Freddie James, the legendary Texas high school football coach at Carter High School in Dallas, died at the age of 89 on October 29.
James led the Dallas program from 1982 to 1995, recording 139 victories and building a football dynasty that helped inspire the 2004 sports drama film Friday Night Lights.
Following his death, the Carter High School football team paid tribute to their former coach on the field, according to local broadcaster NBC 5.
Spencer Gilbert, the current head coach at Carter High School, praised the lasting influence James had on his players and community. "Coach James was more than a football coach. He was a mentor, he was a father, a grandfather. Everything you asked a man to do," Gilbert said.
Gilbert added that James taught those around him to look beyond the scoreboard, noting that the late coach "let me know it's not about the wins and losses. It's about the legacy of people you impact along the way."
Carter High School is a public secondary school operating within the Dallas Independent School District, one of the largest public school systems in Texas. Under James, the school became the most dominant high school football program in the state during the late 1980s and early 1990s.
1988 Carter High School championship and UIL ruling
The peak of James's tenure came in 1988, when his Carter High School squad won the state championship. That 1988 roster is widely regarded as the greatest high school football team in Texas history, despite a subsequent controversy involving an ineligible player.
In 1991, the University Interscholastic League (UIL), the governing body that oversees public high school athletic and academic competitions in Texas, stripped Carter High School of its 1988 state title. James said at the time that the ruling did not bother him.
"It didn't worry me. We proved on the field who was the best. I wasn't worried about the trophy," James said in an interview with The Dallas Morning News. "That's just a thing, in the mind of the people, Carter High School was the best team. We were the greatest that particular night."
Hall of Fame honors and Friday Night Lights legacy
James received multiple formal honors across Texas after stepping down as head coach in 1995. He was named to the inaugural class of the Texas Black Sports Hall of Fame in 1996 and was later inducted into the Dallas Independent School District Athletic Hall of Fame in 2018.
His coaching career and the 1988 season were also portrayed on screen in two feature films. Actor Julius Tennon played James in the 2004 film Friday Night Lights, which chronicled the 1988 Texas state playoffs, while Charles S. Dutton portrayed him in the 2015 biographical drama Carter High, which focused directly on the Dallas team.
James is survived by his son, Frenanda, three grandchildren and a great-granddaughter, according to The Dallas Morning News.
