JERRY HOWELL

Steve Virgen

Football means a great deal to Jerry Howell, to say the least. So,

it’s no wonder he misses the game so much these days.

This past fall was the first season since his childhood that

Howell had not been totally involved with football. For Howell, it

sometimes hurt.

“This is the first year I have totally rested,” Howell said before

watching the Patriots-Titans AFC Divisional playoff game on

television. “[This past fall] was nice, but the game nights you miss.

When you’re coaching and getting home at 3 or 4 [a.m.], you didn’t

miss the game then. But you miss it on game nights.”

Football has always reigned supreme for Howell, who grew up in the

San Joaquin Valley after his family moved from Oklahoma.

“It’s probably the first thing that gave me any self-esteem,”

Howell, the former Costa Mea High football coach, said of his

favorite sport. “Behind my uncle’s bar we would play football and we

would play a game. The last person who would not drop a pass would

win a Pepsi. I would win. Football is what made me special. Football

made me meet a lot of people. Football is still the biggest thing

that ever happened in my life.”

Howell’s working life began as a migrant laborer. Meanwhile, he

came to love the gridiron. He worked his first job when he was 7,

picking string beans, which were three cents a pound.

“If you made $2 a day, you made a lot of money,” Howell said.

When Howell went to high school, he soon realized he and the

majority of the friends he grew up with were segregated and usually

chastised because of the impoverished conditions in which they lived.

Howell said he didn’t think he was any different and, mainly because

of football, he enjoyed his life.

He earned a scholarship to play at San Jose State. Howell said he,

“probably wasn’t as disciplined as I should have been,” and didn’t

gain an average amount of playing time until his senior year. Howell,

however, did achieve his ultimate goal: to receive a teaching

credential and become a physical education teacher and football

coach.

“I thought being a P.E. teacher and coach would be the greatest

job,” Howell said.

It certainly turned out to be worthwhile for Howell.

St. Francis High in Mountain View, in the Bay Area, gave Howell

his first start in 1969. From there, Howell continued to work for

private high schools as a teacher and coach. He also worked stints at

Claremont College, where he earned his master’s degree, as well as

Occidental College and Eastern Oregon State, before he went back to

coaching high school, first at Foothill, then at Costa Mesa.

With the Mustangs, from 1995-2000, Howell compiled a 40-25 record,

which included a Pacific Coast League co-championship in 1999. In

1997, he guided the Mustangs to a 10-2 record.

“That was probably our best team,” Howell said. “In 1999, when we

won the [league] championship, we had some kids who worked really

hard. We were expecting to be very average that year. We had some

really good kids and athletes. We had some great parents. They are

great people, the parents.

Howell continues to work at Costa Mesa with football still on his

mind. He teaches history and is chair of the social science

department.

“I loved being a coach,” Howell said. “I don’t know if I’m dead

yet. If an opportunity came up, I might go back and coach.”