The Universal Pictures movie of H. G. Bissinger’s book Friday Night Lights opened October 8. The movie chronicles the 1988 season of the Permian High School Panthers of Odessa. In depicting the daily
grind of coach Gary Gaines (Billy Bob Thornton), his winning team, and the potential destinies of its individual players,
the story paints a vivid portrait of Odessa (and places like it all across Texas) where the town and its dreams come alive
at the football stadium.
Odessa’s football program rested on the shoulders of a man who embodied the picture of personal dignity, professional dedication,
and paternal concern. In his book, Bissinger described head coach Gary Gaines as "methodical and meticulous about everything,
the kind of coach, the kind of man, who prepared for every possible situation through tireless work."
Ty Cashion’s book Pigskin Pulpit: A Social History of Texas High School Football Coaches, published by the TSHA in 1998, was written partially in response to Bissinger’s Friday Night Lights. Pigskin Pulpit addresses the profession of coaching high school football and the men who shaped the game—and generations
of players—in their own image. Cashion traces the development of the game of football and the coaching profession from its
beginnings to today and explains how football wove itself so tightly into the fabric of Texas culture.
Cashion’s book, based on extensive interviews with more than eighty Texas high school football coaches, including the late
(and legendary) Gordon Wood, imparts depth and resonance to a group of men who too often have been depicted as cardboard cutouts.
Pigskin Pulpit is available from the TSHA for $29.95.
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