Gordon Lenear Wood (May 25, 1914 – December 17, 2003Obituaries: Gordon Wood) was an American high school football coach in Texas. He was a head football coach for forty-three seasons, winning or sharing twenty-five district championships and nine state championships.
Wood mainly ran a variant of the single wing formation, called "Warren Woodson Wing T", named after the former Hardin–Simmons coach whom Wood admired. Though it was primarily a running offense, Wood was ahead of his time because his teams could also pass effectively from it.
Early life Wood was the fourth son and the youngest of eight children. He grew up in West Texas, mostly in and around Abilene spending most of his childhood picking cotton to help support his family. He decided not to be a cotton farmer at the age of twelve when his family's crops failed and his father moved him to other farms in West Texas and New Mexico to pick and pull cotton. Wood stayed on those farms from late summer until November and didn't start school until December. His father never appreciated education, so Wood didn't start school until he was seven years old. Because his family moved around so much, Wood attended several different schools in and around Abilene before he graduated from Wylie High School in 1934.
Wood was active in sports throughout his education and got his first taste of competition when he played basketball in the sixth grade. In seventh grade, Wood played in the first football game he had ever seen. He misinterpreted the "fight" chants at the pep rally, and during the game, he spent most of his time beating up the opponent he was supposed to block. In tenth grade, Wood transferred to Abilene High School because the Wylie school did not suit out a football team. He played football for eight weeks before he succumbed to pressure from his father, who didn't think his son should be wasting time on sports and school, and transferred back to Wylie High School. At Wylie, Wood continued to play basketball and run track. He was an excellent athlete and a starter in both sports.
In 1934, Wood was the third fastest runner in Taylor County and was scouted by coach Leslie "Fats" Cranfill from Hardin–Simmons University, who offered Wood a partial athletic scholarship to Hardin–Simmons. After some convincing, Wood's father gave him his blessing and set his son up living with a friend in Abilene. Eventually, Wood earned a full scholarship, and the University provided him with room and board. At Hardin–Simmons, Wood played football and basketball, ran track, and boxed in order to maintain his scholarship. Despite nearly flunking out his first semester, Wood did well in college. He was never a star athlete at the university, but he did learn a lot about sports and coaching. It was at Hardin–Simmons that Wood decided he wanted to be a coach.
Spur and Rule high schools After he graduated from Hardin–Simmons in 1938, Wood received his first coaching job as an assistant at Spur High School. He was the assistant coach for football and head coach for track and basketball under head coach, Blackie Wadzeck. Coach Wood coached at Spur for two years when Coach Wadzeck, was promoted to high school principal. Originally the school board offered Wood the head coaching position, but rescinded their offer when they thought a better candidate came into the picture.
Coach Wood found his first head coaching position at Rule High School in 1940. Rule was already in the midst of a nineteen-game losing streak when Wood took over, and he had a hard time improving their record. He lost the three opening games of the season extending the streak to twenty-two before he earned his first win as a head coach. Rule ended the season with only two wins and eight losses. The next year Wood won the opening game over his old coaching grounds at Spur, but finished the season with only three wins, three losses, and two ties. After two years, Coach Wood finished his first head-coaching job at Rule with a record of five wins, eleven losses, and two ties. Wood was looking forward to a better third season at Rule, but after the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, he resigned from his position at Rule and enlisted in the Navy.
Navy Wood initially washed out of the Navy Officer's Candidacy School, but the Navy realized he had training skills, and Wood was made into a chief petty officer. He trained new recruits and traveled around the nation escorting men to training facilities. Wood was able to coach while in the Navy. In 1942, while he was waiting to be called up for duty, the Abilene school district hired Coach Wood on a day-to-day basis, and he was able to coach spring training for seventh and eighth graders. The following fall, while on furlough for a few weeks, Wood was asked to fill in as head football coach at Haskell High School where he is credited with one win. Wood also coached basketball in the Navy using new recruits to form teams. He would often convince men to play for him as they rolled in for training.
It was in the Navy that Wood met his wife Katharine. He was spending a night out in San Diego when the two met. Gordon and Katharine courted for two months before they married in January 1945. A few weeks later they were expecting their first child. Their daughter, Patricia Wood, was born in September 1945, just days before Gordon Wood received his discharge.
Roscoe, Seminole, and Winters Because he was a schoolteacher before the war, the Navy allowed Wood to discharge early when he found a job as the principal at Roscoe, Texas High School. At Roscoe, Wood taught three math courses, drove the school bus, and coached football, basketball, and track. While coaching at Roscoe, Coach Wood started using his legendary winged-T offensive formation for the football team. In his first year coaching at Roscoe, Wood took his team through an undefeated season and won the district championship only to lose the first game in the state playoffs. The next year, Roscoe lost the opening game of the season, but it was two ties in district play that cost them the district title and kept them out of the 1946 playoffs. Coach Wood ended his career at Roscoe with sixteen wins, two losses, and two ties.
In 1947, Coach Wood followed Roscoe's superintendent to become Seminole, Texas High School's head coach. Seminole offered better pay, a larger high school, and a less stressful job. Coach Wood was no longer a principal, had no math courses to teach, and was helped by three assistants. It was at Seminole that Coach Wood first hired Morris Southall to be his assistant coach. The two became lifelong friends and coached together for thirty-one years. In 1947, Seminole won the district championship with nine wins and one loss but lost the first game of the state playoffs. The next season the football team went 6–3–1, followed by a 4–4–2 season in 1949. After the 1949 season, Coach Wood resigned as head coach, leaving Seminole with nineteen wins, nine losses, and three ties. Coach Southall took over as head coach at Seminole, while Coach Wood moved on to Winters High School. At Winters, Coach Wood's football team went 6–4 in 1950, but the poor condition of the gym and neglect from the school board caused him to resign after only one season.
Stamford Coach Wood found his next coaching job at Stamford, Texas High School. His first season in 1951, the Stamford Bulldogs won nine games, but one loss to district rival Anson kept them out of the district championship and the state playoffs. The next year, Stamford went undefeated in the regular season followed by Coach Wood's first ever playoff win. Stamford won two playoff games before losing to Terrell in the state semifinals. Coach Wood ended the 1952 season with thirteen wins and one loss. In 1953, Coach Wood took Stamford through another undefeated season, this time losing to Phillips in the state quarterfinals, and ending the 1953 season with eleven wins and one loss. In 1954, Wood had another winning season when Stamford won nine games, but a loss to Colorado City kept them out of the district championship and the state playoffs. That loss would be the last Coach Wood or Stamford would see for the next couple of years.
In 1955, Coach Wood brought Stamford to yet another undefeated season followed by playoff victories. This time Stamford went undefeated in the playoffs ending their season with a 34 to 7 victory over Hillsboro to claim the state championship. The Stamford Bulldogs went undefeated again in 1956, earning Coach Wood back-to-back state championships and extending the team's winning streak to 32 games. The 1957 season started well when three opening victories brought the streak up to 35, but Sweetwater ended Stamford's long years of success with a 24 to 7 victory over the Bulldogs. A second loss to the Seymour Panthers shut out Stamford's hopes for another district title and another shot at the state crown. The next year Coach Wood moved on to Victoria, while Stamford claimed another set of back-to-back championships in 1958 and 1959. Wood ended his career at Stamford with eighty wins and six losses, a 93% winning record.
Victoria In 1958, a much better paying job enticed Wood to leave West Texas for the first time as a head coach. He landed in Victoria, Texas, where he reunited with Assistant Coach Morris Southall. That year, Wood also hired Kenneth West as an assistant coach. West had played for Wood at Stamford in 1951. The two grew to be longtime friends and coached together for twenty years. Their first season at Victoria, Wood, Southall, and West shocked many Victoria fans and brought the team a 6–4 winning season. Then Coach Wood brought Victoria another winning season in 1959 with six wins, three losses, and one tie. Wood was getting paid well in Victoria, making about $10,000, but a lack of fan support and homesickness for West Texas convinced him to move back west. He left Victoria with twelve wins, seven losses, and one tie.
The job he really wanted was San Angelo Central, which had just opened after Bob Harrell resigned. However, it eventually went to Emory Bellard, so Wood had to settle for Brownwood.
Before they left Victoria, the Wood family decided to add another member. In 1959, Gordon and Katharine decided to adopt a baby. They had been trying for years to have a second child, and while in Victoria, a friend convinced them to adopt. They adopted a newborn baby boy into their family in 1959 and named him Jim Wood.
Brownwood Coach Wood found his last head coaching position at Brownwood, Texas High School in 1960. Coach Southall followed Wood to Brownwood, and the two finished their careers together with the Lions. A few years later, Coach West would also reunite with Coaches Wood and Southall. West coached for Coach Wood until being promoted to an assistant principal in 1984.
The Brownwood Lions had long been on the losing side of the football field, only winning one district championship between 1920 and 1959. 1960 was Coach Wood's first year in Brownwood and he brought the team a 13–1 season. Temple was the only loss the Lions received that year and Brownwood easily claimed the district title for the first time in many years. The Lions went undefeated in the playoffs and won their first state championship, beating Port Lavaca Calhoun 26 to 6 for the state crown.