By Kenton Brooks
While walking Wednesday through the unfinished log cabin home that Hilldale football coach Don Hendrix and his family were building just outside of Fort Gibson, Phoenix sports editor Mike Kays asked me a question.
Did I see anything that reminded me of Don.
Actually, everything did.
I could picture him using a hammer to pound in a nail, cutting the logs to fit or whatever else was needed to build the house. He had invited me more than once to come out and see it. Don was proud of that house and rightfully so.
But it also amazed me that a house so empty could fill me with so many memories of Don.
As you may know by now, Don died unexpectedly Tuesday morning. Memories are all I have now in trying to fill this huge hole in my heart, a hole that will never go away.
I covered Don and his teams in the six of the eight seasons he coached at Hilldale. He was always gracious with his time, answering my questions, and he didn’t make me feel he was in a hurry. Oh, we also had those spare moments when he talked about the things he loved the most: God, his family, crappie fishing and the Chicago Cubs.
Don always had the same demeanor, through the good times such as the consecutive playoff appearances in 2003-07 and the not so-good times like the 1-9 season of 2008.
I’ve dealt with coaches dying in my career. I’m especially reminded of Alex Durley in Beaumont, Texas. Alex died of cancer in 1984 after leading a new high school to the state championship two years earlier. He brought together a racially-charged town together that was upset about the closing of an all-black and all-white school to make the one.
When Alex died, people were seen in laundromats crying when the local TV stations broke into national programming to announce his death. He had that kind of impact.
Don didn’t need any kind of championships to prove what kind of coach — and man — he was. His style and grace is what people will remember, not to mention his infectious optimism and humor. I was still getting calls on Wednesday from people who wanted to talk about and react to his untimely death.
As I called around for reaction on Tuesday, I’m struck by the two words that I heard more than once, describing Don as a class act. Nothing says Don Hendrix more than those two words. I also can’t stop thinking about what Larry Childers, the Midway head coach and a former assistant for seven seasons to Don at Hilldale, also said to me.
“(He) always saw the best in everyone and knew the exactly what his purpose in life was and that was to coach and teach. He was a great leader and we all learned a lot from him.”
How many people can that be said about? Not many, I would guess.
Word comes now that a scholarship is being started in Don’s name. That’s fantastic! I also want to echo the thoughts that our sports editor had in his column about renaming the stadium for Don. There’s no better idea than that. It needs to be done. They named the stadium where Alex coached.
Besides, who did more for Hilldale than Don?
I’m much a better person for knowing Don Hendrix. He’s in an exclusive group that includes two other people — my father and my wife.
Goodbye Don, and God bless you.
