Courtesy of Nick Simon and the Times-Georgian
(Franklin, GA) — The Class AA state football championship means the world for the entire Heard County High School football community, especially so for a coaching trio whose relationship spans back to childhood.
Growing up as next-door neighbors in Mableton, head coach Tim Barron developed a lifetime bond with the fraternal pairing of current HC offensive coordinator Randall Curbow and current defensive coordinator D.J. Curbow.
That strong bond was by the influence of the Curbow’s father, the late John Curbow.
Decorated in military honors after serving as a First Lieutenant in the Army during the Vietnam War, John Curbow regularly spent plenty of time with D.J., Randall and ‘Timbo’, taking them on yearly hikes into the Appalachian Mountains.
Before the Braves’ title contest, Barron fondly reminisced on those character-building trips where they brought just C-Rations and had to make their tents out of ponchos.
Another thing that united them all together was the game of football, where the elder Curbow had started coaching the South Cobb Vipers recreational football team and drove his boys all over to experience the sights and sounds of the top high school and college football games in the Peach State.
“For a couple of years, he started taking us around to different stadiums all over the state from Valdosta to Rabun County and just watching a lot of different schools,” said D.J. “He coached us all in rec league. In the early ‘80’s, he was working for the federal government making some real money, but he always wanted to coach because he had a love for football.”
That love of coaching started rubbing off on his young prodigies even as they were learning the game through rec ball.
“We were 11-12 years old and he’d give us 10-page scouting reports,” said Randall. “We’d meet over at the house with Coach Barron and couple of the other guys who are coaches around the state like Scott and Chris Brown. It was pretty big time for recreation league.”
The Curbows started making their name known around Carroll County in the late ‘80’s and early ‘90’s, first when John served as the head coach of Mount Zion from 1986-88 and next when Randall operated the controls at quarterback for Bowdon’s 1992 Class A state championship team.
With the family living in Alabama prior, D.J. talked about pointing his brother in the direction towards the “Friendly City.”
“I take credit for his state title at Bowdon,” D.J. joked. “When they were making the move back, my dad was friends with Coach (Ronnie) Burchfield from Central and he was leaning towards Central. I told them that I had been to some Bowdon games, I knew that Coach (Dwight) Hochstetler was over there and I knew that they were about to do some big things.”

Pictured (L-R) are Randall, John, and D.J. Curbow
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