Gary Gaines, ‘Friday Night Lights’ high school football coach, dead at 73
LUBBOCK, Texas – The iconic Texas high school football coach whose team was the subject of the book and film “Friday Night Lights” has died at age 73, multiple news outlets are reporting.
According to The Associated Press, family members said Gary Gaines, who had Alzheimer’s disease, died Monday in Lubbock.
The longtime coach, whose career spanned three decades, was best known for his 1986-1989 stretch at Odessa Permian, where his record was 47-6-1, the AP reported. Gaines led the team to a perfect season and state championship in 1989, according to the news agency.
Author Buzz Bissinger wrote about Gaines and Permian’s 1988 team, which lost in the state semifinals, in his 1990 nonfiction book “Friday Night Lights,” the AP reported. The book was made into a film starring Billy Bob Thornton in 2004, and a television series followed in 2006, according to the news agency.
Gaines, who spent four more years as Permian’s coach beginning in 2009, also held coaching positions at Texas Tech, Abilene High School, San Angelo Central High School and Abilene Christian University, the AP reported. He served as the athletic director of the Odessa and Lubbock school districts, as well, according to the news agency.
Ron King, a former coach at Odessa High School, remembered Gaines as a “difference maker,” the Odessa American reported.
“Like when you are coaching kids, you are trying to make a difference,” King told the newspaper. “I think Coach Gaines did that.”
– The Associated Press contributed to this report.
