<EDIT> - My apologies, for the title as he has been diagnosed with advanced ALS and I was led to believe something else when I posted.
This board can relate more because of his Aggie and West Texas roots....
It was before I was born, but thanks to him for helping Central win state!
[This message has been edited by p-wonk01 (edited 8/12/2010 10:28a).]
This board can relate more because of his Aggie and West Texas roots....
It was before I was born, but thanks to him for helping Central win state!
quote:
A coach for the ages
By RICHARD JUSTICE
Copyright 2010 Houston Chronicle
Aug. 12, 2010, 12:09AM
Emory Bellard's players remember him as so much more than a football coach, and perhaps that's the greatest tribute to this remarkable Texan.
"He was the ultimate gentleman," Mark Dennard said. "He had class, integrity and a work ethic second to none."
Years of memories came rushing back Wednesday as Dennard spoke. They're vivid all these years later, sweet recollections of youth and accomplishment and a special time for the football program at Texas A&M.
Dennard was one of Bellard's former players who this week received an e-mail from Susan Bellard informing them her 82-year-old husband was suffering from ALS and asking that they keep him in their thoughts.
Dennard began to cry when asked if he'd like a chance to say goodbye. He played for Bellard for the 1975-77 seasons, then had a nine-year NFL career that included a Super Bowl before returning to Texas and starting Wings N More.
Yet those three seasons with Bellard linger in his heart and mind, having shaped him as a player and a man.
"If he was really upset, you'd get a 'gosh darn it' out of him," Dennard said. "It was the way he treated people. Obviously, he knew football. Everyone knows that. But he had a great staff, and good people migrated to him."
Bellard was already a legend by the time he got to College Station in 1972. He'd won three state championships as a high school coach in West Texas, then helped invent the wishbone offense that revolutionized college football during his time as an assistant to Darrell Royal at Texas.
He took over an A&M program reeling from four straight losing seasons. He changed everything in a short amount of time, recruiting more black players, installing the wishbone and having back-to-back 10-2 seasons in 1975-76.
Bellard's players and friends say he succeeded because of a relentless work ethic, an attention to detail and the ability to sit in a living room and convince families that together they could do great things.
"I just don't know if players today are as close to their head coaches as we were to Coach Bellard," said Ed Simonini, a four-year letterman (1972-75). "I remember going up to the coaches' offices and watching film, then staying around and shooting the bull for 30 minutes with the head coach. It wasn't about football. It was just sitting and talking."
Treated players like men
Bellard was criticized for being too easy on players at times. His players saw it another way.
"He treated players as individuals and men — young men, but men nonetheless," Simonini said. "My senior year, I was up for the Lombardi Award, and we were in Houston for the ceremony. I walked in his room and could tell something was wrong. I could read him in two seconds. He'd just found out there'd been a party at A&M, and the police found marijuana. None of the players had the marijuana, but they were at the party. Nowadays, you'd see the coach kick those guys off the team or suspend them. He didn't do that. These were four seniors. They'd played their last game. There was no more football.
"He wanted to give them the chance to stay in school and work toward their degrees. He saw that as more important. He could be tough and stubborn, but there was balance."
Sorry, no movie
Simonini laughed as he recalled the year the Aggies were preparing for the Texas game, and because none of them had gotten home for Thanksgiving, the players asked the coach if they could go see The Longest Yard.
"We tried and tried, and couldn't convince him to let us see that movie," Simonini said.
About 20 players returned to Kyle Field last April and gathered around their old coach who'd traveled from his home in Georgetown for the occasion. They marveled at how more than three decades later he still remembered names, asked about their families, let them know he still cared.
"He made you feel comfortable around him," Dennard said. "You felt like you'd always known him the moment you met him. "
Running back Bubba Bean was part of Bellard's first recruiting class and was there for the 1975 victory over UT that signified the Aggies had turned a corner.
Bellard personally coached the running backs in those first years, and Bean remembers how precise he was with blocking schemes and angles.
"I can still remember him running behind me at practice, making sure I was hitting the hole in just the right place," Bean said. "I never saw him mad. He was a different kind of guy, as down to earth as they come. He demanded you work and prepare yourself. We had a horrible team that first year, but he never got discouraged."
Bellard had an interesting career arc. He won two state championships at Breckenridge High School and another at San Angelo Central before joining Royal's staff. He resigned midway through his seventh season at A&M and then spent the next seven seasons as the head coach at Mississippi State. His college teams went 85-69 and went to five bowls.
Back to this roots
But late in his life, with his reputation secure, he did something many coaches wouldn't have. He returned to high school football at the age of 61 and coached six seasons at Westfield High.
"I think that tells you a lot about the man," Simonini said. "He was doing what he liked to do. He liked being around the players. He loved the game, and he wanted to form an impression on his guys, to maybe mold them or implant something in their minds.
"He did it. I played for him only a short time but still think of him every day of my life."
[This message has been edited by p-wonk01 (edited 8/12/2010 10:28a).]