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Aurora, Mo. —
Another Taft College football coaching legend has died.
Former head coach and athletic director Tom Harrell passed away Sunday in Aurora, Mo. at the age of 87.
He had been in ill health for the past several years and twice last week had been hospitalized for pneumonia, longtime family friend Joyce Baldock said.
He is survived by his wife, Mary, and three daughters. Funeral services are pending.
It marks the second passing of a coach who played a prominent role in Taft College’s football history.
Al Baldock, one of the country’s most successful community college coaches, died in September 2009.
Harrell and Baldock had been close friends and coaching colleagues for more than 50 years.
Baldock, during his 14 seasons after succeeding Harrell at TC in 1976, ran the offense while his longtime friend and mentor – a man Baldock often referred to as “my dad” – masterminded one of the best defenses in the state.
At TC, Harrell served two head coaching stints (1963-69 and 1973-75) and one as co-head coach in 1990 with current Bakersfield College head coach Jeff Chudy, a season capped by a dramatic come-from-behind victory over the Renegades in the Potato Bowl.
His overall head coaching record at TC, including the 1990 season, was 52-35-3.
Arguably, Harrell’s best team was his 1966 squad that went 9-1 and beat Cisco, Tex. 21-19 in the Wool Bowl in Roswell, N.M.
That team averaged 44 points and 462 yards per game while giving up just nine points and 138 yards a game.
The Cougars capped the season with a 41-5 victory over previously undefeated Boise, Ida. when that school was still a junior college. Boise led 5-0 at the half, but the Cougars scored a school record 32 points in the third quarter. It was the worst defeat in Boise’s history.
Two players on that team are now coaching in the NFL – Dante Scarnechia, assistant head coach/offensive line for the New England Patriots and Jim Anderson, running backs coach for the Cincinnati Bengals.
They have the longest tenure of any coach in the NFL – Scarnecchia 30 years with the Patriots and Anderson 27 with the Bengals.
From 1965-69 Harrell’s teams – playing mostly out of state junior colleges and in-state four-year schools – competed in the National Junior College Athletic Association and posted a 37-8 record.
California community colleges were forced by the state’s governing body to boycott Taft for joining the an association outside California.
Those NJCAA teams produced a number of All-Americans and routinely sent players to Division I schools like USC, UCLA, Oklahoma, Florida, and Washington. A number wound up in the NFL.
In addition to serving as head football coach and athletic director at TC, Harrell coached other sports, including men’s basketball, golf and tennis.
After retiring in 1985, he continued to serve as defensive coordinator under Baldock and followed him to West Hills College in Coalinga to resurrect that school’s football program when Taft dropped its entire athletic program in 1994.
Although Harrell was known as a defensive whiz, Baldock gave him credit for creating Taft’s potent, run-oriented T-bone offense.
Harrell also taught and coached at Taft High.
Another Taft College football coaching legend has died.
Former head coach and athletic director Tom Harrell passed away Sunday in Aurora, Mo. at the age of 87.
He had been in ill health for the past several years and twice last week had been hospitalized for pneumonia, longtime family friend Joyce Baldock said.
He is survived by his wife, Mary, and three daughters. Funeral services are pending.
It marks the second passing of a coach who played a prominent role in Taft College’s football history.
Al Baldock, one of the country’s most successful community college coaches, died in September 2009.
Harrell and Baldock had been close friends and coaching colleagues for more than 50 years.
Baldock, during his 14 seasons after succeeding Harrell at TC in 1976, ran the offense while his longtime friend and mentor – a man Baldock often referred to as “my dad” – masterminded one of the best defenses in the state.
At TC, Harrell served two head coaching stints (1963-69 and 1973-75) and one as co-head coach in 1990 with current Bakersfield College head coach Jeff Chudy, a season capped by a dramatic come-from-behind victory over the Renegades in the Potato Bowl.
His overall head coaching record at TC, including the 1990 season, was 52-35-3.
Arguably, Harrell’s best team was his 1966 squad that went 9-1 and beat Cisco, Tex. 21-19 in the Wool Bowl in Roswell, N.M.
That team averaged 44 points and 462 yards per game while giving up just nine points and 138 yards a game.
The Cougars capped the season with a 41-5 victory over previously undefeated Boise, Ida. when that school was still a junior college. Boise led 5-0 at the half, but the Cougars scored a school record 32 points in the third quarter. It was the worst defeat in Boise’s history.
Two players on that team are now coaching in the NFL – Dante Scarnechia, assistant head coach/offensive line for the New England Patriots and Jim Anderson, running backs coach for the Cincinnati Bengals.
They have the longest tenure of any coach in the NFL – Scarnecchia 30 years with the Patriots and Anderson 27 with the Bengals.
From 1965-69 Harrell’s teams – playing mostly out of state junior colleges and in-state four-year schools – competed in the National Junior College Athletic Association and posted a 37-8 record.
California community colleges were forced by the state’s governing body to boycott Taft for joining the an association outside California.
Those NJCAA teams produced a number of All-Americans and routinely sent players to Division I schools like USC, UCLA, Oklahoma, Florida, and Washington. A number wound up in the NFL.
In addition to serving as head football coach and athletic director at TC, Harrell coached other sports, including men’s basketball, golf and tennis.
After retiring in 1985, he continued to serve as defensive coordinator under Baldock and followed him to West Hills College in Coalinga to resurrect that school’s football program when Taft dropped its entire athletic program in 1994.
Although Harrell was known as a defensive whiz, Baldock gave him credit for creating Taft’s potent, run-oriented T-bone offense.
Harrell also taught and coached at Taft High.
