Remembering a legend.

How often is the passing of a high school football coach front-page news? Perhaps in his local community, particularly if the editor was one of his players. But when Gordon Wood, the legend of Brownwood, TX, died in late December, it made the front-page of virtually every newspaper in the Lone Star State.

Wood was 89 and had retired 18 years earlier. When he last laid down his whistle, he was the winningest coach in Texas history. His 396-91-15 record included stops at eight schools and nine state championships, the last seven over 26 seasons at Brownwood.

The tributes poured in from everywhere. "Football has lost a real treasure," said another legend, Darrell Royal, who enjoyed a 47-year relationship with Coach Wood. "We lost the greatest coach we ever had," said Pilot Point HS coach G. A. Moore, who passed Wood as Texas' winningest coach a year ago.

The current Brownwood coach, Steve Freeman, said, "Coach Wood has stood for everything ... that a coach should stand for."

AFCA executive director and legendary Baylor coach, Grant Teaff, put it best: "Coach Wood was much more than a successful football coach. He was a friend to every player he ever coached and a friend to every coach who loved the game."

For us, our semi-annual visits with Wood will provide wonderful memories. Each winter, at the annual convention of the American Football Coaches Association, and each summer, at the Texas High School Coaches Association Coaching School, there was Wood, long removed from the field and yet always ready to contribute to his sport. He wasn't there merely to be recognized by his successors or to socialize with old friends.

"Football was always on his mind," said Eddie Joseph, executive director of the THSCA and another: long-time friend. "It was his life."