Coming up on Sports Spotlight with Steve Nissim, a mighty impressive pair of Naval Academy signees, a standout Catholic high golfer fulfilling a family legacy, and a West Florida Tech track star with a stunning level of accomplishments.

Plus, we go deep with Bobby Clayton, a long time football coach in the area with an intriguing playing history and an Alumni Avenue trip with Graham Gano one of the best kickers in the NFL.

Welcome to Sports spotlight.

I'm Steve Nissim.

Bobby Clayton, one of the area's top football coaches, joins us in studio to talk about his impressive run in coaching and a unique playing history you might not know about.

Plus, longtime NFL kicker Graham Gano graces Alumni Avenue and the remarkable and fitting journey to a Naval Academy scholarship for Catholic high golfer Hudson Mitchell.

But we start with another standout Navy signee, arm.

True, it competed in a dizzying variety of track and field events for West Florida Tech.

Just managing the workload is stunning enough, but he reached legendary heights with a mind blowing climax to his high school career as a youngster.

Ahmad.

True, it was not very involved in organized sports.

I studied a lot there.

That's right.

That's about it.

It's just studied.

My mom really want to be a good student, so I just do a lot of work.

He dabbled in different sports at middle school and knew he was fast.

So was a freshman at West Florida Tech High School.

Armon went out for track, starting with a 200 meter tryout run.

He told me the pace to go at that, I went way too fast.

I was the first one here, but then I couldn't go again.

I was throwing up.

It was bad.

Everybody else is just getting the pace in.

I was full sprinting.

I wanted to make an impression.

He also stood out in another way.

I said, hey, who's crazy enough to try to pole vault?

He raised his hand.

I said, going over there.

Just wanted to try something new.

I was horrible.

I was doing a lot of.

I was falling.

I was hitting.

It was just bad.

This really bad.

What made you stick with him?

I don't want to quit.

If I quit, then, I wouldn't be here right now.

Pole vault takes a lot of time.

It's the hardest event to learn.

Most of my pole vault is.

All they do is pole vault.

They don't do other events.

Not.

Originally also a sprinter.

He picked up hurdles and jumps as a sophomore and started excelling in all of them.

He qualified for state and three events as a sophomore and again as a junior.

It is very tough to do.

Jump in takes a lot out of you.

Hurdles take a lot out of you and perform the all of those events take a lot out of you.

It's rare.

Very rare.

You just very competitive.

Why did you keep going with all these different in it?

Because I knew I could do it.

The set me apart from everybody else.

That's just.

That's just me.

I think that made me special.

I don't see anybody else doing that in the pole vault.

Ahmad kept pushing the limits with uncommon athleticism for that event, combined with improving technique.

He finished fourth in the state as a junior come senior year.

He was getting too good for the traditional high school pole, so his coach let him try the heavy 17ft pole that he had used as a college athlete 40 years ago.

I was impressed that he could move the pole.

I was a college pole vaulter, and here's a little skinny high school kid jump on pole that I used, and he could get it vertical.

That's a big thing.

No other kid in the state of Florida jumping on that pole.

Even the big heavy kids can't jump on that pole.

In April, Ahmed used it to clear a stunning 16ft.

The best job in the entire state this year.

I looked up.

I was so excited.

It was shaking a little bit.

I was like, oh my gosh, I actually did it.

And I went, I ran, I hugged my coach.

This is a great moment.

At the same time, improved technique in the long jump was producing personal bests almost every meet, and his times in the hurdles races both 110m and 400m.

We're going next level.

A light switch went off and, I'd say the last, maybe five weeks in practice, it was just okay, there's that.

And let's try this tomorrow.

Try that tomorrow and now.

Okay.

That'll work.

And it's just bang bang bang bang bang.

High school track meets are not designed for someone to do all the events that Ahmad does, and sometimes it's just not realistic.

At regionals, pole vault came after the 400 hurdles, an impossible turnaround meeting Florida's top ranked pole vaulter would not be able to compete at state.

Maybe an extra motivator for what was to come at the state meet, seeded eighth in the long jump.

He exploded for 23ft, 3.5in, shattering his personal best and good enough to be state champion.

Then came the 110 hurdles, where he was seeded third.

But again, he put it all together with a mind blowing personal best of 13.89 seconds to edge out the heavy favorite and win another state championship.

I crossed the line.

I looked up at the board.

I saw 13 eight.

Crazy moment.

I didn't know I was going to run, that I could not be happier.

I was not, I couldn't be more excited.

There's tears coming out of my eyes.

I'm on what Capitol?

Extraordinary day with another personal best in the 400 hurdles to finish a narrow second to gold and a silver in a track athlete.

Rich state like Florida.

Truly astonishing.

It still hasn't hit me.

I was just glad to be done with it, but it still hasn't hit me.

I've coached some great athletes.

I've coached, some state champions, you know, I've coached, a few All-Americans.

I don't think anything can compare to what that young man accomplished, at that state.

On top of all the athletic success, he's also still upholding those academic standards.

His family expects a high level honors class load with a 4.1 GPA.

Without academics, I would not be here.

My parents would kill me.

All of it landed him a prestigious scholarship to the Naval Academy.

It's an honor.

They're going to develop me both physically.

Mentally.

I'm going to be a better person.

I feel like that's a great spot to go to in college.

He'll likely compete in the decathlon, a ten event discipline reserved for the best of all around athletes.

He's probably going to set the maybe school record in the pole vault.

I think he's going to be that good.

They're definitely getting a special, special athlete.

He feels ready for the next step with a grander vision ahead.

How far do your dreams go with your long term dreams?

For really far.

I think I can represent the USA when they.

Hudson Mitchell's rise in golf might seem like a natural, but the Catholic high grad made the most of opportunity and foresight with remarkable determination and talent to uphold a very impressive family legacy.

That's my house.

Growing up along the ninth hole at the Pensacola Country Club, an early start in golf was a natural for Hudson Mitchell.

My dad would bring me out because the range is obviously right.

Right down the road.

I'd hit with plastic clubs inside and then come out here and just stink balls around.

Hudson was much more into baseball as a youngster, but his dad, Scott, was thinking long term.

He made his right handed son, learned to hit lefty to avoid producing bad tendencies in his golf swing.

I was so mad at the time.

He had no concept as to why he was making, you know, he told me.

But I was like, whatever, okay, sure.

I didn't really I didn't I didn't really believe in it.

If I didn't think I'd be playing golf when I was, or as a fifth grader.

Hudson switched to lacrosse as his main sport.

He excelled and had big dreams until an eye opening experience as an eighth grader.

We went to a lacrosse camp in Auburn, and I realized some of these kids that were coming down from up north were much, much, much better than I was.

That's when he finally decided to get serious about golf.

His first big step as a freshman, trying out for the high level golf program at Catholic High.

The first day of tryouts.

And I was, I think, three under three six, and I had never been under par before.

I don't know what was happening.

I was just playing really well.

And I told him I was like, I've never played this well.

I just, I mean, I just, hope I make the team.

He's like, you're going to make the team by this.

And then I went bogey double, triple to finish.

And I finished like four over.

And it was I'm so mad.

But I made the team.

He would go on to compete with the team at the state championship tournament as a freshman.

But his next big progression came a year later in 2022 at the prestigious Pensacola Country Club Championship tournament held since 1926.

The event had never been won by a junior golfer.

15 year old Hudson reached the final hole realizing he had a one shot lead.

I was like, shaking over the ball and I just kind of took the most.

I hit it so pure, but it was the swing.

Like I couldn't even feel it because I just went back.

It was just so my arm so flimsy, and I hit it and it just kind of drew and landed on the greens.

I was so happy that I was on top of the world.

That's easily my favorite win I've ever had some great moments, but Hudson's game was still inconsistent, not in a position to achieve his goal of a college scholarship in 2023, he turned to the new head pro at PCC, Andrew Boston.

Golf is not something where you're going to see a change overnight, so this is something that, you know, took six, eight, ten, 12 months of him to evolve and get a handle on and really feel comfortable with.

And he put the work in 100%.

He was here practicing all day, every day, whenever he could.

He was put in the work.

And he's really become, a complete player.

He hits the ball well, he hits it straight.

He's picked up a lot of distance.

And his putting, which was once, you know, arguably a weakness, has really become a strength of his for Hudson.

The putting guidance from Boston has been the biggest difference maker.

I talked with him and we got over what I needed to do.

And I just practice, practice, practice all the time.

Even on Mondays when the courses closed, I'd be just walk over with my putter and socks and just putt a lot.

In the summer of 2024, Hudson scores started going next level, but it wasn't producing the real result he wanted.

I thought I was shooting these good scores, I'd email the college coaches and most people are just like, hey, we've kind of already we've narrowed down our choices.

You know, you're a little too late.

And, and it was it was really it was really hard to hear at first, but then maybe it's one of the last ones I did, and they were like, yeah, you know, we'll call you.

I was so thrilled to finally get a little bit of a breakthrough in the recruiting process, because before then I was I've so lost the contact with an assistant coach at the Naval Academy, boosted his confidence, but he still needed to seal the deal.

He won an elite tournament in Georgia with a stunning final round 66, and followed it up with another tournament when it dusted, it led to a call from Navy head coach Jimmy Stobbs.

I got a call on Monday after winning on Sunday and, that was probably one of the best, if not the best day of my life.

He's like, hey, we want you to come play for us.

And I was like, yes.

Yes.

Remarkably, Hudson still played lacrosse throughout high school and was one of the best players in the area.

But it's golf that opened the door to Navy, a significance that goes way beyond the sport.

I've had ten academy graduates in my family.

Everyone was an aviator.

I want to fly.

I'm not just, you know, want to play golf.

I want to be an officer.

I want to serve my country.

There are only 32 NFL starting kicker jobs in the world, and Graham Gano has held one for the last 16 years.

The Tait High grad has produced amazing longevity and success.

We find Gino still cruising on Alumni Avenue.

Graham Gano has been a great NFL kicker for a long time, since first hooking on in the league with Washington in 2009.

He's made almost 88% of his field goal tries, putting 333 through the uprights on extra points.

He's clocking over 95% good spending the last five seasons with the New York Giants.

He's become a valuable weapon.

When he missed seven weeks with an injury last year, the G-Men suffered significant drop off in no return midseason and picked up where he left off, making nine of 11 field goals and all 15 extra points.

He firmly established himself as one of the NFL's best kickers, with a stunning five year stretch 2017 to 2022 with Carolina and New York, where he made a ridiculous almost 93% of his field goal attempts.

He's lethal from long distance, 28 of 35 from over 50 yards the last six years and mega dependable on extra points, making 72 of his last 74.

Gano is more than delivering on the promise at Tate High, where he kicked 65 and 64 yard field goals.

Still two of the longest in national high school history, going on to earn top kicker in the country honors at Florida State.

Graham Gano, a guy we continue to admire on Alumni Avenue.

Bobby Clean the football roots on the Gulf Coast, run deep from his playing days at Gulf Breeze, and long time area sports fans might remember as a pro quarterback in Pensacola.

Clayton is now regarded as one of the best coaches in the area, with very impressive results and mentors.

We are excited to have Bobby Clayton with us going deep.

Bobby, thanks for being here.

Yes, sir.

Thank you.

All right.

So we'll go back to Rays and Gulf Breeze play quarterback for the Dolphins.

So, what are your memories of playing football?

Playing quarterback a couple of years.

When I played small town, Gulf breeze grew up through the whole rec program.

We were actually the Gulf Breeze Sharks and then turned into the dolphins when we got to high school.

Man, just great memories of friends, you know?

Still friends with a lot of those guys today that I played ball with.

Many of them still live in the Gulf Breeze and surrounding area.

So just a tremendous time in my life.

So how good were you guys for those years?

Not to our senior year.

Our senior year.

I think we got a little bit better.

We've got, we got a new head coach.

Don Cobb became our head coach.

And I think that year we went six and four.

And we lost a pace in a in a in a shootout.

While in the shootout they beat a 1714.

And just a I think we all still talk about that game where all of our buddies, but, it was it was a tough one.

Not that you remember all the details, but I do remember every year I think, probably too many, but, All right, so you did well enough to get a scholarship to a West Alabama Division two program.

Played quarterback there.

What was the experience like?

They ran the old school run and shoot, which they threw the ball, you know, 70, 80 times a game.

It was like, are you kidding me?

And, so I went there and had a great freshman season.

I played well, I played one game, for about two minutes and lost my redshirt.

Didn't realize what I was doing.

I don't think.

And then, you know, finished out my three years there playing quarterback.

I had a great time at West.

Our, kind of a country guy from, from a beach town, which doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

Like the whole hunt and fish and aspect of of it.

And had a great time there playing ball.

All right.

So, when you left there, you got right into coaching.

But we'll get to that in a minute.

First you thought, I think you're playing.

Days were over when you left there, but two years later, Pensacola got an arena football team, the Pensacola Barracudas, in 2000.

And they played at the base and then the Civic Center.

And you were recruited to play quarterback.

How did that come about the tryout?

I think it was kind of like one of those days, like one of your buddies said, I bet you, you know, you can still throw it a little bit once you go tryout.

And so I did.

I remember I they had a tryout at Gulf Breeze High School, went out there and threw the ball around a little bit.

And then they approached me about being their quarterback.

And little did I know what it was going to, what it was going to do and how it was going to blow up for this area, and especially that first season.

But, wow, what it really helped me as far as understanding more into the coaching aspect.

I had just gotten started in the coaching world and thought I knew a whole lot about it, but, quickly learned in the Arena League it was a little different game.

Yeah, for people don't know, you guys were a sensation.

I mean, you were selling out the Civic Center seven, 8000 people.

It was incredible.

You had 50 touchdowns that one season.

Well, what was that experience like?

I kind of surreal, really.

You know, I think the first time we came out, of course, the lights are down and, you know, fireworks and everything were going off, and the lights came up and I started seeing number five jerseys everywhere around the arena.

And I'm like, man, I'm not really that popular enough.

It did.

It took off and it was a great season.

We had a good time, a lot of good memories.

Fun time in my life for sure.

As quickly as it blew up, it went away and they were the ones you sit there and they played maybe 1 or 2 more seasons and then and then that kind of fizzled out.

But you had got going on your coaching career.

1998, Jerry Pollard hired you to be an assistant at Pine Forest.

What did it mean to you to to be able to get that job?

That really at first that I didn't want to go across the bridge?

You know, I was kind of one of them.

Whole hometown Gulf Breeze guys that didn't want to go.

And really, my mom kind of drugged me across the bridge, really, and made me go and didn't know really who the head coach was at the time, walked in, handed the guy a resume, and met the principal at the same time.

He asked me if I could come back in about an hour or two and meet with him, and I did, and, landed my first teaching job.

I was 22 years old, right out of college and landed a job and coach and running backs and quarterbacks.

So it was a really great experience for sure.

Yeah.

And, you guys won state in 2000, so you had some great success while you were there and you mentioned didn't know Jerry Pollard.

But of course, he's a legend in the area in coaching.

What was it like coaching under him?

What did you how good of a mentor and what kind of things did you learn from Jerry?

So yeah, I, I did not know him.

But quickly learned all about him.

All I needed to know, as far as you know, a hard nosed guy works hard, believed in the weight room.

Practices were tough.

Practices were physical.

And that's that's kind of what, you know, kind of steered me into the whole where I am with the head coaching position as well, like the, you know, the tough nosed, get after it day in and day out grind of football coach in this area.

Of course, not only was your boss ended up becoming your father in law, still is your father in law his daughter Mindy is your wife.

What was the dynamic of that?

That was, I didn't know who she was at first when I first met her.

Steve, to be honest with you.

And then one of the assistant coaches asked me, said, are you crazy?

And, I guess I am.

I heard we have four kids, and he's he's he's a he's a father to me.

I mean, he's not, you know, father in law.

This guy's truly like.

I feel like I'm one of his.

I feel like I'm one of his kids and meditate, I do, I think he talks to me and Bo's son more than he does the ers of downs, but, Great man.

Yeah, absolutely.

All right, so it was 15 years an assistant coach going between us and Gulf Breeze.

Right.

And then finally you get your first head coaching job at Gulf Breeze in 2016.

You know, what did it mean to you to land that head coaching job at your alma mater?

I almost predicted I was going to do that one day.

I remember sitting in my senior year of of of English class and then having us write kind of what we wanted to do in the future.

And I remember writing down, you know, I wanted to be a head football coach at Gulf Breeze back where I played.

And and so the dream came true.

And then it was the hard work, you know, then it was the get these guys go in the right direction.

I had some phenomenal players that were there, and some guys I'd already coached with and been on staff, I mean, and we kind of built it pretty special and these kids just took off and played their tails off for us.

Yeah, they were not doing very well before you got there.

The three years before you got there, eight and 23.

You were there seven years.

Just turned it around.

What, 42 or 29?

I made the playoffs for the seven years.

So what worked for you to be able to kind of sustain success there?

I think I took that hard nosed approach from what I learned from Jerry.

You know, practices were physical practices.

You know, we tackled every day.

We challenged them in the summertime.

We had, summer beach workouts, which I think some of those guys probably still hate.

Pensacola Beach this day because of what we what we did out there.

But, I mean, the kids really bought in and, and I think them being so hungry for success and wanting to win, you know, they were hanging on every word you said.

And, again, it was, it was it was a great run for sure.

You know, as you know, there's the perception out there, that a Gulf breeze football, you can't sustain success winning there.

You know, you kind of pushed back against that at the time.

You know.

Why is that not true?

That was that was exactly what that was.

I'm one of those you can tell me I can't do it.

I'm gonna show you that I can find a way to do it.

And that was the stigma was, hey, you're not going to be successful.

You're not going to win there.

And and I had it, you know, I wanted to prove it.

I wanted to prove you could do that.

And and we did, the administration, the support of what we were doing.

And it was just a it's a great time for sure.

Any specific like, memory as a team or player or moment that was most special?

I've got a lot of especially that first year.

I had some phenomenal players with, with, Tyler Phelps and, Tristan Koval and Parker Baynes and those guys.

I still see those guys to this day.

And just a special group of guys that that really helped actually shape my head coaching career was in my first season there as the head coach.

And some of those guys are still, you know, we stay in touch and talk to them on a regular basis for there's probably way too many memories to to sit and go through them all.

All right.

After seven years, you decide to leave, go to Four Wall Beach.

Why did you decide to make that move?

It was a little lucrative, you know, and I'd been in Gulf Breeze, and it was just one of those leap of faith, you know, jumped off and went down to Okaloosa County, met some great people, was able to to, to learn a little bit more about myself as a coach and, it was very challenging, to be honest with you.

Very challenging job.

Highway 98 alone was the most challenging trying to drive because I still lived in Gulf Breeze and making that commute on a daily basis was was tough.

It's a proud program that has fallen on hard times.

I mean, they've won state back in the day with Danny Werfel.

But I think the two years before you got there, they had one win.

Your first season, you won five and five, which is the most wins they have had in a decade.

You know why the dynamic there in Okaloosa County with Niceville and they talked about you.

How tough is that?

Very tough, especially being Choctaw is two miles down the road from Fort Walton Beach.

And you know, the the open enrollment, the open seating and the kids being able to bounce and go wherever they wanted to go.

That was very tough in that, in that community for sure.

You know, we had some good players and, we coached some hard that first year.

We did.

We went five and five and then, the second year came rolling around and, man, the high school transfer portal hit me, man.

I had a bunch of kids that decided to transfer out of there.

And, I had some really good kids that stayed on and kept going.

But that grind was tough for sure.

All right.

So, in January, you, announced you moving to Catholic High.

You know, as the head coach, obviously a great program.

How did it come about?

For you to in that job?

It was a phone call.

Really?

I called Matt Adams, friends of mine.

And, you know, we'd competed against one another and really, I said, Matt, look, look, I think I'm looking to try to do something different.

You know, I wanted to come on board and be an assistant coach with him and learn from him.

He's had wild success.

And I kind of wanted to see what he was doing.

And that's what the conversation was about.

And I've got a younger son who was pepper made that I want to I want to go to Cat high.

And so I'm like, well, you're not going to go to Catholic High if I'm coaching somewhere else.

So let me see if I can get involved.

And really, that's how it all rolled out.

Of course, you know the program well from afar.

You know, rivals with Gulf Breeze for many years.

So what is it the so special and unique about that program?

Well, there's a lot I think the hallways, the school, the community itself is what I'm still learning.

You know, Sister Kirsten and that administration over there, they're they're just phenomenal people.

They love the kids.

You can feel it in the school when you're in the building.

And then it just, you know, translates out on the field because, you know, you do have some tremendous athletes and a lot of the little disciplines that you dealt with in public schools were already taken care of.

I mean, you know, you talk about having a dress code and talk about having to wear a uniform, but and shaving your face and having short hair.

But those are some of the obstacles that you deal with in public education that most folks don't know about.

You know, all I know this you know, you're excited for what you can do there.

But, you know, in a grander scale, you mentioned it earlier.

The landscape has changed so much in high school football with the transferring being so rampant.

So you know how much more challenging and what what is the hardest part of trying to navigate this new reality?

Talk to all of these college coaches.

And it's really much the same thing.

You got to continue to recruit your own kids that are in the building.

You've got to continue to, to have conversations with those guys, building better and deeper relationships so that they don't want to leave and go somewhere else, you know, and then give them the experience that they're really looking for, which obviously one is playing time and winning and being successful.

And then now with the whole, you know, recruiting as far as getting them to the next level and having the contacts with the with the college coaches and so forth.

Is this good for high school football?

That's what's going on.

It's it's it's taken a lot of the team away from it.

I'll be honest with you.

I mean, there's a lot more individualism as far as I give me the ball and this and this and that.

That you're going to have to deal with.

But at the end of the day, it's one of the greatest team sports ever.

So that's kind of it's why I do it.

And it's what I tell the kids, you know, this we got to be able to put, you know, team above me and and let us all go together.

It's not about I.

You're part of a very impressive fraternity of high school football coaches in this area.

I mean, a lot of veteran guys that are still around, still doing it at a high success level.

How much pride is it?

How special is that group and how much pride is there in the group that's around here?

I think there's some great coaches in this area and you know that it is a fraternity.

You know, you talk to like I talked to Mike, been in this game and I think he thinks, you know, part of his family because we, we talk back and forth about different things and, you know, share ideas and share thoughts, when it gets down to certain games and certain situations.

So, some very good guys in this area.

All right.

Well, thanks so much.

Thanks for everything over the years.

And look forward to see what you'll do at Catholic.

Appreciate you.

Thank you.

Okay.

Thank you.

That's a wrap on another edition of Sports Spotlight.

But there are so many more stories to tell.

So next time, thanks for watching.