Gary Gaines, coach of the Texas highschool soccer group made well-known within the guide and film Friday Evening Lights, has died. He was 73.
Gaines’ household stated in a press release the previous coach died on Monday in Lubbock after a protracted battle with Alzheimer’s illness.
Gaines made many stops in west Texas throughout a 30-year teaching profession, however was finest recognized for a four-year stint main the extremely profitable program at Odessa Permian. Gaines returned to Permian later in his profession, teaching them between 2009 and 2012.
His 1988 group was chronicled in Buzz Bissinger’s bestselling guide, which portrayed a college that favored soccer over lecturers and handled points similar to race and sophistication in America.
Friday Evening Lights has been hailed as among the best sports activities books of all time. The New York Occasions described it as “a biting indictment of the sports activities craziness that grips not solely Odessa however most of American society, whereas on the identical time offering a transferring evocation of its highly effective attract.”
Gaines, who was performed by Billy Bob Thornton within the 2004 film, stated he by no means learn the guide and felt betrayed by Bissinger after the creator spent all the 1988 season with the group.
The guide, which portrayed Gaines as a compassionate coach caught within the win-at-all-costs tradition of a highschool program in football-crazed Texas, was additionally become a TV collection.
Permian misplaced within the state semi-finals in 1988, a season that included the lack of star operating again James “Boobie” Miles to a knee damage. Miles’ character performed a outstanding function within the film.
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