Remembering Coach Bill Davis

I had breakfast with Tom Davis, the brother of long-time Andrew Warde High School football coach Bill Davis, this morning at Doughnut Inn on Black Rock Turnpike. Tom told me the heartwrenching story of Bill's passing earlier this year. Bill was diagnosed with a rare degenerative brain disease in May after feeling ill in April. Sadly, he passed away June 2 of this year.

Tom also told me that the Fairfield Board of Education is meeting this Tuesday evening to finalize plans and give the "official" approval to rename the Warde football field in honor of Bill Davis and Fern Tetreau, the first two football coaches at Andrew Warde High School. Ceremonies are being planned for Thanksgiving Day to dedicate the field, unveil two statues, introduce members of the first Warde football team from 1956, and commemorate the 50th anniversary of the opening of Andrew Warde High School.

Tetreau piloted the first gridiron squad in 1956, won a state championship three years later, and then retired from the sidelines after the 1969 campaign. Davis, who served as an assistant to Tetreau and was a graduate of Warde, assumed control of the program the following year, in 1970, and coached the squad until 1979. For nearly a quarter of a century, Tetreau and Davis were the only football coaches Warde had ever known.

I'll have an article on the life of former Crimson Eagles' football coach Bill Davis in an upcoming feature. Tom is sending me a biography of his brother, and we'll sit down for a formal interview soon. Tom also told me his wife reads the blog faithfully.

Paul