When Benny Monroe was hired to take over the McMinn County High School football program in 1972, one of his first responsibilities was to fill out the coaching staff with energetic assistants. Through a recommendation he contacted John Mullinax – Monroe knew him only by reputation as a quality young coach – and extended a job offer.
“He was working for a knitting mill in South Carolina, and I could hear the machinery in the background when we spoke on the phone,” Monroe recalled. “The only thing John asked was if he could bring his girlfriend, Joy, because they were planning on getting married.”
That was the beginning of a lifelong friendship between Monroe and Mullinax, as the coaching duo became inseparable – whether it was golfing, fishing, road trips to scout opposing teams or taking their wives on family vacations each summer.
Mullinax, who began his coaching career after two tours of duty in the Vietnam War, spent seven seasons as an assistant on Monroe’s staff before setting out on what became a successful head coaching career that lasted 39 years, 19 of which were spent at McMinn County, where he became an Athens legend.
Early Sunday morning, after battling lung cancer the past six years, Mullinax, 75, died quietly at his home. He had attended a scrimmage Friday between McMinn County and Baylor, but he began to feel ill over the weekend.