One of my favorite quotes about Terry Gambill came when he was the freshman basketball coach at Forney at the end of the 1990s and someone after a game was criticizing him for yelling too loudly and too much at the boys on the team (who, by the way, were winning all their games). My son, Waylon, who was one of the players, heard and replied to no one in particular but to all who could hear.
“You don’t understand! Most of the stuff he says is GOOD, or complimentary, or correct coaching advice about how to play! And some of the stuff is funny; he has to yell loudly, or how do you think we will hear him?”
I don’t know that I ever shared that with him, but I hope someone will show him this so that he will know how much he was appreciated by many of us parents!
Gambill worked his way up through the ranks, beginning at Garland, Duncanville, Southlake Carroll, FORNEY, and Allen as an assistant coach in one or more sports each place.
Then he was offered the chance to “move up” to Head Coaching at Midway High School (Hewitt). He had been part of winning traditions at Southlake Carroll (State Champs in ’93) and Forney (State Runner-Up in 2000) and kept the tradition alive at Midway (2010-2015). (68-13 record and a state finalist)
When he was offered the job (at Allen) of replacing a very successful Coach Tom Westerberg, 4 state titles and about 1,000 victories (not really; more like 150), he stepped in, and the teams never (in my opinion) seemed to “miss a beat.” Terry was never one to try to “hog the glory,” either, as I time and again heard him in interviews enumerating the blessings of great coaching staffs and wonderful, hardworking, true athletes—plus being part of great schools!
From what I can ascertain, Coach Gambill’s teams won about 95% of all games he coached at Allen, and had a State Championship season (16 wins and 0 losses), two semi-finals teams, and had undefeated teams heading into the “play-offs” the past two years. I listened to the 60-59 loss to a fine Rockwall team in 2019 and almost had to cry for our good ol’ Forney former coach and again the next season when I heard of another “less-than-TD” loss this past year!
TERRY GAMBILL was fortunate to be able to coach his own two sons at Allen and also some other “high profile” players. Coaching seems to have been good for him and “him for coaching.”
As he heads into retirement, I wish him well and will tell him what Morris Welch told me when I retired: “Find some things to keep you busy and alert—but not too busy!”
The last time I spoke to Terry, I was coaching my son, Weston, in a summer youth baseball game in Garland and heard a familiar voice about three fields over. Yep, it was Gambill, and we talked about “old times;” it made me feel good when he asked about my boys and made it a point to talk to Weston, even though he had not coached him.
I may be wrong, but I expect to share memories with him again some day, when I am watching a youth game some where and hear, “You’ve got to get down; get down; good job; way to hustle!”
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