No tears were allowed at the funeral for Coach Spike Dykes, per his orders, of course.
“The order goes this way: if you cry, you’ve got to leave,” said Dr. Craig Curry of First United Methodist Church, as he talked about the requirement passed from Dykes to his family.
“Our ushers are going to be watching. We should have some penalty flags here for this,” Curry mentioned.
Hundreds of Dykes’ closest friends packed the church to honor the 79-year-old, who passed away Monday in Horsehoe Bay, TX.
Three eulogies delivered by coaching pal Doyle Parker, former player Anthony Lynn, and longtime friend Mack Brown, had guests in tears, from laughter.
“He called Facebook, Spacebook,” Parker said, referencing Coach’s adversity to technology. He had an old-timey flip phone. He probably had over three hundred calls in there he had no idea how to get to them. He never did the email thing.”
Lynn, a coach for the Los Angeles Chargers, played for Dykes with the Red Raiders of Texas Tech.
Lynn saw Dykes as more than a coach. To him, Coach was a father-figure, and “the most humble guy in the world.”
“I’m so busy in my life I have to stop and say what am I good for Anthony? This thing is just bigger than football and that started with Spike,” Lynn said.
As he compared the “good” of many, to the “great” of Dykes, Lynn almost broke the “no crying” rule.
“When I talk about Coach Dykes, that man is great, and sometimes I think that’s not even a big enough word,” he said as he welled up.
Attendees of the service included many former players from his entire coaching career. Kansas State football coach Bill Snyder was there. Marsha Sharp was there. Leaders like Kent Hance and Robert Duncan were on hand. Current Texas Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury saw with them. The list of guests seemed endless.
Brown, a longtime friend and successful coach, recalled a recent trip to the golf course when Dykes was not feeling well.
“He made me laugh more than everybody else I was ever around,” Brown said.
“He’s got the tobacco all over his mouth, he’s got it on his shirt,” Brown remembered, “and I said ‘I’m not doing mouth to mouth with you when you go down.’ He looked at me… he raised his head and said ‘I’d rather die.'”
A story that put life into perspective for many in the crowd came when Brown addressed the death of Dykes’ wife Sharon, who passed away after a battle with Alzheimer’s disease.
“After six and a half to seven years that Sharon was gone, and more years than that when she couldn’t communicate with coach, he left on his voicemail, ‘Sharon and I aren’t here right now, leave a message,'” Brown said.
“I wonder how many of us as husbands would be able to be that loyal to their spouse, six and a half years later,” he said.
“I love him, I miss him,” Brown added.
The Dykes family said a private service will be held Friday in Horseshoe Bay.
To watch a replay of the funeral service, click here.