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LUBBOCK, Texas — Gary Gaines, coach of the Texas highschool soccer workforce made well-known within the guide and film “Friday Evening Lights,” has died. He was 73.
Gaines’ household stated in a press release the previous coach died Monday in Lubbock after a protracted battle with Alzheimer’s illness.
Gaines made many stops in West Texas throughout a 30-year teaching profession, however was finest recognized for a four-year stint main the extremely profitable program at Odessa Permian. Gaines returned to Permian later in his profession.
His 1988 workforce was chronicled in Buzz Bissinger’s bestselling guide, which portrayed a program and college that favored soccer over teachers and attributed racist feedback to assistant coaches.
Gaines, who was performed by Billy Bob Thornton within the 2004 film, stated he by no means learn the guide and felt betrayed by Bissinger after the creator spent all the 1988 season with the workforce.
The guide, which portrayed Gaines as a compassionate coach caught within the win-at-all-costs tradition of a highschool program in football-crazed Texas, additionally was became a TV sequence.
Permian misplaced within the state semifinals in 1988, a season that included the lack of star working again James “Boobie” Miles to a knee damage throughout a preseason scrimmage. Miles’ character performed a distinguished function within the film.
The guide described scenes of “on the market” indicators being positioned within the entrance yard of Gaines’ dwelling. His report from 1986-89 was 47-6-1.
Gaines led Permian to the fifth of this system’s six state championships with an ideal season in 1989, then left to develop into an assistant coach at Texas Tech.
He later coached two of Permian’s rivals, Abilene Excessive and San Angelo Central, earlier than returning to school because the coach at Abilene Christian. One other four-year run as Permian’s coach began in 2009, and Gaines additionally was a faculty district athletic director in Odessa and Lubbock.
“I simply can’t discover the phrases to pay respects,” retired coach Ron King, a former Permian assistant, advised the Odessa American. “It’s a giant loss for the teaching career. There are numerous coaches he took below his wing and mentored.”