By Michael Haag | Sports Editor
Even when College Football Hall of Fame Coach Grant Teaff celebrated his 90th birthday on Nov. 12, he and his family used it as a way to impact others.
That’s the best present Teaff — who coached Baylor football for two decades (1972-1992) — could have ever asked for, as his mantra has always been “it’s bigger than the game.”
The Teaff family officially introduced the newly-formed Grant Teaff Foundation and the Grant Teaff Beyond the Game Team Award on Tuesday afternoon at the Texas Sports Hall of Fame. The foundation was put together to highlight and support the education and development of Texas high school students in servant leadership and community service.
It’s designed to fund the Grant Teaff Beyond the Game Team Award annually and assist the Texas Sports Hall of Fame’s day-to-day operations. Teaff’s award — partnered with the TSHOF and the Texas High School Coaches Association — was created to incentivize and showcase Texas high school teams that positively serve their communities and use their influence to go “beyond the game.”
Grant Teaff Foundation President Russ Bookbinder — former president and CEO of the San Antonio Spurs — encouraged high school athletic departments to be creative as well as indicate a large share of participation.
“If you have a football team and you have four people out doing community service, that’s not as much as having four people out from a basketball team,” Bookbinder said.
Bookbinder added that this award can be a huge benefit to high school institutions that are likely dealing with decreasing athletic budgets.
The incentive — a $5,000 grant — will be awarded to a Texas high school athletics department that showcases unique community service. This isn’t solely for football, as any sporting team, male or female, can make a submission.
Community members, coaches, parents, students, teachers and administrators are all open to making nominations for the Beyond the Game Award. To do so, the Grant Teaff Foundation asks that a video or narrative describing the team’s accomplishments be uploaded. The submission deadline is March 1, 2024.
The winner will also get invited to attend and be recognized at the TSHOF Induction Banquet on April 13, 2024. TSHOF Board of Trustees Chairman Mike Harder said there will be a video presentation highlighting the selected team’s community service project, as well as permanent enshrinement at the museum.
“We will also be establishing a permanent Grant Teaff Beyond the Game display that will feature the team and their video out here in the hall, and each year we will add a team to the display, the winner of that year,” Harder said.
Harder said he thinks this award will spread throughout the state and gain popularity over time.
Teaff, who won two Southwest Conference championships at Baylor (1974 and 1980), said putting together this foundation and award was a no-brainer and has tied to his entire purpose for coaching: impacting others.
The 1974 AFCA Coach of the Year said he gets overwhelmed with emotions knowing the dream he’s always had was accomplished.
“One of the great joys of having lived long enough [is] to look back at your career and then to look around and see those that you’ve had the privilege of coaching with you,” Teaff said. “There was no joy like that.
“They’re not your sons, but in some ways, they are, because you experience things with your players — ups, downs, goods, bads, wins, losses — that you don’t experience any place else. And so there’s a bond that is forever there. It never breaks.”
Teaff’s wife of 68 years, Donell, said this entire process epitomizes everything he embodied during his coaching career.
“Over the years, so many people have asked him, ‘Well, what is your goal in life? What are you going to do?’” Donell said. “And his answer was always, ‘I just want to make a difference.’ And I believe that he really has made a difference.”
The service for the award may include, but is not limited to, building homes, volunteering at a local food bank or homeless shelter, mentoring elementary school students, doing community and residential cleanup and encouraging those with special needs.
For more information regarding the recognition or entry and award process, visit the Texas Sports Hall of Fame’s website. Krista Martin is also a point of contact at 254-756-1633 or krista.martin@tshof.org.
The Grant Teaff Foundation is also looking for funding through donations. For more information, visit this link.
