Panhandle legend Junior Lee Coffey has died at age 79 (March 21, 1942 – August 30, 2021).
The worst snowstorm in Texas history hit the panhandle just two days after Junior’s family moved to Dimmitt, Texas, in March 1957. They had no food, but the M. B. Odom family brought them groceries.
Junior entered Dimmitt High School that fall, thus integrating the small town’s school system. His athletic ability soon became apparent, and he made first team All-State in both football and basketball his senior year, serving as captain of both teams.
He was admired and feared by opponents but earned the lifelong admiration and respect of his classmates and the people of Dimmitt. In later years, both he and his wife would describe Dimmitt as an oasis that in some ways buffered him from the racism so prevalent at the time.
After high school he was recruited by the University of Washington, where he led the Huskies to the 1963 Rose Bowl. He was All-Pacific Coast Conference three years as well as All American.
He was drafted by Green Bay in 1965 and played on their 1966 NFL Championship team. Traded to the Atlanta Falcons in the expansion draft, he was their leading running back for eight years.
After retiring from the NFL, he returned to Seattle to train thoroughbred horses. He became the fifth most winning trainer in the history of Emerald Downs Racetrack. He was respected and admired by everyone from grooms to owner Ron Crockett, who said of him, “Junior Coffey was one of a kind in so many ways. He was an accomplished athlete, a talented horse trainer, a philosopher, a friend to many
and most of all kindhearted. He was a trailblazer.”
Junior was inducted into Panhandle Sports Hall of Fame in 1996 and into Texas High School Football Hall of Fame in 2016 when some 90 friends and supporters from Dimmitt came to Waco to honor him.
Junior is survived by Kathy, his wife of 55 years.
Funeral services will be at Bonney Watson Funeral Home, SeaTac, Washington at 10 a.m. on Sept. 14. His best friend from Dimmitt High School, former Congressman Kent Hance, will give the eulogy.