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The Callaway High athletic facilities are in tip-top shape. Head to the baseball, softball, soccer or football fields at any point during the year, and you will find perfectly curated blades of grass, down to the last blade. The reason why? Jon Hopper, who is more than just a coach for the Callaway Cavaliers. Three times a week, sometimes more, Hopper is down at the field mowing and maintaining them so that they remain in great condition regardless of what is going on around them.

“During the fall and spring, it can get a bit hectic, but it’s also very therapeutic,” Hopper said. “It can be pretty peaceful to come out here in the summer and kind of take it easy while doing it.

“The weather plays a large part in it, but I try to cut the fields every other day. That way it kind of looks like a carpet out there and stays consistent,” he added. 

Hopper graduated from Newnan High and has spent much of his life living in Alabama, but coming to Callaway nearly seven years ago felt like a full-circle moment. Hopper spent 26 years as a coach on the Southern Union baseball team, where current Callaway head coach Dusty Hubbard played his college baseball.

“Dusty was a hard-nosed player; he came in as a catcher, but he could run a little bit, so we put him in the outfield,” Hopper said. “Dusty was a hard worker as a player and is a hard worker as a coach.”

Hopper graduated from West Georgia, where he played his final two seasons of college baseball, and immediately went into the coaching ranks. Being around baseball is all he has ever known. 

After his 26 years at Southern Union, Hopper spent two seasons coaching Handley. After that, Hopper was hired at Callaway by Hubbard and just wrapped up his sixth year as a Cavalier. 

The No. 1 priority for Hopper when it comes to field maintenance: make sure the coaches don’t have to worry about anything related to the fields.

“I work with all the coaches to find the best times to do it,” Hopper said. “There are parts of the year that can be really hectic, like in the spring, we might have a baseball doubleheader, and the soccer field will have a girls’ and boys’ game on it that goes until 9-10 at night.”

On a rare occasion, Hopper will cut the grass on one half of the field while the team practices on the other. 

The fields were in good shape when Hopper came onboard nearly seven years ago, but he still saw room for improvement. 

“The fields had some weeds in them and there were some bare spots,” Hopper said. “I started filling those bare spots in and striped it every 5-10 yards, and it started to look a whole lot better.”

With his baseball duties dormant until the new year, Hopper will be laser-focused on maintaining the quality and integrity of the softball, soccer and football practice field while still keeping the baseball field in shape as well. Callaway football is hard at work preparing for the 2025 season, Callaway soccer is hosting summer games every Tuesday and the softball season is on the horizon, leaving Hopper’s work cut out for him.