Bill Napier: Coaching is just part of his legacy

photo Dalton Catamounts assistant coach Bill Napier stands by his golf cart at Harmon Field and works his men through warmups before Friday's playoff game with Salem. Napier is battling Lou Gehrig's Disease.

DALTON, Ga. - Bill Napier's handshake is legendary. It's a greeting not born of arrogance or purposing any ill intent, yet the veteran football coach's hardy grip nontheless says a great deal about the man.

It's the handshake of a confident man. Confident in his profession. Confident in his faith. Confident in his family. Even a year-and-a-half battle with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis -- better known as Lou Gehrig's Disease -- hasn't affected Napier's inner strength.

His handshake, though, is the forebarer of his fight with his deadly foe.

Sure, Napier's handshake, once so strong that it could bend your knees, is still firm, but like the rest of the Dalton High School offensive coordinator's body, it's never going to be the same. ALS methodically eats away the body's ability to do even the simplest of things by affecting the way the brain's motor neurons communicate with muscles.

Over time, the muscles will stop working since they no longer know what the brain wants them to do. It's a death sentence that typically plays out in less than five years from diagnosis. For Napier, that clock started ticking in May 2013 when his daily walk turned into a confusing lack of muscle control in his right calf. It wasn't long before tests revealed the horrible news.

The coach had a choice: Give in to the inevitable or do whatever he could to keep his days as normal as possible. For anyone who's met Napier, that choice was never in doubt. He continued to coach, as he's done in the northwest Georgia area since 1983.

In the 18 months since the ALS onset, his sacrifices have been obvious to the Dalton players, who just ended a 9-3 season in the Georgia Class AAAAA playoffs. How he handled whatever he endured to direct the potent offense at each practice and game will remain with the Catamounts long after the disease finally claims its victim.

"Coach Napier is such an inspiration to us," senior Chipper Elrod said after Dalton's opening-round playoff win over Salem, "that we would do anything to keep this season from ending. How can you see what he's gone through for us and not give it your all?"

One of Matt Land's first big decisions as head coach of the Catamounts was to lure former Dalton nemesis Napier to head the offense. It was a move not without its detractors. Napier coached at bitter rival Murray County for 25 years, including 16 years as head coach in which the Indians and Catamounts had several epic battles.

One of the more memorable moments in Harmon Field history -- and one that still makes Napier laugh -- was the time the Murray coaching staff wore overalls on the sideline to accentuate the country boys vs. city slicker matchup.

"We had a lot of fun in those days," Napier recently recalled with a smile. "I spent 25 years at Murray County, and I don't know that many people would ever think that was somewhere you could, you know, turn it into a place like Valdosta, but it was extremely rewarding. Kids are about the same anywhere you coach, but the key is getting good coaches to work with them, and I've been around so many good ones."

He then, as he often does these says, paused for a moment to rein in the emotion that often overwhelm him. He was asked about the relationships he's formed with coaches and what that means to him now. As he chose his words, the large conference room where the Dalton coaches were gathering before practice became quiet.

"It makes you feel good to work with people who care more about the kids than they do football," he responded, his hands clenched. "Coach Land, he's really all about the kids. All these guys are."

The feeling is quite mutual. At a tradition-rich program like Dalton, Land could have hired any number of offensive coordinators, but he had bigger things in mind than putting up points.

"This year has shown what he means to us as a coach, but no one will ever know what he means to us as a man," Land said. "His influence is beyond the reach of a football game. He has the ability to influence people on a very personal level, which is the biggest reason I wanted him on this staff. I played and coached against him, so I had the utmost respect for him as a coach, but what I wanted him for is his relationship ability. We've gotten far, far more than we could have ever paid for."

The disease has made coaching a difficult process, but the school, the staff and the Dalton Quarterback Club have worked with Napier every week to try to ease the pain. He can no longer walk the steps to the press box, so a bucket truck was rented to become his personal coaching box at Harmon Field. The final weeks of the season were played in frigid conditions, but the staff made sure Napier was wrapped in heat packs and kept as comfortable as possible.

Never did he complain.

"The courage and grace that he's shown in the 18 months since he was diagnosed with ALS is amazing," said Dalton assistant coach and former University of Tennessee star lineman Bill Mayo. "He shows up with a smile on his face and never complains about what he's going through. I've had seven knee surgeries and I think I've got problems, but when I look at what he goes through every day ... I've got no excuse to complain.

"His faith in God is unbelievable, and no matter what you believe, you can't help but be affected in a positive way. You could see it every Friday night with the kids, who would write his name on the tape on their wrists or maybe a Bible verse he had shared with them."

Ask Napier to name some of his personal highlights and the talk immediately goes to his family. He and wife Pam have three sons -- all coaches -- and daughter Whitney, who, Dad says, could have made history.

"I always said she had one of the best five-step drops I had seen," he said, laughing hard. "She wasn't fast or anything, but she knew how to play and was pretty good. I always joked with her that she was going to become the first female football coach around here."

As it is, Billy, who is the receivers coach at top-ranked Alabama, and Callaway High School assistant coaches Kurt and Matt will have to carry on the Napier coaching legacy. Of course, there are hundreds of others who, in one way or the other, also will be a part of that legacy.

It's impossible, it seems, to be around the man without learning something about yourself.

Mark Mariakis has never coached with Napier, yet a moment early in the former Ridgeland and Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe head coach's career helped shape the way he approached the job.

"My first real moment when I knew what kind of man Bill Napier is was when Lakeview went to Murray County and got beat in a double-overtime game the year we went to the playoffs for the first time," Mariakis said. "He came over after the game -- and we had missed a point-after in overtime to get beat -- and took time away from his kids to tell our kids that we were a good football team and not to hang their heads.

"For a young coach, to have a legend like that to take the time to do what he did meant a lot to me."

Napier hears from ex-players and coaching friends on a daily basis, each inquiring about his health and each in his own way making sure he knows what his impact on their lives has been. Never was that more apparent than when a number of Dalton players, including each senior, and several coaching friends honored Napier by participating in the Ice Bucket Challenge this past spring.

The fund-raising event was sweeping the nation and eventually helped triple the amount of money the ALS Foundation spends annually on research. The money is important, but the tributes to a man who has devoted his life to teaching more than just football will help carry Bill Napier through the difficult times ahead.

And there will be football. Always football.

"The kids doing the Ice Bucket Challenge meant a lot to me," he said, again fighting the emotion of the memory. "There's been a lot of people do that, including a lot of coaching staffs, so ... it's very humbling. I love coaching these kids and I don't plan on stopping any time soon.

"It's been a lot of fun."

Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6296.

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