Walker hands keys to Felton as CCS enters NCCSAA era
By Paul Durham
paul@wilsontimes.com | 265-7808
As Community Christian School embarks on a new era in its athletic program this coming school year as one of the seven charter members of the new North Carolina Christian Athletic Association, the Cyclones will also see change in the athletic leadership.
Longtime athletic director Bryan Walker is exiting after 13 years and his replacement, David Felton, has deep ties to CCS as a former coach. Walker, who started at CCS in 2009, is returning to help his father run the family business in Goldsboro, Jewelry Unlimited. He held both posts last year in order to help CCS navigate through its year as a true independent upon leaving the North Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association following the 2020-21 school year.
“I felt like I needed to be at the store full time, every day and give them that,” Walker said. “It’s my dad’s business. He’s been around for 30-plus years and he’s getting older. He wanted me to be a part of it moving forward in the future and wanted me to be around to learn more.”
BITTERSWEET DECISION
Walker, the longest tenured AD at CCS by a long shot, worked in the family business for five years before becoming the AD at Johnston Christian, a post he held for nine years. It was a bittersweet decision for Walker, leaving the place where he had worked the longest. His son, Garrison, and daughter, Olivia, both graduated from CCS and were student-athletes.
“I’ve spent the last 24 years being athletic director/coach/P.E, teacher and enjoyed every minute of it,” Walker said. “I don’t regret it for one for one minute. I enjoy selling jewelry just as much to be honest. I mean, obviously sports is my love, but being an athletic director is a 24/7 job. Your phone’s ringing, you’ve got issues to come up, even when school is over. It’s kind of like, I worked all day in school as a PE teacher, and at three o’clock, my job begins with afterschool sports especially for home games, of course.
“Look, I wouldn’t trade anything in the world for the 24 years I’ve had. My kids got a good Christian education. I was able to see my kids grow up. I’ve made so many new friends as far as through other athletic directors, teachers, even other schools administrators. I’ve had good relationships with all those people. I’m going to miss them. It’s a big chunk of people I’ve dealt with on a daily basis from the school.”
Walker led CCS through several periods of growth that included upgrades to the school’s outdoor athletic facilities.
“When I got to CCS, I think there was only seven sports teams,” he said. “We had seven sports teams. There was no middle school, no JV sports at the time at CCS. So we’ve really grown the middle school and JV programs as well as added football. … We added cross country. We had tennis up to a few years back.”
Walker said that a new scoreboard is coming this fall.
“The thing I’m most proud of is that between me and other coaches, I’ve had some great coaches,” he said. “I’ve had great people to help me grow CCS athletics. I’ve had great help.”
Walker said he was most proud of being able to provide options to CCS student-athletes.
“Sometimes success is different for so many different people,” he said. “Some people measure it on how many state championships they win, how many different championships or titles they win. For me, it was more about if we had enough kids to have a team yet whatever the sport was. If we had girls to play tennis, we would have a tennis team. If we had enough boys to play golf we’d have golf. So my interest was in adding those sports to where at least the students would be able to tell their kids ‘hey, I played softball at school, I played soccer in school, I played football in school.’ Adding football was big for us.”
While he is changing careers, Walker doesn’t plan to give up his avocation. A high school soccer referee for 26 years, Walker assured he will continue in that endeavor.
NATURAL SUCCESSOR
Felton was a natural successor to Walker, having coached three seasons of softball and two of volleyball more than a decade ago when his daughter, Mandy, played. In fact, Felton’s wife, Sandy, is the office manager at CCS and even served as athletic director one of the early years. Walker was the 10th AD in 10 years when he was hired.
So, David Felton, a retired 21-year U.S. Navy veteran, knew what came with the job and originally wasn’t interested.
“Well honestly, I’ve been involved with athletics pretty much all my life,” he said. “I’ve played, I’ve reffed, I’ve coached, I’ve never had an opportunity to be an athletic director, per se, but I’ve always had a passion for sports and for kids. When Sandy told me about the opening, I was like, ‘You know what, I’m not going to do that. That’s just a headache.’
“But as time went on, we prayed about it and I just felt that God was leading me to apply for the job. So I did. And I just put it in God’s hands. I said, ‘You know what, God, if you want me to have vision, you’ll open the door and if you don’t, you’ll close it.’ So obviously, I’m going by faith and God wanted me to have it because the door opened.”
The 57-year-old, who also had a 17-year career at Firestone, is eager to work with young people again.
“That’s the way I’m looking at it,” he said. “I’m looking at it as a mission deal, to try to reach these kids for Christ. That’s my first and main objective behind growing the athletic program.”
ENTER THE NCCSAA
Felton, who also been a substitute teacher at Community Christian, takes over an athletic program that will be part of the start-up NCCSAA, with around 16 schools in the smaller division and just seven in the larger division. The other programs joining CCS, the most westward school in the upper division, are Faith Christian of Goldsboro, Trinity Christian of Greenville, Jacksonville Christian, New Bern Christian, Gramercy Christian of Newport and Christ Covenant of Winterville.
“I really think it’ll be a lot more successful moving forward,” Walker said. “I think they’ll be able to compete for championships at this point now with like-minded schools in the association that we’re in. With like-minded schools, I think we were able to compete a lot better in many different sports, not just one or two.”
Felton will oversee 20 teams at CCS this coming year, including the return of varsity boys soccer for the first time since 2018. The football team will continue to compete as a non-championship member of the NCISAA eight-man division but all the other teams at CCS will be vying for a chance to win a state championship. Felton has hit the ground running at CCS, already dealing with issues such as places for the volleyball team to practice and reaching out to homeschool students to play football for the Cyclones, which is allowed in their NCISAA eight-man football conference.
“Yeah, I mean, the whole school is growing,” he said. “In my eyes, the sports program has to grow with it and that’s pretty much why my vision is to give the athletes what they need to succeed. Whatever that has to be, then that’s what we need to provide them with. Honestly I’m trying to set up things and get things going.”
By Paul Durham
paul@wilsontimes.com | 265-7808
As Community Christian School embarks on a new era in its athletic program this coming school year as one of the seven charter members of the new North Carolina Christian Athletic Association, the Cyclones will also see change in the athletic leadership.
Longtime athletic director Bryan Walker is exiting after 13 years and his replacement, David Felton, has deep ties to CCS as a former coach. Walker, who started at CCS in 2009, is returning to help his father run the family business in Goldsboro, Jewelry Unlimited. He held both posts last year in order to help CCS navigate through its year as a true independent upon leaving the North Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association following the 2020-21 school year.
“I felt like I needed to be at the store full time, every day and give them that,” Walker said. “It’s my dad’s business. He’s been around for 30-plus years and he’s getting older. He wanted me to be a part of it moving forward in the future and wanted me to be around to learn more.”
BITTERSWEET DECISION
Walker, the longest tenured AD at CCS by a long shot, worked in the family business for five years before becoming the AD at Johnston Christian, a post he held for nine years. It was a bittersweet decision for Walker, leaving the place where he had worked the longest. His son, Garrison, and daughter, Olivia, both graduated from CCS and were student-athletes.
“I’ve spent the last 24 years being athletic director/coach/P.E, teacher and enjoyed every minute of it,” Walker said. “I don’t regret it for one for one minute. I enjoy selling jewelry just as much to be honest. I mean, obviously sports is my love, but being an athletic director is a 24/7 job. Your phone’s ringing, you’ve got issues to come up, even when school is over. It’s kind of like, I worked all day in school as a PE teacher, and at three o’clock, my job begins with afterschool sports especially for home games, of course.
“Look, I wouldn’t trade anything in the world for the 24 years I’ve had. My kids got a good Christian education. I was able to see my kids grow up. I’ve made so many new friends as far as through other athletic directors, teachers, even other schools administrators. I’ve had good relationships with all those people. I’m going to miss them. It’s a big chunk of people I’ve dealt with on a daily basis from the school.”
Walker led CCS through several periods of growth that included upgrades to the school’s outdoor athletic facilities.
“When I got to CCS, I think there was only seven sports teams,” he said. “We had seven sports teams. There was no middle school, no JV sports at the time at CCS. So we’ve really grown the middle school and JV programs as well as added football. … We added cross country. We had tennis up to a few years back.”
Walker said that a new scoreboard is coming this fall.
“The thing I’m most proud of is that between me and other coaches, I’ve had some great coaches,” he said. “I’ve had great people to help me grow CCS athletics. I’ve had great help.”
Walker said he was most proud of being able to provide options to CCS student-athletes.
“Sometimes success is different for so many different people,” he said. “Some people measure it on how many state championships they win, how many different championships or titles they win. For me, it was more about if we had enough kids to have a team yet whatever the sport was. If we had girls to play tennis, we would have a tennis team. If we had enough boys to play golf we’d have golf. So my interest was in adding those sports to where at least the students would be able to tell their kids ‘hey, I played softball at school, I played soccer in school, I played football in school.’ Adding football was big for us.”
While he is changing careers, Walker doesn’t plan to give up his avocation. A high school soccer referee for 26 years, Walker assured he will continue in that endeavor.
NATURAL SUCCESSOR
Felton was a natural successor to Walker, having coached three seasons of softball and two of volleyball more than a decade ago when his daughter, Mandy, played. In fact, Felton’s wife, Sandy, is the office manager at CCS and even served as athletic director one of the early years. Walker was the 10th AD in 10 years when he was hired.
So, David Felton, a retired 21-year U.S. Navy veteran, knew what came with the job and originally wasn’t interested.
“Well honestly, I’ve been involved with athletics pretty much all my life,” he said. “I’ve played, I’ve reffed, I’ve coached, I’ve never had an opportunity to be an athletic director, per se, but I’ve always had a passion for sports and for kids. When Sandy told me about the opening, I was like, ‘You know what, I’m not going to do that. That’s just a headache.’
“But as time went on, we prayed about it and I just felt that God was leading me to apply for the job. So I did. And I just put it in God’s hands. I said, ‘You know what, God, if you want me to have vision, you’ll open the door and if you don’t, you’ll close it.’ So obviously, I’m going by faith and God wanted me to have it because the door opened.”
The 57-year-old, who also had a 17-year career at Firestone, is eager to work with young people again.
“That’s the way I’m looking at it,” he said. “I’m looking at it as a mission deal, to try to reach these kids for Christ. That’s my first and main objective behind growing the athletic program.”
ENTER THE NCCSAA
Felton, who also been a substitute teacher at Community Christian, takes over an athletic program that will be part of the start-up NCCSAA, with around 16 schools in the smaller division and just seven in the larger division. The other programs joining CCS, the most westward school in the upper division, are Faith Christian of Goldsboro, Trinity Christian of Greenville, Jacksonville Christian, New Bern Christian, Gramercy Christian of Newport and Christ Covenant of Winterville.
“I really think it’ll be a lot more successful moving forward,” Walker said. “I think they’ll be able to compete for championships at this point now with like-minded schools in the association that we’re in. With like-minded schools, I think we were able to compete a lot better in many different sports, not just one or two.”
Felton will oversee 20 teams at CCS this coming year, including the return of varsity boys soccer for the first time since 2018. The football team will continue to compete as a non-championship member of the NCISAA eight-man division but all the other teams at CCS will be vying for a chance to win a state championship. Felton has hit the ground running at CCS, already dealing with issues such as places for the volleyball team to practice and reaching out to homeschool students to play football for the Cyclones, which is allowed in their NCISAA eight-man football conference.
“Yeah, I mean, the whole school is growing,” he said. “In my eyes, the sports program has to grow with it and that’s pretty much why my vision is to give the athletes what they need to succeed. Whatever that has to be, then that’s what we need to provide them with. Honestly I’m trying to set up things and get things going.”
