Don Bost, Melissa Morris, Jamie Morris in New York.
By Mike London
Salisbury Post
MOORESVILLE — Donald Wayne Bost made the 700-mile trip in early June to the Division III Junior College World Series in upstate New York, and the family had one of those perfect days.
Bost got to see his grandson, freshman Brett Morris, a South Rowan graduate, start the scoring for Surry Community College in the World Series with a two-run homer over the left-field fence. It was a blast. No doubt about it.
Surry, which relies on a host of players from South Rowan, West Rowan and Carson, finished fifth in the World Series, and Bost and family members got to check out the sights while they were in the area. They got to see bucket-list attractions like Niagara Falls.
Other days are a long way from perfect. Some are awful. Bost died suddenly and unexpectedly on Monday at 73.
Funeral services were held Friday at St. Enoch Lutheran Church in Kannapolis.
Bost was a good athlete in his playing days. Football was his best sport. He played tight end for South Rowan in the late 1960s.
Ernie Faw played center for South in those days. He remembers the biggest play of Bost’s career.
“Don caught a touchdown pass against Concord with time running out to give us a tie in that game,” Faw said. “I remember Don was all smiles. It was a really good tie for us. Concord finished a lot higher in the South Piedmont Conference standings than we did.”
Faw’s memory is still sharp. South tied Concord 12-12 the fourth week of the 1968 season. South went 4-5-1 that year, while Concord was 7-2-1. Faw also correctly remembers that South won the overtime session with the Spiders, but OTs in those days were only relevant for use as as a tiebreaker in case the teams finished deadlocked in the standings. So that “win” is forgotten.
Later in that 1968 season, South beat A.L. Brown for the first time ever, a 16-7 decision that never will be forgotten. It is still one of the all-time football moments in program history. Bost got to be part of that celebration.
“We didn’t throw the ball a lot,” Faw said. “Jay Bradshaw was our quarterback that year, and even if we had a pass called, Jay would usually wind up scrambling and running. Don wouldn’t have had big stats, but he was a really determined blocker. He was a good blocker from the first time we played together at Corriher-Lipe.”
Faw said the 1968 South team that beat the Wonders has now had to say final farewells to Bradshaw and linemen Bobby Curlee, Tom Morton and David Sprinkle.
And now Bost.
Bost graduated from South in 1970, went to Wingate Junior College for two years, got an associate’s degree, and enlisted in the Air Force. He served two years of active duty in Montana before he transferred to the Air National Guard and returned home. For the next 20 years, he served with the Charlotte Air National Guard. He achieved the rank of Master Sergeant.
Bost finished his education degree at Catawba College and embarked on a stellar career. He would earn a masters degree in school administration from Appalachian State.
Bost served as an assistant principal at South Rowan for nine months, but the rest of his years in education were spent at China Grove Junior High (later China Grove Middle School) as a teacher, coach, assistant principal and principal.
He was Coach Bost for a long line of China Grove students and Principal Bost to a lot more. The school became a second home for him. He looked after the building, the grounds, the athletic facilities and all the people in the building.
The story goes that Bost stayed at his post and finished coaching a heated China Grove-Corriher-Lipe basketball game before rushing to the hospital. He arrived in the nick of time to welcome his second daughter, Meredith, into the world.
Bost was honored as Principal of the Year for Rowan-Salisbury Schools in 2006 and was Wachovia Principal of the Year in 2007.
Bost’s wife, Sherry Smith Bost, died of cancer at 55 in 2007.
In 2009, not long after he officially retired from public education, the China Grove gym was formally dedicated to Bost. He received a standing ovation.
Bost’s older daughter, Melissa, was a super scholar at South Rowan. She married Jamie Morris, who was a standout baseball pitcher for South in the mid-1990s and pitched for the inaugural South Rowan American Legion team in 1996. They have two sons, Garrett and Brett, the home-run hitter.
Bost’s younger daughter, Meredith, the one who arrived on the day of a China Grove-Corriher-Lipe basketball game and waited patiently on her father before she made her debut, was a great athlete at South Rowan in the late 1990s. She was all-county in volleyball, softball and swimming.
“Don and I had a lot of ties and we always stayed in touch over the years, even when he was in Montana,” Faw said. “I coached Don’s son-in-law in baseball. My grandson (Marshal Faw) and his grandson played baseball together for South. He was always smiling, just a very personable guy. I never heard anyone say anything negative about him.”
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