MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — State champion head coach, former Fairmont State football player and Marion County legend Roy Michael has died. He was 75.
Michael was inducted into the West Virginia Sports Hall of Fame in 2018 after an impressive coaching career that featured state championships in football and wrestling.
Thoughts and prayers for the family of Coach Roy Michael. Coach Michael was my high school coach at North Marion High School. He was a great coach and person that we all learned a lot from and he helped a brand new school bond very quickly RIP coach
— Rich Rodriguez (@RealCoachRod) April 6, 2023
Michael graduated from Rivesville High School in 1966. He joined the Fairmont State football program and he was a quarterback on the Falcons’ 1967 NAIA National Championship team.
Following his graduation from Fairmont State, Michael began his football coaching career at Mannington High School. His teams won 32 consecutive games and a pair of Class A state titles in 1976 and 1977. His football success was soon matched in wrestling. Michael led the Gators to a state title in 1978.
Following Mannington’s consolidation into North Marion High School, Michael led the NMHS football team to Class AAA state titles in 1980 and 1981. North Marion also advanced to the championship game in 1982. Michael posted a record of 96-33 in a dozen years leading the North Marion football program.
Michael added a Class AAA state wrestling title to his resume in 1998. He retired after 24 seasons as a wrestling coach in 2003. Michael coached 17 individual state champion wrestlers.
Michael was inducted into the Fairmont State Hall of Fame in 2008.