By Shannon Williams
Last week for a sad one for me… it was the 10-year anniversary of my father’s death and we lost one of my fathers’ favorite persons, Mike Leach. If you have read my writings much you know that I am from West Texas, and West Texas and football are just like good BBQ and a cold beer, they are just part of each other and make each one better.

My father loved football and so we all grew up going to games, from my brother’s school games, to the local high school, and since we lived close to Lubbock, Texas Tech and then the other team, The COWBOYS.

My parents left Big Spring and moved to Lubbock to be closer to the medical care that he needed. He had one too many late-night ambulance rides to Lubbock, so they packed up and moved back to Lubbock. My dad did his pilot training in Lubbock and returned later to be a flight instructor at Reece Air Force Base. He and mom were married in Lubbock on the day that he graduated from Flight training, so he would say that they returned to the scene of the crime by moving back to Lubbock in their later years.

One of the first things he did upon moving to Lubbock was to get season tickets to Texas Tech Football. He wanted to share his love of Football with his grown children and his grandchildren, and we attended many games as a family for several years. My dad was having some health issues and he used that to justify getting the tickets in the club, so he did not have to sit out in the cold or climb stairs. It was a great place to watch a football game, and some of my best memories are watching the games with him. He was so happy to have his sweet wife all decked out in her black and red, his adult children and usually one or two of his grandchildren who were in high school or college, all by his side and watch his favorite game.

I would go to the local high school game on Friday night as my son was in the marching band, and then early Saturday drive the two hours to Lubbock to go to the home games with Dad. Since I was already there, I was expected to stay and watch the Cowboys on Sunday. I did that for about 5 years!

There have been several connections in my life and Texas Tech Football. In 1985, I was working at the State Hospital in Big Spring, and I transferred to another unit at the hospital. To my surprise one of the secretaries for the unit was none other than Spike Dykes’ Mother, Alta Dyes. At that time, Spike was the head coach at Tech. One of my brothers played football and his freshman year in high school, Spike was the head coach of good ole Big Spring High, so we all loved Spike. That same brother had gone to college at Texas Tech and was still living there. I was not married, so many a weekend I would drive Alta to Lubbock to see her son coach and visit with my brother and his friends. I would drop her off at Spike’s house and always had to go in and visit with them all. He was always kind and welcoming and just a great guy. One of my most used quotes about Leadership is from Spike. He would say, “you lose 10% of your fan base each year, so do the math.” When you first become a boss, everyone would love you when you first started (or at least they acted as if they did as you were the new boss) but as times passed you drop some fans and your fan based gets a little smaller.

We saw Spike coach a few times while he was at Tech (1986 to 1999) but did not have season tickets while he coached and won 82 games, a record that would be beaten by Mike Leach with 84.

Watching Mike Leech coach was just too much fun! I learned a great deal more about the game of football as after the game my father and I would discuss the game and the “air raid offense” became part of my vocabulary. Well, again another secretary would give me another connection to Texas Tech Football. This one had a son who was a Texas Ranger, and he was one of the Texas Rangers who provided security to Coach Leach and was by his side most of the time. There were three coaches who were always on the sidelines during the games, my father referred to them as “Huey, Dewey and Louie”. They spent the whole game in constant motions giving hand signals or maybe fake signals to the players. They were just so fun to watch.

Since we had the seats in The Club, Dad would get invited to fund raising events, He was not big on going to them, BUT if Mike Leach was going to be there, he was in attendance. I am sure that Coach Leach did not really recall my father when he would meet him at these events, but he always took time to greet daddy. I am not sure if it was just his age and by then he was in a wheelchair, but it was just who he was. My dad would say he was the kind of guy you would run the river with, whatever that means. He brought my father many hours of pure joy and that makes him a hero in my book. He was loved by many, and he continued to touch so many with all the players and coaches who worked with him over the years. So, thank you to Spike and Mike for all the fun times you gave my father and GET YOUR GUNS UP !

[SW: Dec-20-2022]