WEBBER LEFT QUITE A LEGACY AS JACKSON FOOTBALL COACH

Paul Webber was an extremely large man with an equally big heart say two of the Jackson High School football coaches who worked with Webber for much of the 1970s and 1980s.

Webber, Jackson's head football coach from 1969 through 1988, died Sunday in St. Louis of a heart attack at age 53. He had been an assistant principal at Hazelwood East High School in St. Louis County for the past four years.

"Paul was a guy that you loved working for," said current Jackson head coach Carl Gross, who served as Webber's offensive coordinator from 1981 through 1988 and then took over the Indians' program when Webber left. "Paul was very, very good to his assistant coaches and very good to the teams he coached. He genuinely cared about his players and the team around him.

"The thing about Paul, he always gave his assistant coaches responsibility, which I really appreciated. We were all really shocked and saddened when we heard the news."

Bob Sink, Jackson's offensive line coach, was an assistant under Webber for 19 years. He echoed Gross' thoughts regarding his former mentor.

"He was as good a guy as I've ever worked for," Sink said. "He was the kind of guy that let you coach and take care of your business. He expected you to handle your responsibility and he allowed you to do that.

"He influenced a lot of young men and a lot of people were touched by him. I know one thing, a bunch of people are going to miss him."

Webber led Jackson's Indians to some of their greatest glory on the gridiron, save for a period over the past four seasons that saw the Tribe make two state championship game appearances.

When the Poplar Bluff native, who was a standout lineman at Southeast Missouri State University, took over Jackson's program in 1969, the Indians were not noted as being among the area's better teams.

After three straight losing seasons under Webber, the Indians' fortunes turned around and they had just one losing record over the next 17 years, including a string of 14 straight non-losing seasons.

Webber's record in 20 years as Jackson's head football coach was an impressive 130-71-2. Take out a 8-19-1 mark in his first three seasons at the school and that figure looks even better. Webber also had considerable success as Jackson's wrestling coach for a number of years, leading that program to a state title in 1977.

Jackson made three state playoff appearances under Webber. Some of the Indians' top records under Webber were 9-1 in 1972, 9-1 in 1975, 9-2 in 1977, 10-2 in 1981 and 9-3 in 1983. Jackson won eight games under Webber in three other seasons, including an 8-2 record in 1988 during his final season as the Indians' coach.

"When Paul took over, Jackson had not really done much in football," said Gross. "Paul's first few years were kind of a struggle but then he really got the program going and pretty much laid the foundation for Jackson High School football."

Said Sink, "Jackson football hadn't been much and he basically turned it around."

Webber left Jackson after the 1989 school year to take on a most daunting challenge -- rebuilding the downtrodden program at his alma matter, Poplar Bluff High School.

Poplar Bluff had gone 2-38 during the four seasons prior to Webber's arrival. But it wasn't long before he had the Mules humming.

The Mules went 3-7 under Webber in 1989, then put together an undefeated regular season in 1990 that ended at 11-1 after a state quarterfinal loss. The Mules went 7-3 in 1991 during Webber's final season as their coach.

"What Paul did with the football program at Poplar Bluff was really amazing," said Jim Lohr, a former Southeast head football coach who coached Webber for two years at Poplar Bluff.

Lohr, one of Webber's close friends, remembered him as a fine all-around athlete in high school and a talented lineman at Southeast under coach Kenny Knox.

"Paul was a very good all-around athlete, a three-sport letterman in high school," Lohr said. "He was also a fine person who will definitely be missed."

After the 1991 football season, Webber decided to get out of coaching and into administration. He continued in the Poplar Bluff school system for several years before relocating to St. Louis as an administrator at Hazelwood East.