Every fall for the past 33 years, one could find one man passionately coaching Buford’s youth on the football fields. In those 33 years, Ken Burge has been the head coach of 10 championship teams, seven Gwinnett Football League (GFL) Championship titles and three Football University (FBU) National Championship titles.
With that sort of success, one would think that would impact someone’s ego, but that is the farthest thing from the truth. When I first encountered Burge years ago for an article I was writing about one of his teams winning the FBU Championship, I had the opportunity to interview him. I was completely taken aback by his refusal to talk about himself. He deflected every attempt I made to give him credit for the team’s success. He spoke instead about the other coaches for the team and of the players themselves.
Several championships later, Burge still won’t take any of the credit for himself. When I found out he would be retiring, I knew I wanted to write about the man who has given so much to our community over the span of three decades. I knew getting him to answer my questions would be tricky and I would likely encounter resistance, which I did. Burge might not think what he has done is such a big deal, but to everyone else, it is.
Burge said he decided to start coaching to give back some of what was given to him when he was a young boy coming up through the youth league in Buford.
“I started youth coaching 33 years ago to give back what had been given to me by so many coaches as I was growing up,” he said. “They gave to me what I hope I’ve given to other players in my years of coaching.”
One of the most memorable periods of his coaching career was being able to coach his son Tyler and “watching him grow from a 6-year-old little kid and then finishing up with him as a 12-year old young man.” Burge added, “Now in five years I’m going to get to watch him coach our grandson Beau, which will be a blessing as well.”
When asked what he has enjoyed the most about coaching, Burge said, “Getting to build lifelong relationships with players and coaches. I’ve been around so long now that I’m beginning to coach kids of kids that I coached. I had at least four kids this year that I had coached their dads. That’s when you know you’ve done it long enough when that starts happening. The relationships I’ve built through coaching with players and coaches have made this journey over the last 33 years so much fun.”
One of the players he has coached is now one of his assistant coaches, offensive coordinator Brian Elinburg.
“Ken is an amazing man, mentor and coach. He has coached so many kids in our community. His ability to coach kids year in and year out is second to none, but what makes him who he is, is the way he teaches life lessons,” Elinburg said. “I was able to play for him and coached beside him for many years. It taught me so much. I’m super blessed that he was able to coach my son these last two years. There wasn’t a better feeling in the world when we walked off that field Saturday night one last time together as champions!”
One good characteristic of a good head coach is the ability to assemble a great coaching staff and Burge is quick to praise those coaches.
“These guys make a head coach look so good and make his job easy,” Burge said. “The knowledge they bring to the field each and every night blows my mind.”
Even though Burge is passing on the head coaching job to Chris Gant, he insists he will still be around. He will continue to be a representative for the GFL and will still be in his same role with the Buford Youth Football Association.
Buford’s youth through the years have benefited from the care and knowledge Ken Burge has given so freely. The community would like to thank him for the many sacrifices he has made and all of the love he has poured into the children. And lastly, behind every coach who makes sacrifices is a family who has made even more. Thank you to his family for sharing him.
— Alicia Couch Payne
