From Streetlights to Stadiums: Brothers’ Football Journey Shapes Albany’s Gridiron

This is a two-part article. The second part will be in print Thursday, June 13, 2024.

ALBANY — The quiet depths of an east Albany’s night, the early 1990s asphalt streets transformed into a theater of brotherly rivalry, echo with the thud of football boots and the banter of two siblings fueled by a shared passion for the game.

Amidst the dim glow of streetlights, Uyl and Corey Joyner navigated their familiar turf with an ease born of countless late-night showdowns, each skirmish not just a game but the inception of a lifelong competition that would come to define their roles as pillars of Albany’s football legacy.

That brotherly competition and practice in the street helped Uyl lead the Dougherty Trojans to the school’s last state championship in 1998 and led Corey to a national championship game with Georgia Southern the same weekend.

“My parents went to see Uyl play in the state championship in 1998, then to see me play in the national championship the same weekend,” Corey said.

“I kind of suckered Uyl into football,” Corey added. “We all thought he (Uyl) was going to be a basketball player, but I needed somebody to throw me the ball. So we were playing all the time. I was trying to run routes and he would throw me the ball, sometimes at 2 a.m. We had a great neighborhood and they took good care of us.”

“When I first got to Dougherty, I knew the plays,” Uyl laughed. “We were playing football in the street, and Corey was telling me what plays we were running. When I started to practice at Dougherty, they would call the plays and I was like, ‘Hey, that’s what Corey calls it.’ So we were running Dougherty’s plays as kids in the street.”

In 2021, Corey and Uyl joined forces to guide the Carver Tigers to the state championship. Following their impressive run, Corey transitioned to a coaching role with the Lee County Trojans, while Uyl assumed the position of assistant coach at Dougherty High School.

Subsequently, the following year, Corey made a move to become an assistant coach at Westover High School. Then last year, just before the start of the season, Uyl was thrust into the role of head coach at Dougherty, stepping in for Coach Johnny Gilbert who had accepted a new position within the Dougherty County School System.

This year, Corey was appointed head coach at Westover, succeeding interim head coach Octavia Jones, who continues to serve as the school’s athletics director and assistant principal.

“That week was a big whirlwind,” Uyl said of the time when he was named head coach at Dougherty. “It was game week of the first game of the year. The only person I knew to call was Corey.”

However, now, Corey isn’t welcome in that old neighborhood these days.

“All of my immediate family are Dougherty graduates; when I took the Westover job, I was banished,” he joked. “They took my Rubos card. No more Pic-N-Save. I’m the cook at the cook-out so …”

Oct. 25 is the date that Westover and Dougherty will clash this season in Hugh Mills Stadium

“I expect that we will have family flying in for that game,” Corey said. “They usually come home for something like that. And people are already talking trash. I was at practice this week and my phone was blowing up with notifications. I had to stop and see what I had been tagged in, and one of my relatives had posted something about Dougherty and Westover and tagged me in it.”

One person who will be missing all of that is Corey and Uyl’s dad, Alton. The Joyner patriarch passed away last year from prostate cancer.

“Friday nights will be different now,” Corey said. “Our dad was a great Christian man and he would always tell us, ‘I have been up this morning praying for y’all. You boys going to pull this out’ Those words were very comforting to both of us. Not being able to hear that message on Friday morning will make Friday night different.”

Part two set for print edition on Thursday, June 13, 2024. “I’m not out here working for fourth place.”

By Joe Whitfield
Sports EditorJoeWhitfield[email protected]