Georgia State Playoffs: Boyd Brothers Go For Sibling History, Again

Georgia brothers David Boyd and Cal Boyd made history nearly three decades ago when David was head coach for a state championship basketball team on which Cal was a starting guard.

This week, the two are chasing sibling history again in Georgia’s semifinals.

David Boyd is the head coach for Milton’s boys team, the defending champion and No. 1-ranked team in Class AAAAA. Cal Boyd is head coach for Greater Atlanta Christian’s girls, a top contender in Class AA.

If they win their state championships this weekend, the coaches would become the second siblings to win Georgia titles, the first to do it in the same year.

‘‘It’s unusual in the coaching profession to pull for any teams but your own, but we’ve been texting back and fourth after each [state tournament] game,” David Boyd said. “It’s been fun sending winning messages.”

The brothers grew up in Smyrna in Metro Atlanta, and each played at Campbell High. A third brother, Scott, played for the school and was a long-time high school assistant coach.

“I grew up with a basketball under my arm because my brothers stuck it there when I was 3-years-old,” said Cal, the youngest. “They’d block my shots just to make me mad. But it made me better.”

Cal Boyd was the star player in the family. He was an eighth-grader when David got his first head coaching job at Campbell. David led the team to the state finals the first year.

When David put Cal on the varsity as a freshman the next season, the head coach faced some criticism. By midseason, Cal was in the starting lineup, and Campbell was on the way to its first state title in history.

“He was harder on me because I was his brother,” Cal said. “If somebody else made a mistake, I was the one who had to run because if little brother got away with something, others would think they could get away with it.”

But Cal looked up to David, who was 12 years older, and credits him with his own desire to get into coaching.

‘‘The thing that’s always impressed me about my brother is his ability to get you to believe in yourself and what you’re doing and in your teammates,” Cal said. “He was a motivator. That’s the way he’s been since I was playing for him. He was a great communicator.”

As an aside, one of Campbell’s students when the school won its state title was actress Julia Roberts. Roberts later was quoted as saying that David Boyd, who taught her English, was her favorite high school teacher.

During an appearance on ‘‘Late Night With David Letterman,” Roberts was caught by surprise when Letterman dialed up her former teacher while Roberts was a guest on the show. During the phone conversation, Roberts asked David, among other things, “How is Cal?”

Cal was memorable at Campbell, where he played three more years for David and made all-state teams before taking a basketball scholarship to Wake Forest.

‘‘He could shoot the lights out, just one of the best shooters I’ve ever coached,” David said. “People have wondered how many he would’ve scored if we’d had the 3-point line.”

After Cal graduated, David settled in as one of Georgia’s most successful high school coaches in history. He is Georgia’s only coach with state titles at four schools - Campbell (1982), Tucker (1996), Berkmar (2000-01) and Milton (2010). No other boys or girls coach in Georgia has won titles at more than two schools.

His current team, which features four starters who have signed with Division I teams, is one of Georgia’s best in history. It is ranked in the top five of almost every national poll. Milton will play its semifinal Thursday against Tift County and potentially the final on Friday.

Cal Boyd has coached 19 seasons at Walker in Marietta and Westminster and Pace Academy in Atlanta. He came to GAC in 2009. He is one of the few coaches in history to have reached the semifinals as both a boys coach (Walker) and a girls coach (GAC). But Cal hasn’t won a state title, yet.

Before the state playoffs, Cal invited David visit his team. He asked David to bring his five state championship rings.

‘‘He shared his experience and some perspective I wouldn’t necessarily have,” Cal said. “He’s won five state titles. Not many have done that.”

And as far as history goes, the only brothers to win state titles in Georgia were Render Caswell and R.L. Caswell, according to the Georgia High School Basketball Project. Render won with a 1959 boys team from Roopville, hometown of sportscaster Keith Jackson. R.L. won with West Haralson’s 1961 girls team.

Making history again would be nice, but it will be hard to top Campbell in 1982.

‘‘It was a special time because I remember being in the Campbell parking lot with the state championship trophy, my dad, my mother and Cal,” David said. “It was just an unbelievable feeling to have an entire family involved in that.”