Danya Turner admits that changing jobs and uprooting your family can be one of the most difficult decisions a father can make.
But when the Winston County School District offered Turner an assistant principal’s job, it might have been the easiest decision of his life.
Turner, who was coaching basketball at Eupora, already had deep roots in Winston County. His wife’s twin sister lives in Winston County and had a son on the Nanih Waiya football team. Turner, a Baptist preacher, had a church in the Nanih Waiya school district. So when the job was offered, he didn’t think twice about it.
“It was a no brainer,” Turner said. “I had been preaching there for a couple of months and then I got offered the job. We had talked about moving closer to the church and everything just fell into place.”
When Turner took the job, he had to decide where to send his twin sons, Donovan and Devean, to school. That choice was also an easy one.
“As a father you want to give your kids everything they want,” Turner said. “They always wanted to play with their cousin (Austin Sanders). I wanted my kids to grow in the same kind of environment I did at Weir, that small-school environment.”
Turner, who won two state championships as a player in football at Weir, was bringing his twins to one of the state’s top Class 1A teams, who had lost 22-20 to Hollandale Simmons the year before.
Even though Turner knew what he was getting into, he still worried about how his kids would be accepted.
“I thought when we moved in, I thought the kids just accepted my boys and treated like they had been going there whole lives,” Turner said. "I was just amazed at how they were treated. Before we ever played the first game, you just wonder if they are going to be ok. They came home on a Friday and you could see the smile on their face and you could tell we made the right decision.”
It certainly seems like Turner’s decision was a good one for his sons, who are both juniors. Donovan started every game at quarterback and accounted for more than 2,200 yards of total offense with 1,546 yards rushing and 718 passing while accounting for 29 touchdowns. Devean started at fullback and H-back and also played linebacker on defense. Devean ended the year with 715 yards rushing and 11 TDs while recording 57 tackles on defense.
“They are good players and great kids,” Nanih Waiya coach James Courtney said. “We had a couple of kids we were looking at to play quarterback. But when Donovan moved in, it allowed us to move those kids to positions that suited them better. With what they could do on the field, we knew we were going to have a special team.”
In the championship game, Donovan was named the game’s Most Valuable player as he rushed for 150 yards on 28 carries and thew for another 50 yards.
“I always thought that they would be successful, you just don’t know how far,” Danya said. “You have to have a lot of things go in your favor to win a state championship. I played for three of them and won two and lost one. But with the coaches and players they had coming back, I thought they had a good chance. But you still have to have things go your way. I’ve been a coach long enough to know that you have to be really good to win a state championship but you have to get some breaks along the way. The Lord really blessed us.”
After Donovan Turner help deliver the school’s first-ever state championship, he was all smiles as he hugged his mother and relatives in the stands.
“The kids and coaches accepted me and my family and made us feel at home,” Donovan said. “This community is great and the coaches pushed us to be better players. I’m a Warrior now.”
