Donte Warner graduated from Effingham County in 2000, so the 33-year-old has roots at the school. But it was about four years ago when Warner started following the baseball and football teams closely at his alma mater, and his presence has been a blessing to the program ever since.
“If you have ever been to a Rebel baseball game, you are instantly changed when you hear the voice of Donte from the stands and the positive energy he puts out,” said Matt Huntley, and assistant baseball coach and head softball coach for the Rebels. “As a high school coach, the dedication of this man to show up and cheer on players that he has never met before is extremely encouraging.”
Warner is being honored for his loyalty to the Rebel athletic program this year with the Best of Preps Unsung Hero Award.
He followed Rebel athletics casually after graduating, but took more of an interest when his friends’ son, Cal Baker, started his athletic career as a standout football and baseball player at Effingham.
Warner said he met Baker’s parents, Dawn and David, at a Rebel football game and they became friends.
“When you don’t have kids of your own, and you have friends who share their kids with you, you don’t want to waste that opportunity,” said Warner, a landscaper.
When Cal Baker graduated and started playing baseball at Georgia Southern on scholarship, Warner continued to follow the Rebels, with Cal’s younger brother Dusty Baker now starring on the football and baseball teams.
“Donte was at every ball game I can remember at Effingham,” Cal Baker said. “And it didn’t matter if we were up by 20 or down by 20, he would be up in the stands cheering you on. I loved to look up in the bleachers and see him, because no matter what, he would be saying something positive.”
Huntley said that Warner comes to the first game of the season and gets a roster so he can memorize all the players’ names and numbers.
“I’m a spectator, but I make the call on every play like the announcer,” said Warner, who is active at Turkey Branch Methodist Church in Springfield. “I have a roster with all the guys’ pictures and names on it. It means something to me to be at the games, I do it with a purpose — I love to do it.”
And the Effingham players and coaches love Donte Warner right back.
“When he first started coming out, I was thinking, ‘Who is this guy?’ He is just as positive as can be,” Huntley said. “You can hear his voice fill the air. In between innings as I head around to coach first base, I’ll hear ‘Great hustle, coach Huntley.’ Donte has spent his own money, which he works very hard for, to travel all over the state to catch a Rebel game.”
Huntley told a story about the Rebels making the two-hour drive to Waycross for a baseball game, and finding Warner sitting on his car in the parking lot.
“He said ‘What’s up, I came to watch y’all,” Huntley remembered. “He’s just a great guy with a great heart.”
Warner lives in Clyo with his grandparents Virginia and Curtis Warner, who is a pastor at Thomas Chapel, and he said he loves attending church as much as he loves being a fan of Rebel athletics.
”I’ve got a great relationship with everyone on the team, from the seniors to the freshmen to the coaches,” Warner said. “We’re like brothers.”