Longtime Calallen coach Steve Campbell was honored Tuesday for his four decades with the Wildcats.
Campbell is calling it a career after 40 years at the school and 42 overall, including the first two spent at Tuloso-Midway. The 1977 Ray grad would go on to become one of the best defensive masterminds in the state, coaching alongside Texas' all-time winningest coach, Phil Danaher.
Campbell succeeded Danaher on the sideline when the latter retired in 2021 due to health reasons. Campbell says the two were perfect compliments to one another, as Campbell commanded the defense with Danaher leading the offense. He says that allowed Calallen to maintain its success over so many years.
"I heard it from a head coach down in the Valley. He said we were like peanut butter and jelly," Campbell said of Danaher. "Coach Danaher is the one that came in to Calallen when this program was struggling and got this football program off the ground and I was happy to be a part of it."
The district recognized Campbell's career with a special ceremony and the assistant-turned-head-coach says there's no place he would have rather had been all those years.
"There's no occupation in the world that gives you the excitement that coaching does, particularly here at Calallen the last 40 years where we've been to the state championship a couple of times and the semifinals 12 times."