julie Conner at 386-3927.