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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHedrick's Legacy Lives On, Robert Cessna ROBERT CEsSNA Hedrick's ,legacy lIe IVeS on Joe Hedrick was a simple man, I which was what made ~ so I I great. Hedrick, who passed away II l Thursday, was Franklin's head foot- , b~ coach for 37 years. His accom- I phshments before retiring ill 1984 were legendary - 13 _ di~trict champi- I I onships, six bi-districMitles and two I state semifmal appearances. 1 J Hi~ 247-119-~5 r~cord is good enough I I to still rank hnn m the state's all-time I Top 20 coaches, and his achievements I helped earn him induction into the Texas High School Coaches I Association's Hall of Honor in 1979. . But the man everyone reverently , called Mr~ ~ectric~ was so Il}1.l,c4 more I , ~than a football coach. -,. I I He was a soldier, a history teacher, a superintendent, a bu.s driver, a poet, an artist, a devoted husband, a loving I father and a devout Christian. Perhaps the things Hedrick did best were teach and lead by example. He I could talk fOl}hours aIDout (ootbC!li for- I Inations, or if you wanted, the fall of the R01naUiEmpire. For fun,"h~ could , draw cati'clltures. .' t" ;-: He ~~\nad the a~lliw.to look into' your eyes and..acc~atEHy determine your worth:. . . "If all men "were like hIDi~ we lWOuldn't have any, prob.le,ms,:; said S t.eve Putsley, a retired football offi- cial. "People didn't realize how smart he was." He'must've been sharp oecause for four decades Franklin players responded on and off the field. His players typiciilly weren't the most athletic, but they rmderstood the fun- damentals involved ii1 blocking and tacking, and they took pride in doing them. Academically, Franklin has I always been a blue-ribbon school. "He would not allow you to be less I than you ought to be, both in the , classroom and on the practice field or during the games," said David Smith, who played quarterback and defen- I sive back for Hedrick from 1962-66. I "He always wanted you to play with pride; keeping your head up. He I coached players, not teams. He was worried about building' individual I championship character instead of focusing on team championships." Hedrick always said he never knew which of his teams was the best, and that he'd have to check back in three decades to see which had produced the most teachers, lawyers and doc- tors. And he was saying that 30 years ago, before it became the politically I correct company line football1 I coaches deliver today. t Hedrick also had a knack for doing what was right, not I I what was popular. "The only time I knew coach Joe Hedrick would test to see . I which way the wind was blow- I ing was before the kickoff,'" I i ~ai~ Smith, who o:vns his ownl , msurance agency m San f I Benito-Harlingen. I Steve Schultz was a winner I for Hedrick as Franklin's I quarterback from 1975-77, and , he's still scoring points for the Green and White as a local I veterinarian and school board member. He also had the I pleasure of being Hedrick's I ' assistant for a year. "I sure loved coaching," Schultz said. "But I remember . when I got my acceptance let- ~ ter to vet school. I went and showed him that letter. I told I him I didn't know what to do. I He told me if I wanted to be a veterinarian, that would be good because Franklin' didn't have one. He also told me we needed a coach. So he encour- I aged me to do whatever I 'I wanted. He was just a good I influence." I Hedrick had a way of mak- ling anyone he touched feel ~special. "He was like a second father Ito me," said Pursley, who offi- 'ciated from 1960-2000. "The lfirst thing he did after the 'game was congratulate the officials. It was a pleasure to work his games. In all the I time I knew him, he scratched 10nly one official, so then you Iknew [that official] was really, Ireally, bad. Oh, he'd question Iyou, but in a gentlemen's way. IYou'd give him an answer, land that was that." I Pursley worked maybe the Itoughest game in Hedrick's . career. In the 1978 s~mifmals, Lexington scored twice in the fmal 5 minutes against Franklin at Viking Stadium to force a tie. Lexington advanced to the state title game, while Franklin went home. The next night, Pursley ran into Hedrick and his fami- 1y at a restaurant. He says he was at a loss for words because he knew the game likely had been Hedrick's last legitimate shot at an elusive state title. . So it was Hedrick who did the comforting. . "He told me, 'Steve, it's dis- ~ appointing. That's all. When I got home from Hiroshima in World War II and touched down in America, after that, nothing really bothers me any more,'" Pursley said. .That's why that 1978 team, like every Hedrick-coached team, ate sandwiches outside the locker room afterward, I win or lose, crying or laughing I with friends and family. \ Simple folks didn't need a fancy restaurant. If you have character and gave your best, you were a winner in his eyes. I "He had a way of bringing out the best in you," Schultz l said. "But he could do it with- .out screaming or yelling. I never heard him raise his voice once in the time I played or coached with him - at a player or official. But he had his way of talking to you. He knew how to be stern. He could explain it to you so that you didn't want to do that again." I Schultz remembers a donny- l brook with state-ranked Mart I in 1976. The rmdermanned . I Lions fought .to an 18-18 tie I through three quarters before Mart began dominating the tired Franklin team in the fourth quarter. "I remember we had our' heads down," Schultz said. "We hated to lose for him. That's another thing - he .coached in a way that if you 1 lost, you felt you'd let him down. That's why you played I so hard." I But after falling to Mart, I Hedrick didn't let the Lions I feel as if they'd let him down. "He came in the locker room and said, 'I've never had a bet-I ter effort,'" Schultz said. '''I've always remembered that." I Schultz also remembers f another game when the Lions I bolted to' a 30-0 'lead, but allowed the inferior team to drive down the field in the [mal minute of the first half for a score. "We went into the locker room feeling pretty good," Schultz said. "But he gave us the worst butt chewing I can remember. He said that was I the worst defense he'd seen in 40 years. That's the way he was. He expected you to do I your best every time out." I He even earned respect froml opponents. One of Hedrick's coachmg peers is retired Hall of Honor Rogers coach Donald Godwin I (260-117-7), who spent much of last week at the hospital. 'The Rogers-Franklin game was one of Central Texas' biggest for two decades with Godwin and Hedrick on the sidelines. "It was always a hell of a good game," Godwin said. "You knew it would be hard- hitting. His boys were going to play for him. They'd give everything tbey had because he was a gentleman. "Joe was such a great guy, a great man. He was a lot like Woody Hayes - an historian i and philosopher. It was hard I not to like someone like that. We both wanted to win, but we, could always meet and have a I cold one and talk about it. It i was a great friendship. We'd I swap quotes, books and send notes in the mail. "I just lost a great friend." I For everyone who.can say that, and .there are thousands, a little bit of Hedrick lives on. .... .