Gavin Noe signs with Navy
Gavin Noe is surrounded by his family during his official signing ceremony with the United State Naval Academy (photo:Ken Leinart )
Not so much as how they see themselves, but the way others see them.
Anderson County High School’s Gavin Noe is a great example.
Last Friday, Noe added to his already impressive football resume by signing a letter of intent to play college football at the United States Naval Academy.
He was told several times, “Go Navy, beat Army” during his signing.
“I think it’s more about setting himself up in life,” his father, Dr. Richie Noe, said. “There are several degrees he can go for and he might even take a shot at flying.”
Gavin Noe has set a high standard for future ACHS football players — an all-state selection for three years, state champion on an undefeated team, MVP of the championship game.
And making all-state as a sophomore, that’s rare.
But Gavin Noe has set a high standard for future ACHS students and that, in the long run, is how more people are going to remember him.
“I want to thank you for how you treated my sons,” ACHS Principal Ben Downs said.
He was told this more than once during his signing ceremony — how grateful someone was for how he treated their kids.
He treated all kids like that, though. Maverick Head Football Coach Davey Gillum said that’s why there will be kids playing youth football who will all want to wear No. 25, Gavin Noe’s number.
There is the way Noe carried himself during his senior season. So much was expected of him, but he started the season with an injury that sidelined him for five games.
“I know your senior year didn’t go the way we planned,” Gillum told him. “But you never gave up and you never quit.”
He responded to that injury by leading. He talked with his teammates on the sidelines, he cheered them on, he did anything and everything he could that could help the team.
HIS team.
“And I don’t think anyone realizes how hard you worked to come back (from the injury) like you did,” Gillum said.
Then came Nov. 25, 2022, and the semi-final football playoff game at Red Bank High School.
The Mavericks won (hence the reference to a state championship), and the game was everything a high school football playoff should be.
It was what happened after the game that has proven to be a defining moment in Gavin Noe’s young life.
Bonnie Freeman, an avid ACHS fan, recorded Noe walking on the visitors’ sideline picking up trash and depositing it in a garbage can.
Some Red Bank students had been tasked with helping cleaning the stadium following the game, and Noe saw them, and …
“There was a lot of trash,” he said. “And they looked like they were struggling a little, so I decided to help out.
“It was a great game and we had a lot of respect for each other. I don’t have anything against the people of Red Bank. They haven’t done anything to me.”
Freeman’s short phone video clip of Gavin Noe helping Red Bank students pick up litter on a Friday night after a football game spread like wildfire.
And that is Gavin Noe.
He’s a community kid who just happens to be a really good football player.
“I want to thank you for the way you represented Anderson County, for the way you represented this school,” Downs said.