The coach of the Texas high school football team that was famous in the book and movie "Friday Night Lights" has passed away. The man was 73.
The family of the former coach said in a statement that he died after a long battle with Alzheimer's disease.
During his 30-year coaching career, he made many stops in West Texas, but was best known for his four-year stint as the head coach of the highly successful program at ODESSA PERIODIC. His career took him back to Permian.
His 1988 team was portrayed in a book as a program that favored football over academics and that had racist comments made to assistant coaches.
After the author spent the entire 1988 season with the team, Gaines felt betrayed and never read the book again.
The book was turned into a TV series about a coach caught in the win-at-all-costs culture of a high school football team.
The loss of star running back James "Boobie" Miles to a knee injury during a preseason scrimmage was a big blow to the team. The movie featured Miles' character.
There were "for sale" signs in the front yard of the house. He had a 47-6-1 record from 1986 to 1989.
After leading Permian to the fifth of the program's six state titles, he became an assistant coach at Texas Tech.
He returned to college as the coach at Abilene Christian after coaching two of his rivals. Another four-year run as Permian's coach started in 2009.
Ron King, a former assistant coach, told the Odessa American that he couldn't find the right words to say goodbye. It's a huge loss for the profession. He took many coaches under his wing and mentord them.
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