Coach Carlock has passed away

[GrahamPride 10]

Your welcome....I agree that the BDT should have posted the entire article on-line. There was not that much left to post.

[OleTob 10]

A very good man as well as a Coach of young men has went on in life...He will be missed by all...The Carlock family will be in our thoughts and prayers.

[Lance 228]

I was going to change the forum colors around so that people could make it their own school colors next week, I have decided to just scrap that idea now and leave it Graham's colors for another year in honor of Coach C.

 

Very sad day for everyone in the SWD, we all have our home teams to support...but everyone will have a soft spot in their heart for Graham this year I'm sure...best of luck to the G-Men in trying to move on with the season.

[total 12]

i just hope that he's honored appropriately at the Beaver / Graham game. i know both sides want it. something that i thought would be cool, would be to sell some sort of Carlock hat - sell one on the Bluefield side with the Beaver logo and the years that he was there and sell one on the Graham side with that logo and the years he coached there... or maybe even 1 hat with both logos and the years. the proceeds go to some charity or organization set by the Carlock family. i'd imagine that some local charity or scholarship will be set up as well.

[LegendatLegion 109]

Sorry to hear it folks...I think the article says a lot, forget the football, people called him good and great. His family has to be so proud because that truly is the measure of a man. Not wins and losses on the field. SWVA and beyond has lost an icon..he is gone but never forgotten.

[GrahamPride 10]

Viewing will be Wednesday at the Bluefield Auditorium from 5-9. The funeral is Thursday at 11:00 also at the Auditorium.

[GrahamPride 10]

The following was on WVVA tonight

 

•

Community mourns loss of coach

 

Written & Reported by Elise Olson

 

Graham High School and the surrounding community mourn the loss of a well known and loved figure. G-Men coach Glynn Carlock died Monday night.

 

Those people who new Glynn Carlock well describe him as humble and always putting himself second. But with the news of his sudden death Monday night, loved ones are putting him first today in their memories and prayers.

 

Jamie Bennett, student of Carlock, " He's an icon for Bluefield, both Bluefields. He was just a very important man to the community and to the school. He's going to be missed."

 

Sixty seven year old Carlock would have coached the G-Men's football team for 32 years this coming season.

 

But doctors told him July 25-th that he was diagnosed with Creutzfeld-Jakob (Kritsfeld Yeokob) disease. A rare degenerative brain disease that neuro-surgeons say is similar to Mad Cow disease. Physicians are not sure what causes the illness and have not found a cure.

 

Graham High School principle John O'Neal has known the coach since 1973 and says Carlock has been like a father to him.

 

John O'Neal, Graham Principal, "I was in the 7-th or 8-th grade when the coach came here and I had the opportunity to play on his teams for 4 years and then coached with him for some where in the 18 or 19 years. So, we've went through a lot together."

 

Besides acting as athletic director, Carlock served as a guidance counselor.

 

J. T. Lambert, " If you ever had a problem with one of your classes, he would always fix that."

 

Before school each day, O'Neal says you could always find Carlock in the school's front parking lot making sure everyone made it to school safely that day.

 

John O'Neal, Graham Principal, "One of the jobs I think he probably cherished the most that no one realized was when he was the front parking lot attendant every morning. So, he was the official or unofficial greeter."

 

The first day back to school is bound to be a difficult one for faculty and students.

 

John O'Neal, Graham Principal, "Coach was never one to have self pity or to get down. When things got tough he's say let's go. We got to get it done. That's what I'm going to tell the kids."

[Guest BB_TWEEDER]

Its a touching thing to read all these articles and see how much one humble man can mean the world to so many.

 

 

One mans leadership, guidence, friendship,and humbleness, was what you seen from him. That was all he ever wanted. not to be noticed, or stand out in a crowd. The true attitude of a Legend.

 

Coach G. Carlock. R.I.P. you will truly be missed!

[GrahamPride 10]

"We lost a great tradition"

Posted: Tuesday, Aug 09, 2005 - 11:53:54 pm EDT

By BRIAN WOODSON

Bluefield Daily Telegraph

 

 

 

 

Don Lowe established a legacy of excellence as a high school football coach for 27 years at Giles and Narrows high schools. Yet, when asked to comment on the passing Monday night of Graham football coach Glynn Carlock, Sr., he didn't think he was worthy enough to answer.

 

"It's about tradition," Lowe said. "You can't lose your tradition and we just lost a great tradition."

 

Few schools had more tradition than Graham. Under Carlock, the G-Men won 244 games and two state championships during a 31-year career that included just four losing records and numerous district and regional titles. Yet, his legacy will be much more than just a football game.

 

"It would be hard to describe what he has meant to this school and this community," said Graham principal John O'Neal, who played and coached under Carlock. "The thing about coach Carlock is he was a very humble person.

 

 

 

"He didn't want the recognition or the accolades that he deserved. He wanted everything to benefit his students and the athletes at the school. Everything he did was for the students and for the athletes and if that meant staying late or coming in early, whatever they needed, that was what he was going to do."

 

Consistency was the hallmark of Carlock's success. Rarely did Graham have what could be considered a poor season. Coaches like Kelly Lowe, the third-year head coach at Narrows, is hoping to establish the same type of program with the Green Wave.

 

"He's always been one the long-standing coaches around here that everybody looks up to and they want their program to be like the one he has up there," Lowe said. "It's a sad situation, you hate to hear anything like that, but any coach that has had the success he has had, you want your program to somehow become that and he's the one we've looked up to here as well.

 

"Even back when we used to play them, they always had a great team and he's one heck of a coach. The whole state of Virginia has lost one heck of a coach and, more importantly, just a great person."

 

Carlock is known for his football prowess, but he did so much more. Even students like Michael Alvis, who recently graduated from Graham and never played a down for Carlock, noticed his presence.

 

"He's done a lot, not just in football, but for all the kids that went to school here in every other sport," Alvis said. "He's helped them in everything. He's been a good role model for everybody."

 

And, that won't change. For a man known for wearing a straw hat on the sidelines, the sign on the marquee outside the school on Tuesday said it all for many: "Thanks Coach." Morgan Campbell can relate.

 

"About 15 years ago he was instrumental in getting me a position here as a baseball coach and teacher and I have personally been fortunate to work under him in football," said Campbell, Graham's baseball coach and football assistant. "He's meant a lot to everybody.

 

"He's irreplaceable and it's going to be a struggle this year. We just going have to feel like him and do what he would want us to do. He's going to want us to be strong and he would probably get mad at us if we didn't."

 

Carlock had been expected to be the coach for his 32nd season before being diagnosed with Creutzfeld-Jakob Disease, a rare brain disorder. According to friends, he fought to the end, displaying the kind of attitude that followed him throughout his life.

 

"I think the one thing I remember about Glynn Carlock is he's old school," Don Lowe said. "He is what he is, and he's been that way all his life. He treats everybody the same and he's going to do it the right way.

 

"Those kind of classy people with his kind of influence on young people is what we're really going to be missing because he was so good with young people. He didn't care about the new stuff, there was a right way to do things and he didn't care about all the fancy stuff. It's a work ethic and there's a respect for the game and life. Glynn lived it and coached it."

 

Services for Carlock will be Thursday at Bluefield Auditorium. While that will be a sad day for all, O'Neal vows that the legacy Carlock left behind will continue in the future. Carlock wouldn't have it any other way.

 

"If we didn't pick up and move on, he would be chewing on me right now," O'Neal said. "It's going to be a difficult year and there are going to be some adjustments to make, but our thoughts and prayers go to his wife and son..

 

"His attitude and his work ethic and his morals, it was a filtered-down system that went to everybody in the building and it fit a culture in Graham High School and it helped Graham High School become what it is."

 

-Contact Brian Woodson at bwoodson@bdtonline.com

[GrahamPride 10]

Carlock more than just a coach

Posted: Tuesday, Aug 09, 2005 - 11:53:52 pm EDT

By LARRY HYPES

Bluefield Daily Telegraph

 

 

 

 

BLUEFIELD, Va.-I walked into Graham High School 30 years ago, looked left in the hall and hoped to find Jim Brewster. He was the administrator in charge of my student teaching.

 

Instead, a burly, dark-haired man walked out of a hall office right beside me. He smiled, stuck out a big hand and said, "Hi, I'm Coach Carlock. Can I help you?"

 

He could and did. Within an hour, he had me in and out of Mr. Brewster's office, had introduced me to my supervising teachers Millie Jones and Eleanor Douthat and started my introduction to Graham G-Men football.

 

Somehow, he knew I had been sports editor of the Bluefield State College newspaper. I knew a lot about him, of course. This was the Glynn Carlock, the man who played at Big Creek for Merrill Gainer. The defensive genius who took charge on one side of the ball at Beaver, working in tandem with offensive guru John Chmara as Gainer directed the operation.

 

 

 

He smiled when I started in about those BHS championships in 1962, '63, '65, and '67. Another fellow, his top assistant, came by. That was Bill Kinser, the coach who left Cumberland Road with Carlock just two years earlier. I knew him, too. He was one of the best all-around athletes in the area, and could still outplay a lot of the high school boys. And by the way, he had been the quarterback on Bluefield's first state championship team in 1959, when Coach Carlock was still at Concord.

 

That's how it started and it seems like yesterday. I suppose John O'Neal, now the Graham principal was a freshman but he might have still been at the old Graham Jr. High. Long-time principal Gary Williams, a boyhood friend, was finishing his undergraduate work at Tennessee.

 

The G-Men were in the midst of their weightroom rejuvenation. For a few years, Graham had been easy pickin's but Carlock & Co. started changing that in a hurry. He was as tough as nails and could block any two of his players. Even then we knew better than to call him an "ex-Marine." There was no such thing. Once a Marine, always a Marine.

 

He maneuvered the athletic colors to look more like the Corps colors. It was not long until he and his pal Bill "Pig" Pruett had worked with Ray Brooks to design a logo for the helmets that soon became a distinctive emblem all over the school.

 

Coach Carlock, you see, was a fan of Vince Lombardi. Ray (known as "Snoop" to thousands of local TV fans who watched him and O.C. "Scoop" Young every week on Circle 6 Ranch) was a great artist who took a six-point deputy's badge, worked it around a version of the Green Bay Packer "G" and came up with a classic.

 

Soon the G-Men were rolling. O'Neal, Tim Moore, and a host of great athletes came along in the late '70s, as those wins began to pile up. Red-headed Eddie Neel and powerful Eddie Hall were keys to the early '80s as the G-Men made the state playoffs and nearly the Virginia championship. That team broke my Bulldog heart with a 6-3 win in the famous "Snow Bowl" at Mitchell Stadium in 1981.

 

He was fair and honest. Coach Carlock preached "Pride, poise, and performance."

 

Still, I knew him as an educator who often took money out of his pocket to give to needy students. I also knew better than to ever put that in the paper.

 

Coach Carlock and I became real friends as the years passed. I stood behind him in the mud in December 1989 when Graham beat Southampton 16-0.

 

Pocahontas principal Chris Stacy was a fine defender on that team, the one that started the season with 32 straight scoreless quarters. Even ESPN was impressed with the G-Men.

 

What I remember most from the game, though, is a picture of Glynn Carlock Jr. standing beside his daddy as they both smiled for my camera in a classic father-son shot.

 

The '95 team was tough as nails and I cheered wildly when they rallied for the state title over King George, 23-18. Coach's most exciting team may have been the 2001 group t hat piled up more than 7,000 yards in total offense.

 

By then, Glynn Jr. and I were working the statistics together.

 

That is, he figured them up and I wrote it up in the paper. As Coach Carlock said of us, "You two get along."

 

Mrs. (Ann) Carlock was often in charge of hospitality and she cooked many a tasty treat for me.

 

I was one of the few reporters who ever had a chance to visit their home and write a newspaper story but I was treated just like family.

 

I often ate with the coaches when Mr.Gray brought chicken to Coach's office. He wanted me to do the publicity for his team.

 

We discussed every NASCAR race on Monday morning when I was at Graham.

 

Glynn Carlock was a family man and a good church member. He was one of the greatest coaches I ever saw.

 

But he was a better man.

[GrahamPride 10]

Good-bye, coach

Posted: Tuesday, Aug 09, 2005 - 09:05:17 pm EDT

 

 

 

 

 

Carlock a mentor on and off the field

 

Today, Coach is walking Heaven's sidelines. Coach Glynn Carlock passed away Monday night after a brief, yet courageous battle with a rare and fatal brain disease called Creutzfeld-Jakob Disease. Just a month ago, Coach Carlock was preparing for the start of the 2005 season. For those close to Coach Carlock, the days between his diagnosis and his death must have seemed like an eternity.

 

Coach Carlock came from a humble origin in Coalwood, and developed a love for football during his days as a student/athlete at Big Creek High School. Coach Carlock joined the U.S. Marine Corps straight out of high school, and after completing his military service, attended Concord University. When he finished college, his Big Creek mentor, Merill Gainer, was coaching at Bluefield High School. There, he joined a coaching triumvirate with Gainer and John Chmara that resulted in phenomenal success for all three coaches.

 

After 10 years at Beaver, Carlock became head coach of the G-Men and led that storied program to incredible success. His teams earned two state championship titles in a six year stretch - 1989 and 1995 - but even if his G-Men fell short on the scoreboard, Graham's opponents knew they had been in a scrap. For many years, Carlock-coached teams were known for their punishing rushing game, but in recent years, he demonstrated an ability to change to more wide-open offense.

 

 

 

But while football was important to Coach Carlock, character-building appeared even more important. The players on Carlock's teams played hard, but they also played fair. In a world where young athletes dream about a professional career and lucrative product endorsements, Coach Carlock's teams were noted for discipline, fair play, sportsmanship and humility.

 

Coach Carlock was a fierce competitor on the field, but few people ever saw the heart of gold he showed to students, faculty, administrators and friends in a world outside the sidelines. To be sure, he could bark out commands like a Marine Corps drill sergeant when he was helping students get from the buses into the safety of Graham's hallways. But at the same time, Coach would take time to hear the inner-most concerns of any student at any time.

 

Coach Carlock gave a great deal of himself to his school and his community, but his wife, Ann, and son, Glynn Carlock Jr., provided the family support system that enabled him to get to work early, stay at work late and give 100 percent of his focus to any kid who needed it at any time.

 

The true measure of Coach Carlock's success is not in any statistical category. Rather, his success and indeed, the success of the entire Carlock family can be seen in the countless number of lives that Coach not only touched, but also guided on a path that was everything about being honest, good, and fair and nothing about self-aggrandizement.

 

The two Virginias won't soon forget the man that even coaches called coach. The Bluefield Daily Telegraph extends heartfelt condolences to his family in this time of bereavement.

[Blues_56 23]

Counting tri-cities and roanoke i have ready about 6 diff. articles on this man....if that doesnt show u how much of an inspiration and coach he is/was then i dunno wat will.

[Bluefield_Rules 46]

The story made the news of both Roanoke TV stations (WSLS-10 and WDBJ-7) last evening and night. I don't know if anyone from the Bluefield area saw it or not, but WDBJ had some nice older footage of Carlock on the sidelines. Someone that I know from the Richmond area told me it made the WWBT-12 (NBC) news last night as well.

[Blues_56 23]

One of my thousands of uncle lives in/near Huntington and said it made papers and top sports story on the huntington tv station.

[total 12]

here's a link to the article in the Roanoke times

 

Roanoke times

[swva_fan 94]

WOAY Oak Hill and WVNS 59 both had reports about it last night also.

[RHS71 10]

My sincere sympathy to Coach Carlocks family, GHS football team and all GHS students and teachers.