WINFIELD, W.Va. — Wednesday marks the end of May but the Winfield High School football field will be set up like a Friday night in September as the community remembers the life of former football coach Leon McCoy.
McCoy, 88, died Saturday night.
“They are going to have everything just like it was Friday night,” McCoy’s son-in-law, Winfield girls track coach David Bailey told MetroNews Tuesday. “We’re going to have a service which should really be a celebration.”
At the end of the service, McCoy’s casket will be taken down the field through his former players, coaches and staff members, Bailey said.
“We are going to do what he always loved best and that was ‘Give me a W cheer.’ That’s how he was and that’s what he stood for. He loved Winfield High School,” Bailey said.
McCoy led the Generals to more than 200 wins and a pair of state titles. He was innovative in the area of football weightlifting, but those who played for him and many others have said his influence went far beyond the football field.
“He always said, ‘I want them to be good citizens,'” Bailey said. “That is what we strive for. Have those kids to learn to work and not to be afraid of work and step out into society and be a leader. That was the things he strived to do.”
McCoy suffered from pneumonia the last three weeks of his life and the decision was made to place him in Hospice Care.
“That was a tough decision. Thursday he would have been 89-years-old and only three weeks of his life being sick. That’s great odds. He would never go to the hospital,” Bailey said.
McCoy lived an amazing life from his reputation as a rough customer growing up in Charleston to a man who gave thousands of young people spiritual guidance.
“What a tremendous Christian he was. I think about his influence on young people,” Bailey said.
Bailey was certainly one of those influenced. He first met McCoy when he was 15. He ended up dating and then marrying Cathy McCoy, the coach’s daughter. Bailey has guided Winfield to nine girls track championships, the latest one coming earlier this month. He said he’ll always remember the advice McCoy gave him when he got his first coaching job.
“He said, ‘You are in charge of their mental, physical and spiritual well-being. That’s your responsibility,'” Bailey said. “And I’ve never forgotten that. He said, ‘If you’re going to be a coach you need to act like a coach, look like a coach and then be a coach.'”
Wednesday night’s service at Winfield High School is scheduled to start at 6 p.m.