Jul 8, 2009 10:07 pm US/Central
Triumphant Return For Texas Coach Shooting Victim
SHERMAN (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ―
Gary Kinne is the definition of Texas football. In the 1980s, he played for North Mesquite High School and Baylor University. In 2003, Kinney was named head coach of Canton High School.
"I had great group of kids in Canton," he said. "I still think about those guys."
In April 2005, a gunman nearly ended Kinne's career. A parent of a student walked into the coach's office and shot him in the chest. Jeff Doyle Robertson was sentenced to 20 years for the crime.
Meanwhile, doctors gave Kinne little chance to survive, but he beat the odds and led Canton to a 12-2 record and won national coach of the year. "It's always going to be there. Someday hopefully it won't be the story, but rather a chapter. I think that we're getting to that point," Kinne said of the murder attempt.
After working in Canton, Kinne took a job as an assistant at Baylor and then moved on to coach at a high school in California. Texas however was still in his blood.
"My wife and I were at home in Fresno and her father called, he lives in Denison, and said the Sherman job is open and you guys need to come home." Kinne agreed and Tuesday night he was named the new head football coach at Sherman High School.
Taking the job in Sherman was a no-brainer for Coach Kinne. His in-laws live right down the road. His son will be the starting quarterback at the University of Tulsa and his parents live in the Mesquite house he grew up in.
Kinne knows how truly lucky he is and was reminded of that when a high school coach in Iowa was gunned down two weeks ago, in front of his players.
"You know, just those kids and the family of the coach there... it was something. It brought back a lot of painful memories. That definitely brought up some things that were still in me, a lot of emotions."
The pain may always be there, but Coach Kinne says it will never stop him from doing what he loves; coaching. "I know I want to make a difference in young men's lives and nothing is going to keep me from doing that."
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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