Gordon Wood (American football coach)
| Biographical details | |
|---|---|
| Born |
May 25, 1914 Abilene, Texas, U.S. |
| Died | December 17, 2003 (aged 89) Abilene, Texas, U.S. |
| Playing career | |
| 1935–1937 | Hardin-Simmons |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1938–1939 | Spur HS (assistant) |
| 1940–1941 | Rule HS |
| 1945–1946 | Roscoe HS |
| 1947–1949 | Seminole HS |
| 1950 | Winters HS |
| 1951–1957 | Stamford HS |
| 1958–1959 | Victoria HS |
| 1960–1985 | Brownwood HS |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 396–91–15 |
Gordon Lenear Wood (May 25, 1914 – December 17, 2003) 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.
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.
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