By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
Jim Melvin was part of special sports moments for Graham High School a few decades ago, so he has been fondly remembered in recent days.
“Coach was there for a lot of things,” said Kyle Ward, the current Graham athletics director.
Melvin, a longtime boys’ basketball and tennis coach at Graham, died January 27 at age 80.
Melvin was in charge of the boys’ basketball program as varsity coach from 1983 and into the new century. He was coach of the boys’ tennis team from 1978-2002.
He was on coach Tommy Cole’s staff when the Red Devils won a 1983 state championship in boys’ basketball, then moved to the head coaching role when Cole left for Williams.
“This is a hard one to swallow,” said longtime Graham resident Buster Goodman. “Need time to absorb this news. … What I’m going to miss about it is his passion to work with young kids. Who hasn’t he helped?”
Ward played basketball and tennis on Melvin’s teams. Later, Melvin was on the bench as Ward’s assistant when Graham made a pair of trips to the state finals for girls’ basketball.
A Vietnam War veteran, Melvin was a supporter of tennis in the area on numerous levels. He was a participant as well.
“Coach was real active,” Ward said. “He exercised all the time.”
Melvin replaced Tal Jobe as a middle school physical education teacher and at Graham Middle School before becoming Graham High School’s junior varsity coach and then rising to the varsity team.
Then, Jobe’s powerhouse boys’ basketball teams at Eastern Alamance matched up close to 20 times against Melvin-coached Graham teams. Those Red Devils teams emphasized teamwork, Jobe said.
“I admired his teams. They played hard,” Jobe said. “We had some knock-down, drag-out games. The gyms were full. He was a class guy.”
For Jobe, Melvin’s time prior to Graham was special.
“You can’t write enough about his service in the military,” he said.
Bill Joye was athletics director at Graham during Melvin’s early coaching years, calling the coach an ideal fit.
“It was just a good mix,” Joye said. “Jim was just a real positive person. He just had a real good relationship with the student-athletes.”
Even when he was done coaching boys’ basketball, Melvin had a role at the school. Ward was happy to have him helping with his girls’ teams.
“He would get out on the court with the girls and work with them,” Ward said, noting he specialized in guiding post players. “I took a lot of the stuff that I had watched him do.”
In tennis, Melvin coached two pairs of Red Devils (Stuart Melvin and Jeremy Wyrick in 1995, Travis Huffman and Michael Jakielski in 2000) to doubles state championships.
After retiring from Graham, Melvin filled in for a season as girls’ tennis coach at Eastern Alamance.
Goodman spent years alongside Melvin at tennis venues.
“I hate to think how many miles we traveled in those 25 years,” he said.
Melvin had provided tennis instruction at Quarry Hills Country Club in Graham and later ran a youth tennis program through the Mebane Recreation and Parks Department and helped with tennis programs at Burlington Tennis Center. He also was involved with the Alamance Junior Tennis Foundation.
“He was an avid tennis person,” Ward said. “He was very influential.”
Melvin is a member of the Graham Sports Hall of Fame and had been involved at Graham Presbyterian Church. Survivors include wife, Claire, and children, Abby and Stuart.
