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Thing is, hootin' and hollerin' wasn't Arnold C. Mitchell Sr.'s style. The Eagles coach used a tough love approach, not the Bobby Knight treatment, to gain mounds of respect from his players during 31 years of coaching at Beaufort and Robert Smalls high schools.
But up to that point, Beaufort High losing to Battery Creek just didn't happen, as the Eagles had won every meeting since 1973. So if his mild-mannered coach was to ever explode, Beasley figured this was the time.
"We knew that Coach was pretty disappointed, but he was real calm in the locker room." said Beasley, a two-time all-state player under Mitchell from 1979 to 1981. "He told us that we had played bad, and then he said, 'Don't worry, you'll get another chance in a few days because Battery Creek is our first-round opponent in the playoffs, so get ready.' That's how Coach Mitchell was. He could always turn a negative into a positive."
And just as the Eagles reversed this loss into a 40-point victory, positive results have seemed to follow "Mitch" wherever he goes.
From his days as a scrappy guard at Claflin University to three decades of coaching, Mitchell has left a trail of memories and fertile soil, a trail that's sprouted college athletes, accomplished educators, prudent men and a Beaufort High gymnasium that, as of Dec. 5, bears his honorable name.
"My dad was a man who made great sacrifices for a lot of kids to make sure they had a safe place to play," said Angela Stephens, Mitchell's daughter. "And when he did it, he didn't do it for the recognition, he did it because he believed that this is what you do when you care for and coach kids."
As is the case with most pioneers, Mitchell never foresaw his life's trajectory, a path that appeared narrow for a Charleston native growing up in the midst of racial tension during the 1950s.
"Back in those days, if you were black then you were going to be one of two things -- either a preacher or a teacher," Mitchell said. "When I was in school, there were no blacks in the NBA. The Harlem Globetrotters were the only place for blacks to play basketball."
Still, society's parameters weren't going to limit Mitchell. Not this man, who turned one year of high school basketball into a successful, four-year stint on the Claflin basketball team. Nor a man who eventually complemented his college diploma with a master's degree from Pepperdine University.
"I always say that Mitch was born a few years too late because he was an outstanding basketball player," said Jonathan Beasley, who coached basketball and football against Mitchell at rival St. Helena High School. "That man knew how to develop ball players with discipline. That's probably why we could never beat him."
But it wasn't just on the basketball court that Mitchell flexed his coaching muscle. After being hired in 1958 to teach and coach at Robert Smalls High, a segregated school for blacks that lacked financial assistance from the county, Mitchell became the athletic department, coaching basketball, track, baseball and football, a sport that he had never played but compiled a 9-0 record during his second season as coach.
"If the kids wanted to play it and there was enough participation," Mitchell said, "me and some volunteers did what we could to get it started."
Along the lines of this attitude, Mitchell pulled money out of his own pocket to lay the groundwork for the local country recreation program, opening the Robert Smalls gym for a summer basketball league that fed the widespread athletic thirst among Beaufort County's youth.
Yet for as daunting a task as being a year-long coach was, perhaps Mitchell's greatest challenge came in 1970. That's when integration occurred in South Carolina, uniting Beaufort, Robert Smalls and St. Helena high schools into the current Beaufort High, with Mitchell tabbed as head coach of the new school's boys basketball team.
"That was a difficult time because while the talent level was there, it was tough to pick a starting five from such a big selection of new kids and the potential racial conflict," recalled Charles Jenkins, who served as Beaufort High's student manager from 1971 to 1974. "But he just sat on deaf ears with the parents. He was a no-nonsense coach that treated all his players the same and that's why they all respected him so much."
Transition play characterized Mitchell's teams, which almost always featured a wealth of skilled guards who gave opponents headaches with their ball-handling skills and penetration ability. As a result, there came 19 seasons of at least 15 wins, as well as the "one-knee game" in 1973.
That season, Beaufort High opened on a tear, averaging 95.5 points in two blowout wins against Goose Creek and Summerville, a prospect that apparently didn't sit too well with Battery Creek coach Reggie Williams entering this rivalry's inaugural contest.
"I guess he was determined that we wouldn't score on them like we had in our first two games because they just held the ball," Mitchell said with a smile. "We tried pressuring them but some of the kids got frustrated and fouled, so I told them to just sit back. And then the players themselves decided to get on one knee while they waited."
The game ended in a 32-10 Beaufort victory, with the Eagles scoring off several steals and the jump ball after each quarter. Eleven games later, Mitchell's team set a season-high in points and margin of victory with a 108-47 defeat of Battery Creek.
But for as much success that Mitchell found on the court, being named region coach of the year three times and molding eight all-state players at Beaufort High, it's the lessons that this father figure to many taught off the court that made the greatest impact.
Mitchell's wife of 48 years, Henrietta, can recall she and her husband washing uniforms and towels while filling water bottles before games in the days prior to the school having its own laundry facility. What's more, if students ever needed a ride, a meal or some encouraging words, Mitchell was always there.
"You can give Coach Mitchell accolades as a coach, but when it's all said and done, he's even more monumental as a person and a man," said Bruce Beasley, a two-time all-state player under Mitchell as well as one of his assistant coaches before taking over Beaufort High's boys program when Mitchell retired in 1989. "Coaches are often judged by the fruit they bear off the court, and that's what he did."
Likewise, Mitchell's most recent honor goes beyond being the namesake of Beaufort High's basketball gym. It's his uncanny ability to positively affect a sports contest and at the same time, transcend athletics through gentle discipline and strong leadership, settinga standard that leads his grandsons Austin and Chance to tell their grandfather how "one day I'm going to get a gym named after me, too."
"It really overwhelmed me to see all the family, players and people who came out for the ceremony," Mitchell reflected. "I guess that's what happens when you do something long enough."
And it certainly doesn't hurt when you do it so well.
