Gary Gaines never wanted the first line of his obituary to be linked to the book Friday Night Lights and its author, Buzz Bissinger.
The book, written about the 1988 Odessa Permian team that Gaines coached and lost in the state semifinals to Dallas Carter, became a movie and later a TV show loosely based on the book of the same name. Gaines said he never read the book and only watched the movie one time. He believed he had been betrayed by the author and his intentions for the book.
But when Gaines passed away on Aug. 22, 2022, almost every obituary across the country and the globe mentioned Gaines, the book’s title, and Bissinger in the first paragraph. Such was Gaines’ fame post-Friday Night Lights that when he passed away at the age of 73 from the effects of Alzheimer’s, his name appeared in media all over the globe, including in Taiwan.
Newspapers like The Washington Post, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Dallas-Morning-News, and Chicago Sun-Times all devoted space in their newspaper to reporting on the passing of a high school football coach. On the digital media side, NBC News, CBS Sports, Good Morning America, ESPN, and Sports Illustrated devoted air time or digital space to recounting the life of that same person.
Those interviewed in each account used many of the same words to describe the man who also served as the head coach at Abilene High School from 1994-95: legend, role model, mentor, a man of character, winner, a man of faith, a man of integrity, honest, uncompromising, patient, determined, a tireless worker, a great Christian, and coach, the title he held most dear to his heart.
For 27 seasons at eight different schools, including eight seasons at Permian (1986-89 and 2009-12) and five seasons (2000-04) as head coach at Abilene Christian University, Gaines walked the sidelines, building a legendary career by being what many have said is one of the best coaches and finest men they’ve ever met. He won the Class 5A state championship and a mythical national championship at Permian in 1989 with one of the finest teams in that program’s storied history.
Former Abilene High School head football coach Steve Warren was the defensive coordinator at Rotan High School when Gaines called him in early 1994. Gaines had just become the head coach at AHS, and he offered Warren the job as the Eagles’ defensive coordinator.
“It was an honor for me to get that phone call from Gary Gaines when I was at Rotan,” Warren said. “Just to have the opportunity to be around somebody who was as well-respected across the state and nation as Coach Gaines was something I couldn’t pass up. I’ll always remember that his demeanor never changed, and he was a great listener. In staff meetings, he made you feel important and listened and considered everyone’s ideas, even if we didn’t put them into the game plan.”
In the summer of 1996, Gaines left Abilene High to take the head coaching job at San Angelo Central, and Warren was elevated to the head coaching position. The Eagles were just 4-15 in Gaines’ two seasons, but he laid the foundation that Warren built upon. Warren took the baton from Gaines and turned the Eagles into a state powerhouse. They reached the playoffs for the first time in 40 years in 1999 and went on to reach the playoffs in 14 straight seasons and 15 of Warren’s final 16 years as the head coach.
After Warren was named the head coach, it took the Eagles four seasons before making the playoffs. But in 1999 the Eagles went 11-3 and reached the playoffs for the first time since 1959, going all the way to the state quarterfinals. That was the start of a remarkable run for the Eagles that saw them capture 10 district championships and reach the top of the mountain in 2009 as they beat Katy to win the Class 5A Division II state championship. All of it started, Warren said, with many of the fundamentals that Gaines made a part of the AHS program in 1994.
“I’ve always given Gary a lot of credit for laying the groundwork for some of the things we built at Abilene High, in particular the accountability piece,” Warren said. “I was part of that from the first day and continued to make accountability a fundamental piece of what we did at Abilene High.”
In 2009, as Warren prepared to lead the Eagles to the program’s seventh state championship, he spoke to Gaines on more than one occasion the week of the title game. And after the game, his thoughts turned to those who helped the Eagles win that state title, including the man who brought him to Abilene.
“I’ll never forget after we won the game how proud he was of Abilene High School, and how proud he was that one of his former assistants won a state championship,” Warren said. “I remember thinking how proud I was to have been associated with him. When you win a state championship, you think of a lot of people who help you get there, and there are a lot of them. But Gary Gaines was at the top of the list simply because of the amount of respect I had for him.”
That respect, Warren said, was state-wide.
“He was far and away one of the most respected people in the Texas High School Coaches’ Association,” Warren said, “and not so much for what he did on the field, but for the kind of person he was. He always made himself available. Gary Gaines was the same on the field as he was off the field. He was competitive, but he was also a very giving person, and if a coach had a question, he would try to help them in any way he could. I don’t know of a person more respected across the state than Gary Gaines.”
Note: A memorial service for Gary Gaines is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Sept. 17, 2022, at Crossroads Church in Odessa, Texas (6901 East State Highway 191, Odessa, Texas 79762).
