Fisher DeBerry
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James Fisher DeBerry (born June 8, 1938) is a retired
American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...
player. He served as the head football coach at the
United States Air Force Academy The United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) is a United States service academies, United States service academy in Air Force Academy, Colorado, Air Force Academy Colorado, immediately north of Colorado Springs, Colorado, Colorado Springs. I ...
from 1984 to 2006, compiling a record of 169–109–1. DeBerry led 17 of his 23
Air Force Falcons The Air Force Falcons are the College athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the United States Air Force Academy, located in El Paso County, Colorado north of Colorado Springs, Colorado, Colorado Springs. Th ...
squads to winning records and captured 12
bowl game In North America, a bowl game, or simply bowl, is one of a number of postseason college football games primarily played by NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams. For most of its history, the FBS did not use a playoff tourname ...
bids. Three times his teams won the
Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the Western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, Texas, Utah and Washington (state), Washington. Due to ...
title. Once in 1985, then in 1995, and again in 1998. DeBerry retired on December 15, 2006 with the most wins and highest winning percentage (.608) in the history of Air Force football. He was inducted into the
College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive Tourist attraction, attraction devoted to college football, college American football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players ...
as a coach in 2011.


Background

DeBerry was born in
Cheraw, South Carolina Cheraw ( , ) is a town on the Pee Dee River in Chesterfield County, South Carolina, Chesterfield County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 5,040 at the 2020 census. The greater Cheraw area in the zip code 29520 has a populatio ...
in 1938. In high school, DeBerry was a four-sport
varsity letter A varsity letter (or monogram) is an award earned in the United States for excellence in school activities. A varsity letter signifies that its recipient was a qualified varsity team member, awarded after a certain standard was met. A person who ...
winner, lettering five times in
baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...
, three times each in
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
and
basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...
and twice in track. He was also an all-state selection in baseball and football. DeBerry graduated in 1960 from Wofford College in
Spartanburg, South Carolina Spartanburg is a city in and the county seat of Spartanburg County, South Carolina, United States. The city had a population of 38,732 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in South Carolina, 11th ...
, where he lettered in
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
and
baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...
. He was also active in the
Kappa Sigma Kappa Sigma (), commonly known as Kappa Sig or KSig, is an American collegiate social fraternity founded at the University of Virginia in 1869. Kappa Sigma is one of the five largest international Fraternities and sororities in North America, fr ...
fraternity while in college. After six years of coaching and teaching in the
South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...
high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...
ranks, DeBerry returned to Wofford, where he coached for two years as an assistant/ when Wofford won 21 consecutive games and was ranked first in the NAIA. For the next nine years, 1971 to 1979, DeBerry was an assistant coach at
Appalachian State University Appalachian State University (), or App State, is a Public university, public research university in Boone, North Carolina, United States. It was founded as a normal school, teachers' college in 1899 by brothers B. B. and D. D. Dougherty and th ...
. While DeBerry was there, Appalachian State was ranked in the top 10 nationally in either rushing, total offense or scoring offense three times. In 1974, the team ranked sixth nationally in pass defense when he was defensive coordinator.


Air Force football

Air Force head coach Ken Hatfield hired DeBerry in 1980 as the
quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...
s coach. The next year, DeBerry was promoted to offensive coordinator. In 1982, Air Force posted an 8-5 record while averaging 30.4 points per game, and beat Vanderbilt in the
1982 Hall of Fame Classic __NOTOC__ Year 198 (CXCVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Sergius and Gallus (or, less frequently, year 951 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 198 fo ...
. After the 1983 season, Hatfield left Air Force for
Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...
after the Falcons' 10-2 season and Independence Bowl victory. DeBerry was promoted to head coach. During DeBerry's tenure as head coach, Air Force won at least eight games 11 different seasons. DeBerry's first team, in 1984, was 8–4 and beat
Virginia Tech The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, commonly referred to as Virginia Tech (VT), is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States ...
in the 1984 Independence Bowl. The next year, the Falcons won 12 games, and were ranked as high as No. 4 nationally until a 28–21 loss at BYU. In the final
Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...
poll, the Falcons ranked eighth. DeBerry coached the Falcons to three
Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the Western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, Texas, Utah and Washington (state), Washington. Due to ...
championships: 1985, 1995, and 1998. The 1998 team went 12–1 for the first back-to-back 10-win seasons in school history and finished the season ranked 10th nationally. DeBerry's Falcons dominated the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy series contested yearly with arch rival military academies
Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...
and
Navy A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...
. Air Force won the trophy 14 times and shared it once in DeBerry's 21 seasons. However, DeBerry lost the AF-Navy game and, subsequently, the CIC trophy each of his last four years at Air Force. He was a combined 34–8 against the Black Knights and Midshipmen and is the most successful coach in service academy history. DeBerry led the Academy to 12 bowl games, in which he had a 6–6 record. Although DeBerry had been portrayed as a role model for most of his career, he came under fire for controversial racial remarks he made in October 2005 after a 48–10 loss to Texas Christian University (TCU). DeBerry said TCU "had a lot more Afro-American players than we did and they ran a lot faster than we did. Afro-American kids can run very well. That doesn't mean that Caucasian kids and other descents can't run, but it's very obvious to me that they run extremely well." Earlier that year, DeBerry had been criticized for a banner posted in the team's locker room that was interpreted by some as inappropriate religious proselytizing. On December 15, 2006, DeBerry announced his retirement.


Other positions and awards

DeBerry was named WAC "Coach of the Year" three times in his career, and in 1985, won the
Paul "Bear" Bryant Award The American Heart Association (AHA) Paul "Bear" Bryant Awards are an annual awards banquet that is hosted each year in January, in Houston, Texas, by the AHA. There are two awards. One of them—the Paul "Bear" Bryant Coach of the Year Award†...
as
NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...
college football's coach of the year. DeBerry was also awarded the State Farm Coach of Distinction award in 2001, and was inducted into the South Carolina Sports Hall of Fame. DeBerry received an honorary doctorate of humanities from Wofford during its graduation ceremony in 2003. In 1996, DeBerry served as president of the American Football Coaches Association, and is currently the chairman of the AFCA ethics committee. He was honored by the Independence Bowl as a member of its Hall of Fame. In 2005, DeBerry was honored with induction into the Colorado Springs Sports Hall of Fame.


Personal life

DeBerry and his wife, LuAnn, are notably active in church, charity and community affairs. Coach DeBerry gives motivational speeches to religious and corporate groups, and LuAnn is a volunteer with the Ronald McDonald House and the
American Cancer Society The American Cancer Society (ACS) is a nationwide non-profit organization dedicated to eliminating cancer. The ACS publishes the journals ''Cancer'', '' CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians'' and '' Cancer Cytopathology''. History The society w ...
. DeBerry has strong ties to the
Fellowship of Christian Athletes The Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) is an international nonprofit Christian sports ministry based in Kansas City, Missouri, Kansas City. History FCA was founded in 1954 by Eastern Oklahoma State College, Eastern Oklahoma A&M basketball c ...
and was inducted into the organization's Hall of Champions in 2005. He and LuAnn have assisted fund-raising efforts for Easter Seals, the
March of Dimes March of Dimes is a United States nonprofit organization that works to improve the health of mothers and babies. The organization was founded by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1938, as the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, to co ...
, the
Salvation Army The Salvation Army (TSA) is a Protestantism, Protestant Christian church and an international charitable organisation headquartered in London, England. It is aligned with the Wesleyan-Holiness movement. The organisation reports a worldwide m ...
and the
American Heart Association The American Heart Association (AHA) is a nonprofit organization in the United States that funds cardiovascular medical research, educates consumers on healthy living and fosters appropriate Heart, cardiac care in an effort to reduce disability ...
. DeBerry's son, Joe, played in the Cincinnati Reds, New York Yankees and Milwaukee Brewers baseball organizations. DeBerry currently resides in Grove, Oklahoma.


Head coaching record


College football


College baseball


See also

* Legends Poll


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Deberry, Fisher 1938 births Living people Sportspeople from Cheraw, South Carolina Players of American football from South Carolina Wofford Terriers football players Coaches of American football from South Carolina High school football coaches in South Carolina Wofford Terriers football coaches Appalachian State Mountaineers football coaches Air Force Falcons football coaches Baseball players from Chesterfield County, South Carolina Wofford Terriers baseball players Baseball coaches from South Carolina High school baseball coaches in the United States Wofford Terriers baseball coaches Presidents of the American Football Coaches Association College Football Hall of Fame inductees 20th-century American sportsmen