The Kates Family Juggling Act
George & Shary Kates Have to Map Out Fall Fridays to See Three Sons Who are All Head Coaches
On the sidelines this Friday at Leopard Stadium will be a guy with the logos of three different high school football teams embroidered on his pullover vest.
It’s not that George Kates has trouble making up his mind. He’s just got a lot to cheer for. George Kates is the father of the first set of three brothers to ever be head football coaches in Texas all at the same time. Middle son Matt has been the head coach in La Grange since 2010. Eldest son Ged has been the coach at Richland in Fort Worth for the past 11 years. Youngest son Will, a former La Grange assistant, is in his second year as head coach at 3A Merkel near Abilene. For Christmas last year Matt got his dad that special pullover with the Richland Royals, La Grange Leopards and Merkel Badgers logos on the chest, specially made at Hengst Printing.
Up in the stands at Leopard Stadium Friday will be George’s wife Shary, who might be as big a football fan as George is. While George played football at Cisco Junior College and later was the equipment manager at West Texas State, Shary’s football education began even earlier. She was the daughter of legendary West Texas State head coach Joe Kerbel. “They both love football, and love us even more,” said Matt. But that creates a problem when all three of your sons do their best work on Friday nights at three places not all that close to each other.
“We start studying the schedules in the summer as soon as they come out,” George said of how he and Shary map out their fall Friday nights. “We try to make it as equal as we can. We’ve probably been to Merkel a little more that the others just because Will is newer to that job.”
Shary is a retired school teacher, while George followed his dad’s footsteps into the world of auto sales. That helps, because he’s always sure to have a good ride for all the miles he and Shary spent on the road.
It’s 221 miles one-way from their home in Forth Worth to La Grange. It’s 165 miles one-way to Merkel.
Getting to Ged’s games are a little easier.
“They live down the street and we’re only two to three miles from the school,” George laughed.
Their schedules revolve around getting to their boys games – and now the grandkids. Matt said his parents even have made the 450 mile round trip down to La Grange to catch a couple of grandson Bo’s 8th grade football games this year.
“We’re beyond blessed,” Matt said. “They are getting older, and I don’t think it’s something we appreciate enough, having them here for so many games.”
George said that when he’s at one son’s game he follows the scores of the others on a smart phone app. When the score isn’t enough, he said he’ll sometimes ring La Grange sideline doctors Wess Blackwell andThomas Borgstedte for more in-depth updates.
So far during the long coaching head careers of Matt and Ged, their parents have never missed a playoff game of either son.
But now with Will in the head coaching mix, that streak could be in jeopardy.Two weeks ago marked the first time all three sons won district games on the same week, and all three appear headed to the playoffs this season. Richland is 7-1 (5-1 in district), La Grange is 4-4 (2-1 in district) and Merkel is 3-5 (but 2-1 in district). “They are going to have to choose,” Matt said. “Hopefully we won’t make them feel too bad about the choice. I’d imagine they would pick Will’s game. The baby usually wins out in those situations.
“Hopefully it’s a problem they have to face in Week 2 of the playoffs as well.”