HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) – A community is grieving a beloved football coach.

Belfry Coach Philip Haywood died Tuesday after being injured in a car crash Saturday involving black ice.

Head football coach at Belfry High School dies after crash

The 73-year-old was the fifth winningest active coach in the country, the winningest coach in Kentucky, and had been the head coach at Belfry an astounding 41 years.

“He loved Belfry,” Matt Varney, the team’s defensive coordinator, said. “He loved the community. He was the pillar of the community.”

His storied career includes eight state championships and 491 wins, but those who played for and coached alongside him say the lifelong mark made on those he encountered is Haywood’s true legacy.

“Coach was like a dad to everyone who walked through here,” Belfry co-offensive coordinator Ryan Chapman said.

Chapman was a player on Belfry’s first state championship team in 2003.

“It wasn’t just about wins or losses,” Chapman said. “He wanted to make us men. You see guys that are doctors, lawyers, coal miners. Whatever we were going to do, he wanted us to do it to the best of our ability.”

The team met at the school Tuesday evening. It was their first time together since Coach Haywood’s death.

“Our team is heartbroken, and it was tough,” Coach Varney, who played for Haywood in the early 1990s, said.

“He was always very godly and cared about every player, loved us all,” Belfry sophomore lineman Kaden Bogar said.

Players and coaches say it’s hard to think about what that first practice and first game next season without Haywood will feel like, but they say the best tribute they can pay is to continue to work hard and try to live up to the high standard he set.

“We gotta go out an honor him and do it the right way, the way he would want it done,” Varney said. “I think that’s the best way we can show our respect for him.”

“It’s going to be different,” Bogar said. “It’s going to probably be pretty emotional for all of us, but we just have to keep pushing and do what would please him.”

Visitation will be at the Belfry High School auditorium from 3 to 8 p.m. Saturday. The funeral will be at the school gym at noon Sunday.

Coach Chapman says Haywood is survived by his wife, two children, four grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

Haywood also worked as a guidance counselor at the school. He was originally from Prestonsburg and coached there before moving to Belfry.

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