Does anyone know?

[greencrest1272]

How old Coach Turner was? Im sure there will be an obituary in the paper tomorrow or the next day but if someone could post some information about his life it would be much appreciated. Like when he graduated high school, where he went to college, and when he took over the Appy job and things of that nature.

Thanks...

[LPDBlueDevils]

didn't he play at Va Tech?

[Ironlung]

A fellow I work with graduated with him. I think he is in his early 50's. Tom did play at VT. I know the guy I work with said Tom was a hell of a pitcher back in the day and that he hated catching for him. He said he couldn't use his hand the next day.

[The_Sage]

I think he graduated from Appalachia High School in 1970 and went on to Tech. i guess that puts him to be around 53ish..

[retiredteach]

Since Appy won the State in Football in 1970 and won the Basketball in 71, he would have graduated in 71. I believe that is correct. He was one heck of a player.

[StateChamps92]

Since Appy won the State in Football in 1970 and won the Basketball in 71, he would have graduated in 71. I believe that is correct. He was one heck of a player.

Tom and my Dad (the late Gary Summers) played on the perfect 71 team. That was Tom's senior year. But like you said, he is about 53 or 54. Still too soon to lose a man like that. Love Tom or hate him, he was a top notch guy that cared for ALL of him players. From his own son down to the kid that only came out one year and only seen 5 minutes of playing time all season. Tom made a concious effort to give each kid attention and teach them something about football that they could carry into their adult lives. Deb, Travis, Mandy, and Amber, our thoughts and prayers go out to you. We experienced this with my dad on New Years, so I understand the pain you feel. Just remember that many thoughts and prayers are en route to you and that Tom touched so many lives in so many ways. I loved him like a family member and will miss him terribly. I took my youngest son to see Tom at the Dawghouse just before he retired. He took us around and showed us pictures of when him and dad played. He was a coach, teacher, mentor, husband, and father. May Tom rest in peace and his life live on though memories. God bless you, Turner family.

[imported_Sportsman]

I think he was 54.

During his storied career as football coach at Appalachia High School, Tom Turner always liked to have the element of surprise on his side.

That was an advantage he maintained to the very end.

The 54-year-old Turner, who retired this past March due to a combination of health issues, died in his sleep early Wednesday morning of undetermined causes. He was discovered by family members about 6 a.m.

"He was pretty sick. He liked to hide injuries and pain so nobody would feel sorry for him," said son Travis Turner. "He wouldn't really tell me how badly he was feeling. Everybody in this community thought he was invincible, like he was Superman."

The news of Turner's death stunned his longtime coaching colleagues in Southwest Virginia. They didn't see it coming.

"Everybody's just heartbroken about this," Powell Valley coach Phil Robbins said. "I think Tom's toughness had hidden from all of us who knew him exactly how bad he was hurting and how sick he really was."

Turner coached in multiple Virginia High School Coaches Association All-Star Games after winning his first state title in 1989. He was known and liked by coaches in all classifications from all corners of the state.

"This is a great loss for all of us," said Mike Smith, executive director of the VHSCA. "This is going to have impact all around the state. All the football coaches know Tom and have a lot of respect for him."

The epicenter of grief was Appalachia High School, where Turner coached the Bulldogs to five Group A state football championships. Appalachia Principal George Barton met with the faculty at 7:30 a.m. and put the school's crisis plan into effect. The student body was informed of Turner's death at 8:30 a.m.

"Central office personnel sent grief counselors down here ... pastors from the community," Barton said. "It's a big loss for us over here. We're all hurting. The community is in shock."

Barton and assistant coaches Roger Austin and Bobby Sanders assembled the Appalachia football players at 9:45 a.m.

"I felt like they needed some time together to reflect and release some of their emotions," Barton said. "That was a good time for them. Plus, it was a good time for me. Tom was more than a co-worker. He was my buddy."

Turner was inducted into the Virginia High School League Hall of Fame this past October alongside Gate City coach Nick Colobro.

Over 26 years at Appalachia, Turner compiled a 205-107-1 record running one of Virginia's smallest Group A programs. He led the Bulldogs to Group A, Division 1 state titles in 1989, 1992, 1994, 1996 and 1997. Under his tutelage, Appalachia garnered 11 Region D championships and three state runner-up finishes.

This past fall, Turner led the Bulldogs to an 8-4 finish that ended with a Region D title game loss to eventual state runner-up J.I. Burton.

In addition to being Appalachia's winningest coach, Turner was also one of the school's all-time best athletes. He played on Appalachia's 1971 Group A state championship football team under Jim Riggs and on the Bulldogs' 1972 Group A state championship basketball team under Gary Holloman.

Turner went on to play at Virginia Tech as a linebacker and defensive lineman. Some of the cumulative health problems that led to his early retirement originated as injuries he received during his career as an athlete.

"He had back and neck pains and knee pains, arthritis and other problems with his joints and ligaments," the younger Turner said. "I guess it all just finally caught up."

To accommodate the large turnout expected for Turner's funeral, services will be held Saturday at the Appalachia High School gymnasium. The viewing will be held from 4 until 7 p.m., with the memorial service beginning at 7 p.m. The burial will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday at Memorial Gardens in Big Stone Gap.

A football season with someone other than Tom Turner calling the plays at Appalachia is an idea that takes some getting used to.
But a football season entirely without Tom Turner? There's just no getting used to that.
Turner, who led Appalachia to five Group A state championships, died unexpectedly in his sleep at his home early Wednesday morning.
"I know what an icon Tom is in Southwest Virginia. I can only imagine how they feel in Appalachia today," said J.I. Burton coach Jimbo Adams.
Throughout the region and across the commonwealth, friends and coaching colleagues mourned the loss of the Lonesome Pine District's homegrown gridiron genius.
This past October, Gate City coach Nick Colobro was inducted into the Virginia High School League Hall of Fame with Turner.
Wednesday's bad news was difficult to process for Colobro.
"When I got the phone call this morning, I was glad I was sitting down. I had no idea he was this sick," said Colobro, who was Turner's teammate at Virginia Tech. "What a character. Golly Ned! What a legacy he and his staff and those kids and community got to share."
None of Turner's friends and colleagues seemed aware of the grave condition of his health. Most, in fact, believed he had taken a slight turn for the better since announcing his early retirement in March.
For Turner to successfully conceal the extent of his illness seemed perfectly in character. With him, appearances were frequently deceiving. He enjoyed cultivating the outward image of an unsophisticated country boy. But woe to the opposing coach who took that subterfuge at face value.
"He just wanted to lull you to sleep. He was a slick guy," Colobro said. "He was a very intelligent person and he was really, really good at what he did.
"I'm always going to remember how much fun he made it to walk out there on Friday nights and how he made you work so hard the week before to prepare for all his shenanigans."
Even against his toughest and smartest opponents, Turner had an uncanny knack for calling unpredictable plays that worked. In 1993, Turner engineered a victory at Gate City by calling a hook-and -ladder flea flicker out of a two-tight set with a full house backfield.
Who could have seen that coming?
"The thing that most impressed me about Tom was the savvy he had about the game," Powell Valley coach Phil Robbins said. "It wasn't always something you'd read in a textbook. He had a great sense of how the game was flowing and and what should be done and what shouldn't be done.
"Some people would say he was unorthodox. I say he was just savvy. It was just an awareness of the situation and knowing the right time to do something that nobody else would think to do."
Robbins coached with Turner in the VHSCA All-Star Game at Hampton in the summer of 1990. It was his first opportunity to see how Turner operated behind the scenes.
"Without going into detail, I watched him put in a punt return. That play consumed a great amount of time at that particular practice, but it never had to be told again," Robbins said. "With each one of those 11 kids, what he told them was exactly what happened in the game.
"When I saw Tom do that at the All-Star Game, I learned we were dealing with something else."
Over the years, coaches from all over the state worked with Turner in subsequent VHSCA All-Star Games. He left a strong impression on all of them.
"The couple of times I've had the pleasure of coaching in the All-Star Game, when coaches found out where I was from, they'd always ask me how Tom was doing," said Adams, who returns to Hampton this summer.
"When we were struggling up here, he was one of the people who encouraged me and gave me advice on running the program. Except for one week in the year, he never failed to come through with anything I asked of him.
"He'll be sorely missed," Adams added. "He meant a lot to all of us."
Mike Smith, executive director of the VHSCA, was helping to distribute the sad news to Turner's colleagues across the state. As of Wednesday afternoon he was still trying to reach Kurt Newsome, a longtime Turner pal now working under Frank Beamer at Virginia Tech.
"This saddens me. What's very ironic is that Tom played in the very first All-Star Game we ever had in 1970. Then he coached in five or six ... maybe more than that," Smith said. "He may be the only guy I know who both played in it and coached his own son in it."
Travis Turner played four years at quarterback under his father at Appalachia and coached with him during the past three seasons.
"It was an honor and a pleasure to play for him. I know a lot of other Appalachia boys feel the same way," said the younger Turner, whose fondest memory among many was a moment shared with his father after beating Middlesex 72-7 for the 1994 state title - the first of three for the son.
"I think every time the Riggs Stadium lights come on and Mr. Kibler says it's football time in Appalachia, everybody is going to have my dad in their minds."
According to Appalachia principal George Barton, Turner was a coach who always had the players on his mind.
"He was more than a teacher and a coach. He was a father figure to a number of his players. He always had time for their personal problems," Barton said.
"Tom talked to me many times about former players, even as far back as 1980. He could tell you every player that had ever played for him. He could tell you what they were doing today, and if they had children, and where they worked."
Bobby Sanders, who pulled two separate stints as an assistant coach under Turner, was sky high on Tuesday night after getting hired as Lee High's new coach.
Wednesday morning, he felt like a rug had been pulled out from under him.
The one consolation, he said, is that he knows what he learned from Turner will travel with him to Ben Hur.
"The biggest thing I learned from Tom was the way he treated people. He treated everybody right," Sanders said.
"It didn't matter who you were or where you were from. You didn't have to be the star player on the team to get his attention. He always said that coaching was about helping to raise young'uns."

The first thing I heard when I came to the office on Wednesday was that Tom Turner had died. Even knowing that his health was an issue, hearing of his death hit me hard.
Tom Turner was Appalachia football. There was no separating the two. He symbolized everything that the Bulldogs stood for and that reputation spread across the entire state of Virginia.
Through all my years as a sports writer I covered very few football games. In 17 years on the Times-News sports staff I had the good fortune to cover two Appalachia games. Both were Bulldog victories and both were Tom Turner football at its best.
With both Powell Valley and Appalachia in the state finals in 1997, I followed the Bulldogs to Smith, Va., to cover their second straight championship game against Surry County.
The day was crystal clear with blue skies and 25 degree weather.
Surry used a spread offense with three receivers to one side. The Chargers threw the ball at will and jumped out to an early and what seemed like a commanding lead.
After halftime, Appalachia pounded the ball downfield with a relentless running game. Coach Turner shouted out instructions and moved his players like pawns in a chess game. Nothing fancy, just bruising, physical football that eventually wore Surry into submission.
The final play of the game said it all. A Surry pass into the end zone that, if completed would have won the game, fell harmlessly to the turf after two Bulldog defenders sandwiched the receiver with a crushing blow. Appalachia won 24-21.
Searching out Turner, I found him walking off the field. His Appalachia windbreaker was worn and had a couple of letters peeling off. He wasn't about being fancy, it was all about the game.
He praised his players and his staff and took little credit for a superbly coached game.
In the end it was about players making plays, he just put the right guys in the right spots at the right time. That was his assessment of his involvement in the win.
Last fall I traveled to Appalachia for the Bulldogs' playoff game with Hurley. It was another crystal clear day with blue skies and, this time, temperatures in the 50s.
Appy's straight-T formation was simple and brutally efficient. After whipping the Rebels on defense, the Bulldogs went into their smashmouth mode and wore Hurley down.
What always amazed me was Turner's ability to open up his offense at just the right time and catch the opposition off guard. Just when his opponents were on their heels expecting to get run over again, Turner would call for a deep pass play or an end-around that resulted in long touchdowns.
After the 44-0 win Turner, who had just been inducted into the VHSL Hall of Fame after coaching five state championship teams, stood in the end zone and let his players enjoy the win.
His words were simple and direct. The game came down to blocking and tackling and on that day his team did it better than the opponents.
Win or lose, you always got the best Turner and his team could give. It was hard-nosed football and it was the way the game is supposed to be played.
Tom Turner was Appalachia football. No one will ever forget that.