“Hoje eu estou muito surpreendido. Estou aqui contigo a falar da minha vida. Eu já fiz muito em minha vida e eu gosto muito para outra pessoa saber o que eu fiz a dizer.”
Other than the Dennis Woolfolk family, it is doubtful that even a handful of readers will understand the statement above. But, it is the result of the Jones County native’s time playing professional basketball overseas.
Woolfolk, 59, moved back to Jones County in 2006 after 15 years of basketball in Portugal and Germany. He started school and his basketball career here, attending Gray Elementary, Bradley-Wayside for the fourth grade, Califf for middle school, and Jones County High. He graduated in 1985.
Woolfolk described his elementary school years as “building a foundation. Third grade, for some reason, was my favorite grade,” he said. “I think it was because we learned how to write in cursive. And, we had some teachers there that really instilled some good values in us and made us feel and see how important school was.”
As he got older, Woolfolk started playing basketball … and was good at it.
“I feel like I was blessed with some athleticism for my size. Some people said that I jumped higher than anyone they’d ever seen before. So, that that made me stand out a lot, and gave me an opportunity to just keep working hard.”
The Greyhounds never won a championship during Woolfolk’s four years, but his efforts did pave the way for him to earn a college scholarship.
“I went to Coker College, a small college in South Carolina,” Woolfolk shared. “I scored 1,975 points in four years, the all-time leading scorer. My record still stands there.”
Headed overseas
While graduation from a small college is usually the end of an athlete’s career, it was the beginning for Woolfolk. One of his coaches helped secure him the opportunity try out for a team overseas.
“You played exhibition games, and if the teams like you, they offer you a contract and you sign. So, I had that opportunity and went to France on a tour. Unfortunately, I didn’t make it that tour.”
Several months later, back at home working, Woolfolk received a call from one of the officials in charge of the program.
“He said, ‘I got a team that’s interested in you in Portugal.’ So we went to Portugal. Played some games, and I got picked up. I played there for 11 years.”
Woolfolk didn’t get a Michael Jordan salary those 11 years.
“When you tell everybody you’re playing professional basketball, they think you’re making millions, which you’re not,” he clarified. “It was comparable to making a really good salary here. You know, living like I guess middle class, that type salary.”
Woolfolk pointed out, however, that there were ‘comps’ to help him. Plane fare back and forth to the U.S., an apartment, use of cars, and food fare were some of the expenses covered for him. “I was able to save a lot of money.”
What Woolfolk did manage to get while there was far more rewarding than that salary.
“I met my wife, started a family,” he said, explaining she sold oriental rugs in a mall where he ate often. “I would pass by there every day going to the food court. A very pretty young lady, very pretty.”
At the urging of a fellow basketball player, he went in and struck up a conversation.
“We talked and stuff. And I told her when I met her, ‘You’re gonna be my wife. I’m gonna marry you.’ And she just laughed it off.”
Tania Lobo dos Santos did take him seriously, though, and they dated for two years before marrying in Portugal in 1997. They have two children, both born in Portugal. Dennis Jr. is 27 and Luyanna is 24. He teachers and coaches at Miller Magnet School in Macon, and Luyanna followed in her mother’s footsteps to become a registered nurse.
Tania is fluent in five languages, and the children speak both English and Portuguese. “We continue to speak only Portuguese at home as a family,” Woolfolk said.
Waffle House to schoolhouse
Woolfolk also played ball in Germany four years before deciding to hang it up and return to the U.S. in 2006. He first worked for Waffle House for two years making “really, really good money,” but the hours ended up interfering with family life, and in 2009 he took a pay cut to work with the Department of Juvenile Justice in Bibb County as a probation officer. He had a caseload of about 40 youngsters.
“I did that for about another two years, but that job really started my career, what I am doing now, because it kind of showed me I wanted to reach those kids before they got on probation.”
Woolfolk had been staying in touch with Chuck Gibson, a former teacher and girls’ basketball coach he had met as a student. Gibson, who had moved on to school superintendent, introduced him to a program that helped individuals with college degrees get into the educational system. Woolfolk was accepted into the program, and Gibson gave him a job in 2010 teaching and coaching.
“He said, ‘What I want you to do is help teach the alternative school,’ which was right up my alley. I just came from probation, so this is perfect for me. I got this.”
The new teacher also was an assistant coach, and the following year the head coach left. Gibson asked him was he ready to be a head coach. The answer was obvious, and Woolfolk obtained additional certification to get the promotion.
He taught PE, health, and personal fitness, and coached boys’ basketball for nine years. “The last two years of that coaching, Mr. Gibson had given me an opportunity to be like an assistant principal half the day, and teaching and coaching half the day,” Woolfolk said.
That was his transition into administration, and his career spiraled upward quickly. In the third year, Gibson told him a decision had to be made. “He said, ‘You’ve done great in the classroom, and you’ve done great as a basketball coach. But we really need you full-time as an administrator.’ “ Woolfolk was offered and accepted the position of assistant principal at Clifton Ridge Middle School. That was during COVID, 2019-20, and Leslie Poythress was principal. Just two years later, Poythress moved up to the central office.
“I applied to be the principal at Clifton Ridge,” Woolfolk said. “That was my first time as a principal.”
Again, Woolfolk’s stay at his new position was short, just one year.
“The principal at the high school had gotten an offer to go to Mary Persons to be an assistant superintendent,” he recalled, “and when that happened, I was called to the high school. And I was the principal there for the last three years.”
His job and title changed July 1 this year.
“Doctor (Jessica) Graves was hired as superintendent,” Woolfolk noted. “And when she came in, she looked at the structure of central office and what positions were being utilized, and she kind of restructured things to fit her philosophy and how she wanted her organizational chart to be.”
He explained that now there will be an assistant who will concentrate on instruction and curriculum. Katie Richter was selected for that position.
There will be another assistant who will focus on operations and efficiency, everything outside the classroom.
“So I applied for that position, and she (Dr. Graves) liked what I presented in the interview. We had to do some performance tasks, and I did well on that. And I guess she just took it from the experiences that I’ve had here in leadership and the relationships I built with people.”
Woolfolk says his days as school principals were rewarding, but different from one to the other.
“Being a middle school principal was challenging,” he acknowledged, “because you are in charge of everything. Like now, I am in charge of operations, everything outside of school. As a principal, you’re in charge of all that and curriculum instruction. But, it’s smaller, more manageable.
“I compare it to a fan,” he went on. “A middle school fan, you can stick your finger in and stop the blade. You can stop it; you can control it.
“In high school, if you go near that fan, it’s going to suck you through to the other side. High school was very challenging, just with the sheer number of staff members, and the students, that age group, young adults. There are more things for them to get into that challenge their education, challenge your expectations and ability to lead them.”
Woolfolk agreed that at times school officials may take the place of students’ parents, or at least feel like they do.
“You always try to make the kids feel like they were part of a family. People ask, ‘what’s your philosophy? What’s your culture?’ Family culture. It’s a family. We’re not going to always get along. We’re not going to always see eye to eye, but families find a way to fix things and just continue to love each other and get better.”
Oh, the translation for Woolfolk’s Portuguese statement at the beginning of this article?
“I’m very surprised that I’m doing an interview with you today, but it’s always exciting for me to talk about some of the things I’ve done in my life. So I’m happy that this is happening.”
