GRUVER: Douglas Lynn Frick, 53, died Monday, September 2, 2002.  Services were held Wednesday, September 4 in Gruver School Auditorium with Rev. Jerry Moore officiating.  Burial was in Gruver Cemetery by Boxwell Brothers Funeral Home of Spearman.

Mr. Frick was born October 11, 1948 in Comanche.  He had lived in Gruver for 23 years, moving from Cooper.  He married Peggy Smith in 1970 at Balko, Oklahoma.  He was a coach and a teacher.  He was a 1967 graduate of Coleman High School and a 1972 graduate of West Texas State University.  He coached for 28 years at Allen, Booker, Cooper and Gruver.  Douglas had coached at Gruver since 1979 and was head football coach there from 1992 - 2002.  He was a member of Texas High School Coaches Association.

Survivors include his wife; two sons, Aaron Douglas Frick and wife, Kristi, of Lubbock and Max Taylor Frick and wife, Wendy, of Breckenridge; a daughter, Bonnie Lynn Frick of Gruver; his mother,’ Ouida Frick of Bartonville; a sister, Charlotte Mullins of Bartonville; a brother, Ronnie Frick of Bartonville; his mother-in-law, Bonnie Smith of Spearman; a granddaughter, Hannah Frick of Breckenridge; and a grandson, Caleb Frick of Breckenridge.

The family suggests memorials be made to GHS Weight Room Fund, P. O. Box 650, Gruver, Texas 79040.

The community of Gruver may never be the same.  Not after Monday.  Doug Frick, who coached Gruver High football for 23 years and led the Greyhounds to the 1997 quarter-finals and 1998 regional round of the play-offs, suffered a heart attack and died at his home Monday evening.  He was 53.

“I saw him on Monday afternoon and he was in high spirits,” said Gruver assistant coach Steve Myatt, who worked with Frick for 12 years before his retirement in 2002.  “He came over (to my house) and picked me up and took me to see the 61-inch TV he’d just bought his wife, Peggy.  I was shocked when I heard what happened.”

After coaching stints in Allen, Booker and Cooper, Frick arrived in Gruver in 1979 as an assistant coach.  He ascended to the head coaching position in 1992 and put together a 51-51-2 record during a 10-year span.  Perhaps his greatest achievement on the field came during a bi-district showdown between Gruver and Springlake-Earth in 1997 at Tulia. Ranked No. 8 in Class 1A and blessed with Division I recruit James Williams at quarterback, the Wolverines came into the contest as the heavy favorite.  But the Greyhounds, led by junior quarterback Jim Potts, managed to shut out Springlake-Earth 6-0 in a driving snow storm.  “I remember Coach Frick giving the pep rally speech before that game and he was so nervous he could barely, speak,” said Potts, now a senior at West Texas A&M.  “Our team never got a lot of respect.  He told us we could beat that team, even though nobody thought we could.  He never had it in his mind that we were going to lose.”

Potts received word of his former coach’s death early Tuesday morning and couldn’t help but think of Frick’s immediate family, which included his wife, Peggy, two sons, Aaron and Max, and a daughter, Bonnie.  He had two sons who played for him, but he really had hundreds of sons who played for him over the years,” Potts said.  “He was that kind of father figure to those who played for him.”  Frick is remembered by many of his former colleagues in District 1-1 A, including Booker head coach Ron Pinckard.  “My observation was that Coach Frick could rally his kids behind him in any situation,” Pinckard said.”  “He was always kind to us, even when we didn’t play our best or when I didn’t prepare my team as well as I could’ve.”  “He wasn’t going to try to fool you wish anything, he was just going to get his kids to out-hustle you.  This is a sad day in the Panhandle.  He was a great man.  There are lot of people who are better for Icnowing him.”

Former Gruver lineman Israel Azrate, a current freshman at WT, saw Frick at a Greyhounds’ scrimmage almost two weeks ago.  There were no indications that his health was in jeopardy, Azrate said.  Azrate’s fondest memory of Frick was his pre-game speech before his last Gruver-Booker game, a contest the Greyhounds won 28-16.  “Against Booker my senior season, he told us it would be our last game and that it was time to give all we had,” a grief-stricken Azrate said Tuesday.  “We ended up winning that game.  He taught us a lot, but most importantly he taught us to be a family and to trust one another.  He cared about his players, even after high school.  He always asked us if we needed anything.  Even it you’d been gone (from Gruver) for awhile, he always wanted to help.  He was always trying to make us better players in football and in life.”

Off the field, friends descried Frick as a dedicated father and husband.  Myatt said Frick loved Peggy, Max, Aaron and his only daughter, Bonnie, an eighth-grader at Gruver.  Gruver held a special place in his heart, too.  “He came to Gruver and found a home. He thought he’d found heaven,” Myatt said. “He missed coaching, he missed it terribly.  He turned down a job at Texhoma so he could watch Bonnie play basketball at Gruver.  “As a person, I never once heard him brag on himself.  He always bragged on his boys.  Any boy related to the program was special.  He wanted every boy in school to play football, even if he didn’t have the most talent.”

Frick’s memorial, service was held at 3:30 p. m. today (September 4) at the Gruver High School auditorium with Rev. Jerry Moore officiating. He will be buried at Gruver Cemetery.  The family requests memorials be sent to the Gruver High School weight room fund, Box 650, Gruver, Texas 79040.