Sports Editor

Six years ago, a young man from Fayetteville began

attending Landmark Christian School in Fairburn. The young man

was quite athletic and committed to his academic achievements.

His name was Clint Waggoner and he wanted to be a doctor.

"Coach Thorn stressed that to get to where you wanted to go, you had to

work hard at it everyday," Waggoner said. " You have to be

committed to getting better everyday."

In the fall of 1995, Clint began attending the University of

Alabama and started playing football for the Crimson Tide. This

season he played as a starting defensive endafter seeing some time on

the scout team his freshman year and on special teams the year

after that. Last week, Clint was named a Burger King National

Scholar athlete, earning the University a $10,000 scholarship.

Now, Waggoner is facing his final game with the Crimson Tide, a

possible Peach Bowl appearance against Virginia.

"We went 7-4 this year and the Peach Bowl would be really

nice because I could play my last game here," Waggoner said.

Waggoner has a lot of local fans and for good reason. Aside from being a

tremendous athlete who has captured several playing awards in

games against Vanderbilt and Tennessee this year, he is also a finalist

for the Woody Hayes Scholar Athlete award and has been on

the President's List all four years at Alabama. The President's List

requires a grade point average of 3.9 and above. Clint has been

pre-med since day one atthe University.

"I have always wanted to be a doctor," explains Waggoner.

"I do volunteer work every Monday with a rural doctor about 30

miles outside of Tuscaloosa. I also volunteer at other hospitals and

teach a biology lab once a week." Growing up Clint played every

sport imaginable and liked basketball the best. He never thought

he'd play football in college, but says his father always knew he

would. He didn't realize he would have the opportunity to play

college ball until the opportunities came to him. Clint visited both

Tennesee and Alabama, two perennial powerhouses in the SEC.

"There are a lot of positive things about playing football

in college" states Clint. "There are life lessons learned everyday.

You are taught that through perseverance you can accomplish

anything. And the school is free, you can't beat that." The most

memorable football experience for Clint was playing against Tennessee

in Neyland Stadium. "It's so exciting because there are

107,000 people in the stands and they are such a tough team,"

Waggoner said. "All of the Auburn games have been pretty memorable

too, especially this year's win."

Waggoner has one year of eligibility left but he will not use

it. He has thought about going pro, but he wants to go to

medical school and he knows the possibilities of getting into the NFL

are slim. Clint has applied to Mercer, UAB and the Medical College

of Georgia to further his education and as long as he takes the

lessons he has learned from football, he should be just fine. Until

then,Clint has one more chance to send someone to the doctor's without a

referral.

<!--##############