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Legendary Coach Jack Scott Passes Away
By Adam Pitterman
On the morning of Wednesday, Dec. 3, the Eastern New Mexico University family lost a friend that transcended the title of coach: Jack Scott. Scott coached the Greyhound Football team from 1970-77, but his presence around the athletic department over the decades has been appreciated by everyone he came in contact with.
"Jack Scott's passing is obviously a great loss to his family. It is also a great loss to the ENMU community," said ENMU President
Dr. Steven Gamble. "As a long-time football coach, Jack will always be a major part of our athletic heritage. I know of no other coach that has a more loyal following of former players than Coach Scott. He demonstrated a high level of integrity in all that he did, and I know that this influenced the lives of his players. Coach Jack Scott will be greatly missed."
"The impact that Coach Scott had on the lives of the young men he coached is immeasurable," said ENMU Athletic Director Dr. Jeff Geiser. "Talk with them and they will attest that the reason they are successful can be traced back to the life lessons they learned from Coach Scott. To any coach this is the highest compliment."
"Coach Scott will be truly missed," said Greyhound Football Head Coach Josh Lynn. "He was respected, honored and loved by his former Greyhound Football players. There is not one of his past players that I have come across that didn't love Coach Scott. I believe that is a true measure of what kind of person and coach he was."
Scott's love for ENMU athletics and everything associated with it was contagious to everyone around him. His booming voice filled the hallways of Greyhound Arena with discussions of games, sage advice and simple words of encouragement. He was a profound impact on anyone involved with the Department of Athletic and University.
Fifth in victories among ENMU football coaches, Scott led the Hounds to 40 wins, with four winning seasons. His finest season came in 1975, when the Hounds posted an 8-3 season, which opened with a resounding 52-6 win at Oklahoma Panhandle State on the way to a 5-0 start. In 2008, he received the Distinguished Faculty Emeriti award from the ENMU Foundation.
Jack Scott was a father and mentor to ALL his players. Players typically would arrive into his program as boys just out of high school. But after playing for Coach Scott, these once boys would leave Eastern as disciplined young men capable of being a success as they embarked on their new careers. For me, I was more fortunate to have him as a friend, best man at my wedding, confidant, historian, and truthful advisor—the success of MY life is credited to the dedication of his!
-Jerry Wright (MS 78, BS 76),Outside Linebacker/Defensive End (74-75)
Eastern lost a member of its coaching fraternity Dec. 3, 2014, as former football coach Jack Scott died in Lubbock of renal failure at the age of 85. Scott was the eighth coach in the history of the Greyhounds Football program, Scott coached from 1970 to 1977. He inherited a 1-9 squad and went 40-41-2 over eight years with four consecutive winning seasons from 1973 to 1976. He remains fifth in the Greyhound program in career wins.
Scott was hired by ENMU in 1970, following a 60-17-3 run over nine seasons at Westmar College in Le Mars, Iowa. He remained the school’s wins leader until the college shut down in 1997. Scott also coached football and basketball for two years at Willow Lake High School in South Dakota before moving up to the college ranks.
Coach Scott’s friends and family have established a new naming opportunity in his honor in the soon to be constructed new ENMU Stadium. If Coach Scott made a difference in your life, please join us in this memorial recognition with a gift to the Stadium Campaign or to the Jack Scott Scholarship. All gifts combined will make a tremendous tribute to an ENMU legend. Contact the ENMU Foundation to donate.
