Coach Melvin Kinslow received a surprise party at Southland Academy for his 90th birthday. Kinslow has a long career as a coach, starting at Americus Highschool in 1957. He coached at Americus High for 12 years, then became Headmaster at Southland Academy for around a. quarter of a century. After his retirement, he continued his passion for coaching as an assistant coach.

Kinslow’s was inspired to coach by his own experiences in athletics. playing football, baseball, and basketball in high school. He also played sports at Georgia Southwestern, back when it was still a two-year school. He shared what motivated about athletics. “I like playing; I like the competition. I like coaching; I like the competition.”

As a defensive coordinator in the 60s at Americus High, Kinslow won two State Championships, a girls State Championship in ’65, and five State Baseball Championships. “Those are some memories right there, and I had a lot of great athletes.”

He shared his personal philosophy as a coach. “Mine has always been hard work, and I wanted the kids to be competitive. I didn’t want them just to stand around and just go through the motions.”

Currently, Kinslow is an assistant Coach at Southland for the Girl’s basketball team. The team recently expressed their appreciation for his coaching. Kinslow offered to go easy on them in return, but noted their response. “No Coach, keep coaching hard.”

When asked about the challenges he faced in coaching, he noted that the Girl’s team currently had a lot of younger players. He stated that winning was important, but progress was satisfying to coaches. “They’re so young, so it’s the progress that you see they’ve made.”

Kinslow summed up his career as a coach. “It’s been a great experience for me, a great journey, and I had so many good athletes.”