My name is Jimmy Beckham and I played for Coach Tunnel during the '72, '73 and '74 football seasons - and I consider speaking in behalf of Coach Tunnel and offering these words of comfort to be the greatest honor I've ever been given. "The General... The Legend". You know when your nickname starts with "The", you're at the top of your chosen profession (or the bottom), and Coach Tunnel was certainly at the pinnacle of high school football coaches - not only in Oklahoma but in the Nation. We know he retired as the winningest high school football coach in Oklahoma in the year 2000 (while coaching at only two schools - Rush Springs and Lindsay), but his record while serving 14 years as head coach of the Lindsay Leopards speaks volumes about being "The Legend" among Oklahoma high school and college football coaches. His Lindsay accomplishments only, from 1967 until 1980 - when he returned to Rush Springs, include 125 wins 35 losses and two ties, averaging an incredible nine wins per season! Coach Tunnel gave Lindsay the winningest class 2A football team in the state for the decade of the '70's., with a .784 winning percentage. His record in 14 seasons against the Leopards' major rivals - Pauls Valley, Purcell, Marlow and Comanche was 36 wins against only nine losses, while going 4-1 against Comanche (sorry Burl White). Most of his wins at Lindsay was against teams with far more athletic ability than his Leopard teams had, but he won anyway. For example in 1972 - his Leopards beat the Purcell Dragons, 8-6, when Purcell had Oklahoma Player of the Year, Joe McReynolds, who went on to OU, and state 100 meter sprint champion Gerald Green, who went on to OSU. Purcell went on to finish the 1972 season 13-1 and winning the class A state title.
THE 1967 CLINTON RED TORNADOES
Tunnel's first year at Lindsay
10-2 record, ranked 2nd in class 2A, beaten only by ADA who was top-ranked in class 3A.
Played Clinton in the state semi-finals - Tell Clinton story HERE:
In 1972, I was a sophomore at Lindsay and played football for Coach Tunnel's Leopards. Two-a-days had begun in August and we had several days of 100 degree temperatures for the afternoon practices. On Friday afternoon we got our first practice with cloud cover (we hoped). We would always line up for calisthentics and stretching well before the coaches left the fieldhouse and arrived. We could see them as they left the fieldhouse and walked toward us from about 500 feet away. While we were standing at attention and waiting for the coaches to arrive, Danny Heatly, Leopard quarterback, told me not to hope for the clouds to remain, because Coach Tunnel would soon leave the fieldhouse and "PART THE CLOUDS" before beginning the workout. I did not believe Danny, as no one had the authority to actually part the clouds so we would have a tougher practice. But sure enough, as Coach Tunnel exited the field house and approached his team, the clouds began to leave the sky until we had another hot practice.
The action of the coaches (Tunnel, Estes and Foster) leaving the fieldhouse and approaching the players for practice had another bone-chilling effect - One player grasped his facemask, leaned forward and began to puke, BEFORE PRACTICE HAD BEGUN!
I know I'll soon see Coach Tunnel again, but I hope it won't be on a practice field!
