THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 6, 1996 TAG: 9607060357
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: AHOSKIE LENGTH: 49 lines
The head football coach at Hertford County High School, who had recently resigned to take a job in Raleigh, apparently committed suicide Wednesday near the school's campus, authorities said.
The body of Carl Wesley Brock, 41, of Ahoskie was found Wednesday afternoon in a wooded area near a ball field behind the high school, police said.
Brock apparently died of carbon monoxide poisoning. A garden hose ran from inside his four-door Ford Explorer to the truck's exhaust pipe, Hertford County Sheriff Winfred Hardy said Friday.
Several notes and pictures of family were found on the front seats of the truck, which had stopped running by the time police arrived around 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Hardy said.
The sheriff said the time of death may have been around 2 p.m. that day, judging from a handwritten note that bears that time and date. Other notes were sealed and turned over to Brock's parents, Hardy said.
Brock was found by an Ahoskie police officer on regular patrol.
Brock grew up in Farmville and attended Elon College. Before coming to Ahoskie, he had been an offensive coordinator for the D.H. Conley High School football team in Greenville.
During Brock's six years at Hertford County High School, the school's football teams went to four state playoffs and won a Northeast AAA conference title.
Brock also coached the winning team during a state high school east-west game in Greensboro, said Richard Murray, a retired athletic director who had worked with Brock at Hertford County High School.
``He did an excellent job with our football program,'' Murray said Friday.
Brock also taught health and physical education at Hertford County High.
His accomplishments led to a recent job offer at East Wake High School in Raleigh. Brock recently had resigned the Hertford County position.
``He was very upbeat and excited about that,'' Murray said.
Audrey Williams, who chairs the Hertford County Board of Education, said Brock was ``a very fine person'' who coached her son, Erick, about four years ago.
``Most of the football boys looked up to him, like my son did. He was an inspiration to him,'' Williams said.
Murray said Brock's death has shocked the community.
``It's been unbelievable,'' he said. ``You don't think that type of thing happens in the area you live in.''
A service will be held at 11 a.m. today at Farmville Funeral Home in Farmville.
KEYWORDS: SUICIDE by CNB