When people talk about the cost of success, they usually have a different scenario in mind than the one Georgiana’s basketball program currently faces.

A string of recent successes for Georgiana’s boys and girls basketball programs have left two dozen trophies that now adorn the office floor of Georgiana head basketball coach Kirk Norris.

“Those trophies sitting on my floor go back three years,” Norris said.  “It’s a pretty good bit for three years.

“The trophy case we have in the gym goes back to 2009, and that one is filled up with trophies from teams going back to 2009 up to probably 2013.”

The biggest hurdle with obtaining a new trophy case is, of course, the cost.  Discussions with administration about obtaining a new display case have been unproductive at best, leaving the basketball program to shoulder the burden of the cost.  And according to Norris, who has researched a number of cases in the past, that cost is substantial—upwards of several thousand dollars.

That figure becomes even more daunting when one factors in the several costs associated with the program already, including the price of new uniforms, fuel costs throughout a full season and postseason (which, for the past several years, have included trips to Dothan and Birmingham), paying officials, funding camps and even everyday costs such as buying athletic tape.

But for Norris, the value of a trophy case is easily worth its weight in gold.

“You want people to walk into your facility and see the accomplishments your students have had, and for the last couple of years our boys and girls have had several,” Norris said. “But unless you walk in my office and look on the floor, you’re not going to know. 

“So it’s something that is needed to instill some pride in our sports program.  I know basketball is one of the sports that has a lot of tournaments, so you get a lot of trophies from that.  But I know our softball team and our baseball team have won some trophies. Our gym is a multipurpose facility where a lot of people come and go through this place throughout the course of a year, whether it’s a ballgame, a banquet or a beauty pageant.  Just to have that to display would mean a lot for the community and the kids who have played, and the alumni could come back and see the things they’ve accomplished.”