Balancing speaking engagements, his duties on the College Football Playoff committee, watching his son’s coaching exploits at Oklahoma, walks with Hank, and some early Christmas shopping have forced Frank Beamer to pay a little more attention to his schedule over the past several weeks.
Frank Beamer, the former Virginia Tech head football coach never expected to get to this point in his career but is appreciative of those who helped him along the way especially after being named to the College Football Hall of Fame earlier this week.
But rest assured, the legendary former Virginia Tech football head coach had all the important details buttoned up – literally – as they related to his pending induction into the College Football Hall of Fame on Tuesday evening.
“I got my tux out and made sure that it still fit,” Beamer laughed during a phone interview Friday afternoon from Dallas. “I didn’t need any adjustments before I left. I think I’m ready to roll.”
An 11-month wait ended Tuesday night for Beamer, who received notification about his pending induction last January. He and wife Cheryl left Monday for New York City to attend the 61st National Football Foundation Awards Dinner being held at the New York Hilton Midtown at 8:30 p.m.
While there, he and 12 others will be inducted, including former college and NFL greats Calvin Johnson, Ed Reed and Charles Woodson, and longtime friend and fellow coaching legend Mack Brown.
Ever gracious with his time, Beamer took a few minutes Friday to talk about his feelings before he headed to another meeting with other College Football Playoff committee members.
As stated, he knew he was going to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame months ago, but the magnitude of what was about to take place had started setting in.
“I do think about it,” Beamer said. “I’m just amazed. To think back, people that you look up to and people that you had a lot of respect for … and to be considered in that category is pretty amazing. When you do something like this, it’s not you. It’s all those coaches that’s been with you and all those players that’s been with you, so it’s a lot of credit to go around.”
The pending event had the 72-year-old Beamer thinking about how he even got to this point in his life – a former coach with 280 wins, seven conference championships, five conference coach of the year honors, and a national championship game appearance. After all, he came from simple means, the son of a teacher and a highway department worker who also owned a small farm near Fancy Gap, Virginia – an hour south of Virginia Tech’s campus.
Beamer achieved gridiron stardom at Hillsville High School and eventually jumped at the opportunity to play for Jerry Claiborne in Blacksburg. He had no idea where that path would eventually lead. After he graduated in 1969, he loved the game too much to give it up. So, he thought he was destined to become a high school coach.
“My degree wasn’t really conducive to high school teaching and coaching,” he said. “I really planned to pursue other areas. Then when the spring came along, I realized that I didn’t have football any more. I said, ‘I don’t think I’m ready to give it up.’ I actually went back in the summer and took a couple of more classes in math, so that I could teach math at Radford High School and continue coaching – I was an assistant coach there.
“It was one of those stories where you don’t realize what you’ve got until you don’t have it. Then you know you’re going to miss it.”
Maybe a higher power led him to this point, especially considering how his career and life unfolded.
He actually started his coaching career as an assistant under Harold Absher at Radford High School. After the 1969 season, Absher decided to move into administration, and Beamer applied for the head job, but that position went to Norman Lineburg.
People in southwest Virginia know all about Lineburg, who went on to spend the next 36 seasons at Radford High, winning more than 300 games and bringing two state championships to the city.
Where would Beamer’s career have ended up had he gotten that Radford High job? It certainly warrants thought.
The next step toward Tuesday night came in 1972 when he accepted an invitation to join his old coach, Claiborne, as a graduate assistant at Maryland. While there, he happened to meet another person who would become influential in his life – Bobby Ross. Ross later took the head coaching position at The Citadel and hired Beamer onto his staff.
Beamer spent six seasons at The Citadel – the final two as the defensive coordinator. In the spring of 1979, he just happened to receive a visit from a coach named Ron Zook, who was the defensive coordinator under Mike Gottfried at Murray State at the time. Gottfried had heard about Beamer’s success with the wide-tackle-six defense, so he sent Zook to pick Beamer’s brain.
As fate would have it – yet again – Zook came away so impressed that he told Gottfried to hire Beamer as the defensive coordinator and he would demote himself to defensive backs coach. Zook thought they could win quicker at Murray State that way.
Beamer took the job, and Gottfried felt confident about his staff – until he saw Beamer and Zook building a swing set for son Shane, all of 2 then, in Beamer’s garage. Gottfried watched as the two finished the project, but then they couldn’t figure out a way to get it out of the garage. They had to take it apart.
“You two guys are running my defense?” Gottfried joked.
After three seasons, Gottfried took the Cincinnati head job, and Murray State officials hired Beamer as their head coach. That started a head coaching career that would span 35 years between just two stops – Murray State and Virginia Tech.
Fittingly, large contingents from both schools will be on hand Tuesday night, along with Shane and his family, and daughter Casey and her family. Of course, other members of Beamer’s family and his wife’s will be there, too.
“I’ve got some folks from Murray State coming,” Beamer said, ticking off the list. “I’ve got some people out of Charlotte that’s actually coming for Mack Brown, but I went to high school with one of the guys there … I’ve got quite a bit of my family, and quite a bit of Cheryl’s family. A lot of people from Virginia Tech.
“I’m honored that quite a few of those people are coming. I think we’re going to be well represented.”
Of course, that comes as no surprise. Those closest to him want to celebrate arguably his career’s crowning achievement. Even those who won’t be in attendance will celebrate, but more for their love of the man than the coach.
That’s because they remember more than the on-field exploits. They remember how he turned down a raise in 1990 because state employees weren’t getting raises. They remember how he attended women’s basketball games and volleyball games to support other student-athletes.
They remember hearing about the notes he wrote to other Tech coaches after big wins and conference championships. They remember the tears he shed after April 16.
When Beamer stands on that stage Tuesday night, he will thank a bunch of people. Time will not permit the recitation of each individual name, but rest assured, he views his induction into the College Football Hall of Fame as something much bigger than him.
In other words, the crowning achievement is for everyone, not just him.
“I think about it in that I’m how lucky and fortunate my life has been,” Beamer said. “To get to share this tremendous award with some many of my friends and so many people that I think so much of and love so much, I just think, ‘How lucky can a guy be?'”
–VT Athletics
