By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter
Former Chiefland High School coach and principal C. Doyle McCall, better known to most as Coach, passed away on Aug. 9. He was 93.
McCall, who coached football for 25 years at CHS, guided his undefeated 1961 team to the school’s first state football championship. He won a state track championship in 1965, garnering him Florida Athletic Coaches Association Track Coach of the Year.
Sheriff Bobby McCallum played football for McCall and was part of the 1965 team that remains the only undefeated and untied regular-season team in history. The team lost to state champion Bonifay in the first-ever playoffs in their class.
“Coach was more than just our coach and teacher. He was a Christian example to all of us. He was a great, tough but loving football coach. In our earlier years he taught us the fundamentals of basketball, baseball, track and field, and football and even swimming during the summers,” McCallum said. “My senior year we were undefeated in the regular season in football, baseball, and track and field and also had an excellent basketball team. Those accomplishments were due to the coaching and leadership of Coach McCall and our assistant coach, Ed Barton. Coach started a Fellowship of Christian Athletes at CHS that led us (athletes) to be united as a Christian family and led to the tremendous success we had that year. Coach was a dedicated Christian man who was a second father to us and therefore we never wanted to disappoint him or our own fathers and mothers. I had the honor to also be raised and attend church with him and my family at First United Methodist Church for most of my life and where Coach taught Sunday School for 62 years and until the age of 90. He was and always will be a legend and it is comforting to know he is in heaven with our Lord and Savior.”
McCall spent his entire 39-year career as an educator and coach at CHS. He was a history teacher, coach, athletic director, dean of students, assistant principal, and principal.
He was born in Gulf Hammock, graduated from Bronson High School in 1947, and graduated from Livingston Teachers College in Livingston, AL in 1952. Throughout college, he played football, basketball, track and field. He received his Master’s Degree from Nova University in Education Administration.
McCall was head coach for the following sports: football (25 years), basketball (4 years), baseball (4 years), track (15 years), and golf (10 years). He headed the summer swimming program at Manatee Springs from the 1950s through the 1970s, teaching hundreds of children to swim.
McCall served on the Florida Athletic Coaches Association Board of Directors for 18 years. He was FACA Chairman of the Football Playoff Committee, which drew up the first playoff system. In 1988 he was inducted into the Florida Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
When McCall served as principal of CHS, his office was located in the Old Main Building. The aging building was much beloved in the community despite its sagging floors. McCall was an icon at the old school.
The school was surrounded by the Alumni Wall bearing the names of CHS graduates. It was a different time for public education when McCall was principal. Many of the young men brought pickup trucks to school with long-barreled guns mounted in the cab window. It was accepted back then.
McCall maintained a good relationship with the students. He loved what he affectionately called the “liar’s club,” an informal name for a group that prided itself on telling yarns and tall tales, often about hunting and fishing.
In his final years, McCall was driven by friend Kary Colson to home football games. He would watch from the golf cart along the sidelines of C. Doyle McCall Field as his Chiefland High School Indians played under the lights.
He will be missed by the players and students who knew him.
—————————
Enterprise Reporting by Terry Witt: August 15, 2021; Posted August 15, 2021
