Farewell to a Very Good Coach and a Great Athlete By Joe Aull

A couple of weeks ago, Lexington Hall of Fame Coach, Gil Rector and I, attended a Celebration of Life Ceremony for Henry Mason, who passed away on April 10 at age 69. Henry was a very good High School Coach and Middle School Teacher in the Lexington School District, for 3 years, and he also had a great deal of success, coaching Football at the College level, and at another High School, as well as being an outstanding former Athlete.

Outstanding High School and College Athlete

Henry Mason graduated from Marshall High School in 1974, and he was a very good Football, Basketball, and Baseball player, earning All State Honors in Football. He was then an outstanding athlete at Central Missouri State University in Warrensburg, (now UCM), as he was an All American wide receiver in Football, and a two time First Team All MIAA Conference outfielder in Baseball for the Mules.

NFL Football Player

After graduating from CMSU, Henry was drafted by the Baltimore Colts of the National Football League, as a wide receiver in 1978, and was later traded to the St Louis Cardinals. Unfortunately, he suffered a serious knee injury in 1979, which ended his Football playing career, and that is when he came to Lexington to teach and coach.

Teacher and Coach in Lexington

Henry Mason came to Lexington at the beginning of the 1979-80 school year, and he was a Middle School Physical Education Teacher, and a High School Football and Basketball coach. That first year, he was an assistant coach on the 1979 undefeated Conference Championship Football team, and an assistant coach on the 1979-80 Boys Basketball Team that was both Conference and District Champions. The next year, he became the head Boys Basketball coach, and was an assistant coach on the undefeated 1980 State Championship Football team. During his third year, 1981-82, his Boys Basketball team won an MRVC Conference Co-Championship.

Career After Leaving Lexington

After leaving Lexington, Henry was an assistant Football coach at Baker University for the next 4 years, and he was then the head Football coach at Sedalia Smith Cotton High School from 1985-1990. During his time there, he turned the Football program around, as his Smith Cotton team recorded the first winning season in 13 years, which included the first win in many years over Marshall, his alma mater, that was coached by Cecil Naylor, his legendary former coach. After 5 years at Sedalia, Henry went back to the College ranks, as he was the wide receivers coach at Western Michigan University, for the next 4 years, until he was recruited to become an assistant Football coach at the University of Wisconsin

Finished his Career at the University of Wisconsin

In 1995, Henry became an assistant coach for the University of Wisconsin Badgers of the Big Ten Conference.. He began as the wide receivers coach for the Badgers, and he was eventually promoted to the position of Associate Head Coach. Henry suffered a serious spinal cord injury from a fall in 2007. and after a lengthy recovery, he transitioned to a front office position with the Football program in 2009. In his new role, Henry worked closely with NFL personnel and High School coaches from around the country, and he mentored University of Wisconsin Football players, who had the potential, to be recruited and play in the NFL.

Very Positive Role Model for Many of Our Young People As a School Administrator, I felt very fortunate to have Henry Mason as a Teacher and a Coach in our school system, if only for 3 years. The main reason was because he was a very strong role model for many of our students, especially any of our young people, who had dreams of becoming, or were already pretty good athletes. After all, Henry was only 23 years old, when he came to Lexington, as he was not all that much older than the young people that he taught and coached, but he had already had a great deal of success in his life, at his very young age.

You can imagine what type of impression that he made on the Middle School youngsters that he taught each day in P.E. class, or the High School athletes, who he coached, knowing that they were being directed by a man, who was an All American College athlete, and a former NFL Football player. But much more important than that, Henry was a clean cut young man, who lived by great values in his life, that he passed on to his students .Case in point, during his High School days, and throughout his career, Henry was very active in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes organization, which we have at Lexington High School today, and he strongly encouraged his students and athletes to not only belong to FCA, but to also live by the values that the organization stands for and promotes.

Henry Mason was definitely an outstanding Athlete and a very good Teacher and Coach, but he was even a better Person. Rest in Peace, my Friend!