Faith accepts state award for Lions
By Sam Waller
The Albany Lions were lauded for their achievements during the 2022 football season Saturday, May 6, with the presentation of the Gordon Wood Award from the Texas High School Football Hall of Fame.
Lion head coach Denney Faith and a party of Albany ISD school district officials were on hand to accept the award at the Hall of Fame’s induction banquet in Waco.
“It was an awesome experience,” Faith said. “I wish everybody could have had the opportunity to be there. There were a lot of big names – a lot of high school football royalty there.”
It’s a group into which Faith fits easily. His 344 career coaching wins in 36 seasons – all at Albany – ranks him fifth all-time in the state and second among active coaches. Faith filled the lone hole on his resume last fall by guiding the Lions to the Class 2A Division II state championship. It was the third in Albany’s history, joining the back-to-back titles of 1960-61, and came in the Lions’ fifth appearance in the state finals under the veteran coach.
“Coach Faith’s always been such a humble guy,” Albany defensive coordinator Jimmy Fuentes said. “When he said it was pretty cool being in front of high school football royalty, I was sitting there thinking to myself and telling my colleagues that Coach is going to be in there one day. I didn’t say it to him because again, I know he’s a humble guy.”
Fuentes said another highlight came when Faith, Randy Allen of Highland Park, and Reggie Samples of Duncanville were recognized as the three winningest active coaches in Texas high school football. Allen is first with 435 wins and second overall behind Phil Danaher. Samples, who also coached his first championship team in 2022 after 33 years, has 326 wins to rank eighth overall.
“I was sitting there thinking, I work for this guy – what an honor that is,” Fuentes said. “They recognized those three coaches at the end, and I thought that was the best part of the evening.”
The Gordon Wood Award is presented to an especially noteworthy high school football team that displayed good sportsmanship, the ability to overcome challenges, had the support of the community and achieved success on the field. The Gordon Wood Award is named for legendary Texas high school football coach Gordon Wood who won nine state championships.
Faith said receiving the Gordon Wood Award holds special significance in light of advice the coaching legend provided on the eve of Albany’s appearance in the 1991 Class 2A final, the first of Faith’s tenure.
“Coach Wood called me the Monday we were getting ready to play Schulenburg and gave me a coaching clinic,” said Faith, who was in his fifth season as head coach at the time. “We spent about an hour on the phone, and he was telling me everything from what kind of shoe we needed to wear on Astroturf to telling me that if I thought it was going to be raining, we needed to make sure our skill kids were getting plenty of practice with a wet ball. He’d been retired for six years, and he was still coaching, especially West Texas guys. He called out here especially and said, ‘I want you to bring another state title back to West Texas’.”
It took four more tries, but Faith achieved the goal on Dec. 14 as Albany defeated Mart 41-21 to complete a 14-2 season.
In a sense, Albany receiving the award brings it back home. Wood, who is fourth on the coaching wins list, 49 ahead of Faith, briefly coached at Albany early in his career before serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II.
“I didn’t know that until Art Viertel told me a few weeks ago,” Faith said. “Then we looked it up in the board minute book.”
Wood’s time in Albany lasted less than a semester and didn’t include a football season.
“They hired him in February, probably right after he’d enlisted, and he needed a job before he reported for duty,” Faith said. “He spent a spring here and actually helped coach Mr. Viertel and was a math teacher. I think he taught algebra.”
In addition to receiving the award on Saturday, the Albany party – which included school board president Robert Montgomery, superintendent Jonathan Scott, athletic director Ryder Peacock, and defensive coordinator Jimmy Fuentes – witnessed the induction of the Hall of Fame’s class of 2023.
“There were lot of big-name high school football coaches and players there,” Faith said. “We got to see the introduction of five really good high school football guys.”
Among the inductees was Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford.
“Matthew Stafford was present,” Faith said. “Leonard Davis and John Henry played in the NFL, so three of those high school guys played in the pros. There were a couple coaches (Tom Kimbrough and Dennis Alexander) who coached guys who went on to play in the NFL. I just wish it was something the whole team and our coaching staff could have experienced.”
