Spike Dykes, who was Texas Tech University’s head football coach for 13 years, will be the keynote speaker for this year’s Gordon Wood Hall of Champions induction luncheon.
It will begin at 11:30 a.m. Friday, May 3, at the First United Methodist Church Christian Life Center, across 10th Street from Brownwood High School.
Board member Carter Sharpe said tickets will cost $30 each, and will be available late this week at several locations to be announced, and from board members.
Scottye Ratliff, Perry Young, Jerry Loyd, Gary George and Edward Robinson are the former Brownwood Lions who will be inducted.
Dykes was the head football coach at Texas Tech from late 1986 to 1999, and was inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame in 2008. He played center for Stephen F. Austin State University, and served in several high school and college coaching positions before being hired at Texas Tech. He was defensive coordinator under Emory Ballard at San Angelo Central High School, and also an assistant coach at the University of Texas. He was an assistant at two other universities before becoming head coach at Midland Lee High School from 1980 to 1983.
Dykes led Texas Tech to seven bowl games, and was named Big 12 Coach of the Year in 1996, and Southwest Conference Coach of the Year in 1989, 1993 and 1994. He has authored two books.
The Gordon Wood Hall of Champions was formed before legendary high school football coach Gordon Wood died in 2003. Wood was hailed as the winningest football coach at any level when he retired in 1986 with 396 wins during a career that spanned 46 years, interrupted by his service in the Navy during World War II. He coached in Brownwood from 1960 until his retirement.
Wood’s Brownwood High School teams won seven state football championships, and he was athletic director as both boys and girls teams excelled in numerous sports. Before he landed in Brownwood, Wood’s teams at Stamford won two state championships. He also coached the state champion track team in Seminole (1948) and state champion golf team at Stamford (1954).
The Gordon Wood Hall of Champions Museum is housed on the second floor of the Harvey House in the Depot complex, and is in the process of being completed. Wood donated many of the items found there. Rooms already completed, including a display of the plaques honoring past Hall of Champion honorees, are open by appointment.
The Hall of Champions has been honoring outstanding athletes who played under Wood, and who have also distinguished themselves in their various careers as adults, since 2000.
The hall’s website is www.gordonwoodhallofchampions.org.
