Howard football coach John Starr questions an official’s call during a game against Signal Mountain in October 2016. Starr had to go to an emergency room earlier this season because of high blood pressure and missed the Hustlin’ Tigers game.As his team went through its pregame routine – warming up and making any last-minute adjustments before kickoff two weeks ago – Howard football coach John Starr sat helpless in the emergency room of a local hospital. A veteran of more than three decades of coaching, Starr had begun feeling sick the morning of the game but thought a few hours of rest would get him back on the sideline.
Instead, as game time drew closer and he became more agitated, Starr’s blood pressure spiked so high that his wife had to rush him to the hospital, where he remained until his blood pressure returned to normal well after midnight.
“It’s not the first time my blood pressure has gone haywire during the season, but that’s the first time in my 33 years of coaching that I had to miss a whole game,” Starr explained. “The funny thing is the previous two seasons were the first time I had made it through a season without having to go to a hospital for my blood pressure. I was carried off the field twice when I coached at Chattooga, and once I actually thought I was having a stroke in the locker room at halftime.
“Coaching can be extremely stressful. Plus I’m so intense and get so worked up that sometimes it’s not good for my health.”
Starr is among a large number of Chattanooga-area prep football coaches who admitted the stress of their jobs has negatively affected their health.