Friends, Family, and Football

By IC Staff, October 18, 2024
Bill George ’80 blends multiple stories in memoir.

By Chris Quirk

Bill George ’80, who spent much of his career pursuing excellence on the gridiron, has put down the whistle and turned his hand to writing. In Home Fields, George weaves three stories together: of kids growing up in a Syrian neighborhood in Myers, New York, in the 1930s; of George’s 2014 season as head coach of the United States Coast Guard Academy football team; and of caring for his ailing octogenarian father.

George’s football bona fides are robust. He was the starting center and co-captain of the legendary 1979 Bomber squad that took the Division III national title under Jim Butterfield, and he was also named a first-team, Division III all-American that year. George went to work as an assistant coach under Butterfield at IC and by 1999 was appointed head coach at the United States Coast Guard Academy, a post he held until retiring in 2020 as the school’s winningest football coach. 

In the early 1930s, the International Salt Company employed many Syrian immigrants. George’s father grew up in the town. “The company gave the families houses, and it was a close-knit Syrian community,” says George. “In the book, I wanted to capture the personalities of the people in the neighborhood and tell their stories as well as I could.” 

George uses historical research and stories from family members and the town’s inhabitants as a framework, creating dialogue around significant events to bring history to life. George’s father, Casper, had two close friends who died fighting in Europe in World War II. “In the book, I wanted their unfulfilled lives to represent the many people whose lives are short tragedies,” says George.

“You want to win football games, of course. But you also realize that these cadets struggle at times with the military rules and academic demands, but they never quit.”

Bill George '80

Intertwined with the look to the past are the stories of 2014. Casper is now ailing and living with George and his wife, Nancy, who are full-time caregivers. In addition, Bill and Nancy, both in their 50s, are new parents, having adopted a child three years prior. The daily stresses of caretaking are especially hard as both Bill and Nancy are working. “We adopted late in life, and when my dad moved in, he was very healthy. When he became ill, we couldn’t move him out,” George recalls. “When you’re in that situation, you rise to it, and it gives you strength.” 

At the same time, George is preparing his Coast Guard Academy cadets for the upcoming football season, including the game against their biggest rival, the United States Merchant Marine Academy, in week two. As a military academy coach, George faces challenges most coaches don’t have to deal with. For instance, fitness requirements and the intense physical training and drill routines of the cadets meant George’s linemen couldn’t bulk up like their opponents. “You want to win football games, of course. But you also realize that these cadets struggle at times with the military rules and academic demands, but they never quit,” says George. 

To flip the script, George instituted the chaotic spread no-huddle offense, a strategy that befuddled the opposing defenses by not giving them time to rest and regroup between plays. “We were one of the first teams to use that offense, and it helped us tremendously,” says George. 

As the big game against Merchant Marine approaches, the three tales in Home Fields wind towards their peaks. Some mysteries of the past are revealed, and stories of the present are resolved. 

While the sweep of George’s book is broad, his inspiration for writing it was very close from the beginning: “My father always said how much he missed these people, and how sad it was that many of them did not get to fulfill their dreams.” With this book, the memories live on.