By William Broussard, assistant athletics director
Were Sam Goodwin, former Northwestern State University head football coach and current athletics director at Henderson State University, asked to recount his many accomplishments, he’d probably have a difficult time remembering all of them. Not simply because those accomplishments span five decades, but because his list of honors could easily fill this entire article.
He was an All-American college football player at HSU, won five state championships as a coach at Little Rock-Parkway, and won 111 games as a collegiate coach, including a school-record of 102 wins at Northwestern State. He became the Southland Conference’s all-time leader in victories and is a two-time winner of the league’s “Coach of the Year” award. Goodwin’s Demon football teams won four Southland Conference titles (1984, 1988, 1997 and 1998), and 38 of his players at Northwestern State reached the NFL. And he didn’t bring it up when I saw him recently, but don’t think for a second that he won’t be gunning for us next year as his HSU Reddies face our Demon football squad next fall. For the first time in a long time, it’ll be strange to rooting against Coach Goodwin in Turpin Stadium, but I’m certain I will manage.
But you probably already knew of Coach Goodwin’s many accomplishments. Of course, you didn’t hear it from him. He’s a living legend around these parts. Of course, you’ve never heard him call himself that. Coach Goodwin is perhaps the most humble and self-effacing person I’ve ever met, which is quite ironic considering how much he has accomplished in his life.
Coach Goodwin evinced this particular trait when he was inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame recently. Already a member of the Southland Conference Hall of Honor, the Northwestern State University “N” Club Hall of Fame, and the Henderson State University Reddie Hall of Honor, Coach Goodwin was inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame (AHOF) on February 23 at the Alltel Arena in Little Rock.
I had the great fortune of being able to attend the festivities with a sizable Northwestern State contingent, including associate athletics director Donnie Cox, SID Doug Ireland, head football coach Scott Stoker and his wife, Kim, Gerald and Rose Long, Carroll and Susan Long, and former NSU football Academic All-American and All-American center, John Dippel, who now works at the Alltel Arena. (That's Dip on the right, Coach Goodwin and me in the photo above.)
As the time for Coach Goodwin to be in the spotlight approached, and his many accomplishments were listed in the span of a two-minute video, he sauntered up to the podium and spoke a comment most strange, especially for those of us who know him well.
He said “As I look around on this stage, I wonder, ?What in the heck am I doin’ up here’?”
Perhaps, in the moment, Coach had a hard time remembering all he’d accomplished. Maybe, looking over his shoulder at first-ballot Pro Football Hall of Famer-to-be Willie Roaf and over the other at World Middleweight Champion Jermain Taylor, he’d forgotten about the many lives he’s touched, his former-athletes, assistant coaches, and people in the community included. Maybe, in the thrill of the moment, he didn’t quite recall just how many people lovingly and respectfully continue to call him “Coach” after all of these years.
I remember seeing that look on Coach Goodwin’s face one time, in particular. At the end of my junior year in 1998, in the national semi-finals, the University of Massachusetts drove the ball down the field late in the fourth quarter, running the remaining minutes off of the clock and ensuring our defeat. As those seconds ran off the clock and it became clear that we would not advance, a peculiar thing happened. The band started playing ? our band ? and the fans in our stands cheered as loudly as if we had just scored the winning touchdown. The entire student section was on its feet, applauding our effort. And Coach Goodwin turned around, graciously, and tipped his cap.
I’ve never heard a crowd in all my life so frenzied. They applauded and yelped for what must have been ten minutes, and we joined in, as well, to salute Coach Goodwin for all he had accomplished that season. Of course, the look on his face said it all ? Why in the heck are these people clapping for me? It’s these players and coaches who deserve the applause, not me...
But that was, and still is Coach Goodwin being Coach Goodwin, deferring all of the praise to others around him and refusing to accept glory if there were any chance that it could be shared with those who toiled alongside him.
Well, if he did forget about how important he has been to so many people, we had no trouble reminding him after the AHOF ceremony, as players and coaches from his high school years all the way through his return to Henderson State crowded around him afterwards, lining up to show their appreciation.
People have used a lot of words to describe Coach Sam Goodwin. “Hard to beat.” “Hard to replace.” “Hard-working.”
But no one among us down here at NSU who ever had to chance to interact with Coach Goodwin would ever ? ever ? describe him, or what he's done for Northwestern State, as “Hard to Remember.”
Congratulations, Coach.
