South Georgia - In The Game High School Sports Magazine

"My coaches have always told me that academics come first, to study hard in the classroom and then take care of business on the field,” says Nicholas Starkey, a 5’ 10”, 220-pound senior offensive lineman for the Fitzgerald Purple Hurricanes.

And that’s exactly what Starkey has done. In addition to being first on the depth chart on the Purple Hurricanes’ line, he is also flirting with the top of his class. His 97.31 GPA has him sitting at second. However, his competitive nature won’t let him sit around and accept second place. He believes there is still time for him improve his grades and quite possibly move to the top.

Starkey is the son of Edward and Debra Starkey of Fitzgerald. Edward, a former football player himself, entered the military after high school. He has instilled in his son the same work ethic and discipline he learned in the armed forces and the experience is paying big dividends for Nicholas.

A standout athlete on one of the top AA teams in the state, Starkey has plans to enter one of the most challenging fields in the workforce. Following his graduation from high school, Starkey wants to enroll at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton and then transfer to the University of Georgia, where he would like to attend pharmacy school. “I’m thinking pharmacy because I’ve always been good at math and science. When it came to classes like trig and algebra, I excelled,” he says.

Starkey has also excelled on the football field. Fitzgerald has been one of the most successful teams in South Georgia for many years. In Starkey’s first three years as a Purple Hurricane, the team was a combined 31-5, and at the time of this writing, sits at 10-2 for this year after dominating both Charlton Co. (39-7) and Henry Co. (45-20) in the first two rounds of the play-offs.  The next opponent is #2 ranked Pepperell.

As an integral part of a very good team, his football career has been filled with big plays. Starkey says his favorite moments come when he gives his running backs room to move the ball downfield. “I like to help make a hole big enough to drive a truck through,” he quips. He and his teammates could not have done a better job of that than against Coffee High in a pre-season scrimmage and again when they faced Irwin County in the first game of the season.

Fitzgerald shocked the visiting Trojans in the scrimmage, winning 27-7 in three quarters of abbreviated play. Nicholas and the rest of the offensive line backed up the Coffee defense all night, and set the tone for a rout that left many Coffee fans scratching their heads.

Two weeks later, the ‘Canes welcomed the rival Irwin County Indians to town. The two communities are so intertwined that it’s almost like a cross-town rivalry, but there wasn’t much to the ‘08 contest. Fitzgerald ran away with the game, winning easily 45-0. “Coffee and Irwin were my favorite games, but Irwin takes the cake. Our line played the best in that game,” says Starkey.

Starkey has the grades and the work ethic to play at the next level if he wanted to go in that direction. He realizes that he probably couldn’t play at a powerhouse like Georgia, but smaller schools would be more than willing to bring in a gritty workaholic with superior grades.  But that’s not what Starkey wants to do. He says that Cornell has expressed some interest, but after he finishes this season - whenever that may be – he is willing to hang up his helmet and set his football career aside.

However, he won’t be through with athletics. “One of my coaches told me to go out for track to stay in shape,” Starkey says, and he found a place on the track team- throwing the shot put. He says his coaches make him run just like the sprinters, which keeps him in great shape year ‘round.

Despite the time the two-sport athlete spends on the playing field, everything for him comes back to academics. Starkey says his parents keep him straight and have been very supportive of his activities. “We’ve talked to him about what he wants to do. But he decided on his own that he would like to be a pharmacist,” says his father, Edward.

Edward says it doesn’t take much to motivate his son. Starkey has a clear-cut vision of where he what he would like to achieve, and he is committed to seeing those goals through. “He studies on his own. He knows studying is important, and he knows he has to keep his grades up and stay out of trouble,” says Edward. He also describes his son as a perfectionist. He plays football hard, but Edward is quick to point out that Starkey knows where to draw the line. “He doesn’t play with a spirit of meanness. He’s committed, and he does what he’s supposed to do. Whatever he does, he wants to do it well,” says Edward with pride.

As might be expected, Edward likes the discipline his son demonstrates and is committed to helping Starkey succeed. “Sports take up a lot of his time, but it has taught him to be disciplined. He does his part, and we do ours,” he explains.

In addition to football, track and schoolwork, Starkey is also very active in Fitzgerald’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes club. His father describes him as a leader among his classmates. Starkey seems to understand that and, whether he intends to or not, is a role model and an inspiration to many people, including his younger sister, Alexis. “He’s a good young man. He’s an intellectual, and he has a bright future ahead of him,” says Edward. •