Two-time state championship coach Ronnie Gage remembers exactly when his coaching career started. The day Neal Wilson was hired as a Decatur assistant football coach.

"I'd lost my dad when I was 13,' Gage said. "Coach Wilson was my Decatur coach when I was in the eighth grade and coached was made head coach and was with us through high school. "By the time I was out of high school, I knew I wanted to be a coach. I always tried to do things up to his par. He will always be Coach Wilson to me."

Wilson was inducted into the Texas High School Coaches Association Hall of Honor in 2003. Coaching primarily when only the district champ advanced to the playoffs, Wilson had 10 playoff appearances in 18 years.

He retired from the LISD in 2000 but returned to serve as Lewisville AD since 2005 when Gage left the position to return to coaching at Austin College.

Wilson is survived by his wife, Donna, and sons, Darrell and Lance and his mother. He was preceded in death by his father and youngest son Colby.

At a memorial service Saturday in Flower Mound, there were more than a thousand on hand to remember Wilson, who Gage characterized as having an uncommon ability to connect with any and every person.

Gage, THSCA leaders Joe Martin and D.W. Rutledge, former Plano coach Tom Kimbrough, former L.D. Bell coach Tim Edwards, Plano coach Gerald Brence, Plano East's Johnny Ringo, Euless Trinity's Steve Lineweaver, former Irving Nimitz coach Mike Farda, Hebron's Brian Brazil, Marcus' Bryan Erwin and Wilson's trusty Mafia of LISD stalwarts who worked with him in the LISD included former superintendent Clayton Downing, Max Goldsmith, Rody Durham, Randy Mayes and the entire LISD athletic department staff.

Former Lewisville star Mike Aljoe, who helped Wilson develop Lewisville into a state power in the late 1970s, spoke on behalf of former players. Aljoe, who later used his athleticism to be on the U.S. 1988 bobsled team in the Calgary Winter Olympics, said he can recall Wilson's slow Texas drawl like it was yesterday.

"I have always been proud to say that I was a Lewisville Fightin' Farmer for Coach Wilson," Aljoe said.

For a one-time small-school athlete at Era who played at North Texas, Wilson's six-degrees of separation stretched across the country, to the Olympics to local PGA golfer Chad Campbell, a participant in some of Wilson's cherished golf events.

"Neal Wilson and Lewisville athletics will forever be linked synonymously as he influenced thousands of athletes and hundreds of coaches," said Joe Martin, president of the THSCA and a Lewisville graduate. "He had great vision for Lewisville Athletics as LISD grew and he was able to place his stamp on each campus and each staff."

Wilson was head coach at Lewisville from 1978-85. He led the Farmers to the playoffs in 1978, '79, '81, '82 and '85. His record was to a 67-19-5.

His overall total for 18 years as a head coach at Decatur, Boswell and Lewisville was 150-40-9 with 10 playoff appearances and 9 district championships.

The Lewisville school district honored Wilson by naming one of its stadiums for him in 2005, the Neal E. Wilson Jaguar Stadium located in Flower Mound.

"His passion for coaches was extremely important to him as he has been a mentor to hundreds of successful coaches throughout the state of Texas," Martin said.

"Neal Wilson set a high standard for all of us as he made a huge impact on athletics in Texas."

Wilson died Jan. 5 of acute monocytic leukemia. Wilson, who turned 65 on December 28, spent the majority of his career in Lewisville. He was hospitalized after being diagnosed in October and underwent chemotherapy for the leukemia, which was in remission in late November.

Wilson's 40-year career began and ended in Lewisville. In 1965, he took his first coaching position at Lewisville Junior High School after graduating from North Texas State University. After one season he left to become an assistant coach at Decatur and the next year, 1967, he was named head coach as a 24-year-old.

He led Decatur to the playoffs in 1968 and '70. Wilson left Decatur for Saginaw Boswell in 1971. In seven seasons he won 61 games and lead Boswell to the playoffs three times. His 1977 team lost in the 3A semifinals to Brownwood, 42-20.

1985 12-AAAAA 10 3 0 Neal Wilson

1984 12-AAAAA 6 3 1 Neal Wilson

1983 12-AAAAA 8 2 0 Neal Wilson

1982 12-AAAAA 8 2 1 Neal Wilson

1981 6-AAAAA 10 1 1 Neal Wilson

1980 6-AAAAA 4 5 1 Neal Wilson

1979 6-AAAA 12 1 1 Neal Wilson

1978 6-AAAA 9 2 0 Neal Wilson

1977 5-AAA 12 1 1 Neal Wilson

1976 5-AAA 6 2 2 Neal Wilson

1975 5-AAA 10 1 0 Neal Wilson

1974 5-AAA 8 2 0 Neal Wilson

1973 5-AAA 7 2 1 Neal Wilson

1972 5-AAA 9 2 0 Neal Wilson

1971 5-AAA 9 1 0 Neal Wilson

1970 12-AA 9 2 0 Neal Wilson

1969 10-AA 7 3 0 Neal Wilson

1968 10-AA 6 5 0 Neal Wilson

Survivors include his wife, Donna; sons and daughters-in-law, Darrell and Sherri, and Lance and Stephanie; two grandchildren; mother, Dixie Wilson; mother-in-law, Ila Davis; sister and brother-in-law, Sandra and Orby Brooks; brothers and sisters-in-law, Ronnie and Kathy Wilson and David and Carolyn Wilson; brothers-in-law and sister-in-law, Ed Davis and Tommy and Kathryne Davis; as well as numerous nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his father, Irvin Wilson; son, Colby Lee; father-in-law, Ben Davis and brother-in-law, Don Davis.

Donations: May be made to a scholarship fund in care of LISD Education Foundation, Inc., P.O. Box 643, Lewisville, TX, 75067-0643, or online at lisdef.com.

From personal relationship with Coach Wilson that started with one of my first interviews with The Dallas Morning News in 1983 preceding one of several huge games over the years with Plano:

Coach Wilson was one of the many coaches who make high school football the great part of Texas culture that it is.

At Texas Stadium for the playoffs this year, he was greatly missed for his wit and wisdom ... he guided Lewisville through the difficult process of becoming a multi-school district and has done a model job of creating equal powers in multiple sports.... he will be missed but always remembered by the thousands he touched

Gage story

"one time leaving (the fieldhouse) late sunday night, Coach Wilson said, "go in and call over to Plano to see if they're still working"

FYI

Lewisville (Wilson) vs. Plano (Kimbrough)

Some great games here:

1980: Plano 28-7

1981: Lewisville 38-21

1982: Tie 0-0

1983: Plano 7-6

1984: Plano 20-14

1985: Plano 22-7