Goodbye --- and Thanks by Joey Martin - posted Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009 @ 8:17 am  E-mail Story |  Print Story  Vidalia High held a surprise assembly Friday at noon minutes before the final bell of the Christmas holidays to honor Dee Faircloth, who is retiring from Vidalia after 42 years, 41 as head football coach at the school. Vidalia High principal Rick Brown presented Brown with a rocking glider and New York Yankee and Los Angeles Dodger baseball caps, while other faculty members presented gifts and talked about how much the popular teacher and coach meant to the school. Faircloth will retire December 31, 2009 after completing his 41st season as football coach at Vidalia High. Faircloth, a Mangham High graduate, arrived in Vidalia in 1968 as an assistant coach to Don Alonzo. When Alonzo took the head coaching job at St. Aloysius in Vicksburg, Ms., in 1969, Faircloth was promoted to head coach. Faircloth posted a record of 249-187-6. His 249 wins ranks 19th in the state of Louisiana. Vidalia High's football stadium was named after Faircloth in 2005. Faircloth's 249 wins ranks third to J.T. Curtis of John Curtis High and Vic Dalrymple of Oak Grove in number of wins among coaches in Louisiana who coached at only one school.