
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, November 29, 1993                   TAG: 9311290039
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B5   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: HUNTSVILLE, TEXAS                                LENGTH: Short

COACH ENDS 45-YEAR CAREER

Longtime high school and college coach Emory Bellard, the inventor of the Wishbone offense that revolutionized football in the 1960s and '70s, walked the sideline for the last time Saturday.

Bellard's Spring Westfield Mustangs ended their season in a Class 5A Division I quarterfinal with a 20-0 loss to Plano, keeping the coach from ending his 45-year career with a fourth Texas high school championship.

Bellard's coaching career began in 1949 at Alice. But it wasn't until he became Darrell Royal's offensive coordinator at the University of Texas that Bellard became known as a wizard of the X's and O's.

His status was marked in 1968 when he unveiled the triple-option Wishbone. While defenses tried to figure out how to slow or stop the attack, the Longhorns won 30 consecutive games and claimed a national championship in 1969.

Bellard later coached Texas A & M and Mississippi State.

by CNB