Trophies gather dust, but the human soul remembers the battle
Story by Joycelyne Fadojutimi, Photos by Michael Cavazos
THE MAN IN THE ARENA: A GATHERING OF EAST TEXAS GIANTS
The room fell pin-drop silent as the community anchored itself for the upcoming season. Hosted by the Tyler Area Chamber of Commerce, the 20th Annual East Texas Kick-Off Luncheon recently convened at Tyler’s W.T. Brookshire Conference Center. Working tirelessly behind the scenes to orchestrate the event was Cindy Smoak, Executive Director of SPORTTyler, who continuously recruits and promotes sporting events to keep the region thriving.
Before a powerhouse crowd of East Texas area scholar-athletes, head football coaches, and school superintendents, emcee Bryan Houston of CMC Neptune and Neptune Game Time took the podium to introduce the keynote speaker. Houston unveiled a breathtaking panoramic view of a legendary career: John King, Head Football Coach and Athletic Director at Longview High School.
Houston detailed King’s journey from a championship three-sport athlete to an elite offensive lineman at Northwestern State University, where he became a four-year letterman, a male scholar-athlete, and an inductee into the M Club Hall of Fame. Since arriving at Longview High School in 2000 and taking the helm as head coach in 2004, King has forged a towering legacy:
- A staggering 240-52 won-lost record across 22 seasons.
- 17 district championships and 57 playoff victories.
- Longview’s first state championship in 81 years during a perfect 16-0 run in 2018.
- Two state finals appearances (2008, 2009) and four state semifinals (2010, 2017, 2022, 2024).
His peerless leadership earned him the presidency of the Texas High School Coaches Association (THSCA) and a recent induction into their prestigious Hall of Honor. Furthermore, as a charter member and treasurer of the East Texas Coaches Association (ETCA) since 2014, he was inducted into their Hall of Honor in 2019.
Yet, Houston noted that King’s greatest victory occurred off the gridiron. Supported fiercely by his wife, Jodie, King recently waged a grueling, triumphant battle against oral cancer. Houston praised King’s unbreakable strength, noting that his relentless determination carries directly into his children: his son, Haynes, a former Lobo championship quarterback and ACC Offensive Player of the Year who now plays for the NFL’s Carolina Panthers, and his daughter, Steelie, an All-American gymnast and two-time national champion.
THE REWARD OF THE CLASSROOM: FROM SPRINGHILL TO SUNDAY AFTERNOONS
When Coach King took the stage, he didn’t boast of rings or records. Instead, he reminisced with deep gratitude about what the game had given him. Growing up in Springhill, Louisiana, where local legends like John David Crow set an impossibly high standard—football became his vehicle out. It secured a college scholarship, allowing him to fulfill a sacred promise to his mother that he would get his education despite their financial hardships.
The game gave him his life’s calling, allowing him to support his family and live out his dream of coaching, which included the unforgettable joy of coaching his own son. It opened doors to a global network of relationships, even allowing him to travel across the Atlantic to watch Haynes play in Ireland. King’s core philosophy remains unshakeable: maintain absolute integrity, surround yourself with good people, and do things the right way. The right outcomes will always follow.
In East Texas, King explained, football is not a weekend distraction; it is a lifestyle, a livelihood, and a community cornerstone. Unlike massive metropolitan areas where teams can get lost in the noise, East Texas towns completely rally around their youth. Businesses decorate their storefronts, and residents build their entire weekly schedules around Friday night lights. When a boy puts on that jersey, he isn’t just playing a game; he is representing his hometown, his classmates, and his church.
This deep-rooted system thrives because of a passionate local network of administrators, coaches, booster clubs, parent organizations, and alums who preserve legendary rivalries like Longview vs. Marshall or Tyler High vs. Tyler Legacy. Generations of children grow up dreaming of becoming local stars in a talent hotbed that has famously produced NFL Hall of Famers like Earl Campbell.
THE LAST OF THE HARD: THE SACRED SANCTUM OF THE HUDDLE
To Coach King, football serves as the ultimate classroom for an increasingly soft world. He calls his players “the last of the hard”—men forged in a sport that demands discipline, accountability, and perseverance while the rest of society hunts for easy excuses.
According to King, the data proves the classroom works. He noted that the accountability learned on the turf directly correlates with increased academic achievement and school attendance, alongside sharp decreases in discipline issues and dropout rates. Football teaches a young man how to embrace suffering for personal growth, how to look adversity in the eye, and exactly how to get back up after being brutally knocked down, lessons King applied directly to survive his own cancer battle. Invoking Theodore Roosevelt’s iconic “The Man in the Arena” speech, King stressed that life belongs to the one active participant who dares greatly, not the timid critics throwing stones from the sidelines.
To illustrate the true soul of the game, King shared a powerful concept popularized by coach Bill Curry: the magic of the huddle.
The huddle functions as the ultimate metaphor for an idealized culture. It forces diverse individuals – Black, Brown, White, liberal, conservative, wealthy, and broke to bind themselves together. Inside that huddle, external differences completely evaporate. Ego dies, and players dissolve into a singular unit with one shared, unselfish purpose. It creates a lifelong brotherhood that encapsulates the absolute best of America’s untapped potential.
Turning his eyes directly to the young athletes in attendance, King delivered a final, stirring charge. Trophies will inevitably gather dust. Records will absolutely be broken. Championships will fade into history. But the character, grit, and structural values burned into your soul by the game of football will last for eternity. Stand tall, execute your assignments, and never forget that you are the last of the hard.As the final words left his lips, the entire conference center erupted. Stripped of all rivalries and differences, every scholar-athlete, superintendent, and coach in attendance rose to their feet in unison, honoring the legendary leader with a roaring, prolonged standing ovation that echoed long after he stepped away from the microphone.