Olin — Nope, you can’t go bowlin’ in Olin.
In fact, entertainment options of all kinds are pretty limited in this part of the planet.
“What do we do around here for excitement?” repeats a stocky linebacker-type who has volunteered to serve as our travel guide. “Not all that much.”
In a strictly technical sense, North Iredell High is based in Olin, but the reality is that Olin is little more than an exotic dateline. Informed that we’re trying to locate downtown Olin, a friendly lady in the school office smiles sheepishly and reports, “You’re in it. Olin’s really just the post office.”
Asked if Olin might be compared to, say, Woodleaf, the lady responds,“Oh no, Olin’s nowhere near that big.”
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If you want fast food in Olin, you’d best not be in a hurry. North Iredell High students travel 10 miles or so down to the Bojangles in Statesville when they want to get a bite. For Cokes and gas, there’s always Bill’s Citgo, just down the road and just a few yards off I-77.
If you’re getting the notion that North Iredell, which competes with West Rowan, East Rowan, A.L. Brown and Mooresville, among others, in the new 3A North Piedmont Conference, is a rural school, well, you’re on the right dirt road.
Compared to Olin, Harmony, Union Grove, Love Valley and Houstonville — the far-flung communities from which North Iredell High draws its population— Landis and China Grove are Minneapolis and St. Paul.
Still, some North Iredell kids obviously have seen a bit of the world. A Catawba Basketball Camp T-shirt is visible on one strapping youth, and amazingly, a red-headed girl strolls by attired in a shirt that states: “South Rowan — 1999 playoffs.”
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The dominant feature in the area is hay. A.L. Brown visits Concord for their famous “Bell Game” on Sept. 21. Perhaps the Wonders can work out a “Bale Game” for their visit to Olin on Nov. 9.
There’s also plenty of the three C’s — corn, churches and cows.
“We hosted West Mecklenburg in a playoff game in the 1990s,” smiles Wake Forest grad Bobby Morrison, North’s football coach. “The West Meck kids were disappointed because they didn’t see any cows out in front of our school.”
The Mecklenburgers wouldn’t have had to look far, though. Drive down most any road in the vicinity and four-legged critters outnumber those with two legs. There are far more tractor crossing and horse crossing signs than stoplights — or even caution lights. As an added treat, there’s a livestock hauler with “Mules R Us” painted in red.
Morrison, whose headquarters is a mobile unit, acknowledges the obvious — that the majority of the school’s students have agricultural backgrounds. “They come from hay farms and dairy farms,” he says. “You know, just good country kids.”
Morrison reports the most popular hobby on campus (besides the FFA, we’re assuming) is volunteering to serve with local fire departments. Nothing wrong with that.
“When someone has an emergency, these kids are always right there to help,” Morrison says.
Bill Howell, the school’s genial athletic director and Catawba College grad, quickly adds there’s nothing at all wrong with the work ethic of North Iredell athletes.
“Any kid that gets up at 4 a.m. to milk cows — well, he’s got some idea of what hard work’s about,” he offers.
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Booster club support isn’t always stout and filling the football bleachers and basketball gym with North Iredell Raider rooters can be a challenge.
“The big negative is that this area is so spread out,” says girls basketball coach Kent Blackwelder. “North Iredell’s really five communities — not just one. When five schools consolidated in ’66 or ’67 to make North Iredell, it took years to bury the old rivalries.”
Blackwelder has a point. With no single town to serve as a hub, North Iredell’s drawing area is really a string of isolated communities with little in common other than sending their kids to the same place for an education. North Iredell is the melting pot for kids strung out across an incredibly elongated bunch of real estate that bumps into Wilkes, Alexander, Yadkin and Davie counties.
The largest incorporated town in these parts is Harmony — population 500.
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Then there’s famous Union Grove, where they hold that annual convention of fiddlers.
“Union Grove — now, technically, that’s a town,” says Morrison. “They’ve got Amish people up in Union Grove. Modern Amish. They use power tools and drive cars. I’ve even seen ’em at Wal-Mart.”
But Union Grove doesn’t exactly have an Iredell feel. As the crow flies, at least, it’s closer to North Wilkesboro than Statesville.
The most unique site is Love Valley, an Old West community whose hitching posts stand within shouting distance of Taylorsville. The markers outlining Love Valley’s town limits — yep, it’s incorporated — proclaim it to be the “Cowboy capital of the world.”
“It’s got a saloon,” confirms Blackwelder. “And lots of horses.”
Love Valley also boasts eye-catching signs. Warnings that advise, “No shooting in the city limits” and “No motor vehicles on Main Street.”
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Actually, toss out Love Valley and the North Iredell area’s not much different from the stretch of farmland and livestock you see as you head out Sherrill’s Ford Road toward West Rowan High.
And the most important thing to remember about North Iredell is the coaches, administrators and kids are comfortable with who they are. They’re proud of their rural raising and roots and not at all envious of those city slickers down at Statesville High, who are the closest thing they have to an honest-to-goodness rival.
Morrison says the week of the Statesville football game brings a celebratory “Farmer’s Day,” during which school pride peaks.
“That’s the day,” he says, “when the kids ride their John Deeres to school.”
OK, so maybe there’s no bowlin’ in Olin. But you have to admit, the folks here have a certain style.
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Contact Mike London at 704-797-4259 or mlondon@salisburypost.com
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