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Obituary:
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Joe Bob Tyler, 86, died
Wednesday, Oct. 27, 2010, in Wichita Falls.
Services
will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday at the First United Methodist
Church with Rev. Paul Goodrich, Rev. John Dillard, and Rev.
Roger Deerinwater officiating. Burial will be at 10 a.m.
Monday in Comanche, Okla., under the direction of Lunn’s
Colonial Funeral Home of Wichita Falls.
Mr. Tyler was
retired as a coach and teacher for Wichita Falls ISD.
Survivors include wife, Patricia Tyler of Wichita Falls;
three children, Toby of Castroville, Texas, Timothy of Fort
Worth, Texas, and Traci Shelton of Wichita Falls; two
sisters, Wanda Ford of Rafael, Calif., and Joyce Macauley of
Loma Linda, Calif.; and three grandchildren.
The
family will receive visitors Sunday afternoon following the
service at First United Methodist Church.
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The following
is from the Wichita Falls Times Record News
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Tyler taught
his students to be quality citizens
By Ted Buss
Times
Record News
Posted October 29, 2010 at 12:01 a.m.
Wins and losses matter at any level of coaching, and Joe
Bob Tyler won more than his fair share. However, friends and
former players collectively agree that the greatest
victories Tyler achieved came in building students into
becoming quality citizens.
The death Wednesday of one
of Texas’ finest high school coaches at age 86 brought
praise from former players that echoed a similar theme:
Whether it was at Burkburnett, Rider or Wichita Falls High,
the personable coach maintained an interest in his kids long
after their playing days were done.
“He demanded that
you give it your very best in practice and on Friday night,
but he was forever asking me and others about our grades and
if we were having any problems at home,” said Bub
Deerinwater, a star Rider running back from 1963-66. “He
taught you how to walk, talk and dress and how to treat
people with respect. He made you want to be a better man.”
Bill Jeter, former Coyotes’ coach and WFSID athletic
director, said “Joe Bob was an excellent coach and
motivator, but the student came before everything else. He
truly cared about the lives of students, not just athletes.
He was a man of impeccable honesty, and I was proud to know
him.”
Tommy Isbell, a tailback/quarterback for the
Raiders from 1968-70, was asked what his former coach meant
to him.
“Well, my oldest son is named Tyler, if that
says anything,” he said. “Kids that played for him were
fundamentally sound. We may not have always had the greatest
athletes, but he always seemed to be able to get the very
best from all of his players. We won some games when we
didn’t necessarily have the best athletes on the field.
“He made everyone better, not just athletically. If you
have a son, you wouldn’t be wrong to hope he grew up like
Joe Bob Tyler. He wasn’t a screamer, but he was tough,
demanding and fair. Looking back, I wouldn’t take for the
time I had with him.”
Tyler was a strapping 130-pound
guard at Burkburnett High, and later became a Little
All-American at the same position at Northeastern Louisiana.
He yearned to play pro football, but he was simply
too small.
He was a member of the First Army during
World War II and was taken prisoner when the Germans made
their last big push along the Siegfried Line in the Battle
of the Bulge.
Tyler’s platoon was spread thin over a
28-mile front and was overrun. He spent four months in a
German POW camp where his weight dropped from 198 to 110 by
the time he was liberated.
He learned to value life,
be grateful for what you had and give every task 100
percent.
“I played for Coach Tyler at Burkburnett
High School from 1951-53,” Richard Ragsdale said in a letter
to the Times Record News. “He knew and loved the game of
football. He was a no nonsense disciplinarian, but he also
had a sense of humor. If you broke training rules, he would
have you do many laps and wind sprints. If you balked, you
could check in your gear. The choice was yours.”
Ragsdale is one of many former players who believe it is
long past time that Tyler is named to the Texas High School
Coaches Association Hall of Honor.
“Coach Tyler
earned it and he deserves it,” he said. “There was never a
better coach or builder of men that Joe Bob Tyler. He was
everything the Coaches Hall of Honor stands for.”
Because he was a star and all-state running back, many
suspected Deerinwater got preferential treatment from the
Rider coach. To this, Bub had to chuckle.
“He didn’t
give anybody special treatment, not me, not Vanderslice
(James), not anybody,” Deerinwater said. “He chewed me out
two or three times a week. When I did something wrong in a
game, he’d come up, look me square in the eye and said,
‘What in the world are you doing out there, son?’ He didn’t
have to scream to get your attention.”
Although he
knows good high school coaches exist today, Jeter called
Tyler, “A throwback to a very special time among players and
coaches. We’ve lost a good one.”
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