ack French announced his retirement from Faith Academy in December after 46 years as a high school football coach in Alabama and Mississippi.
The frightening four months since have reinforced something French has known for a long time.
“We all think we are Superman, and nothing can hurt us,” he said this week. “Nothing could be further from the truth. He can put you flat on your back anytime.”
Exactly who “He” is — if you don’t know already — will become obvious as the story unfolds.
It actually started a month before French announced his retirement.
French’s team was set for a first-round playoff matchup at home against Elmore County on Nov. 10. That Monday (Nov. 6) French had a strange feeling that he said he had never experienced previously.
“I can’t really describe it,” he said looking back. “All I knew is I didn’t feel good and had never felt that way.”
French had a nurse at Faith take his blood pressure. That led to an immediate visit to the Emergency Room. He first started to drive to Spring Hill Medical Center where many of his doctors practice but became nauseous and diverted to a freestanding emergency room that was much closer.
“My plan was to get there and find some grass where I could be sick,” he said. “But when I got there, the nausea went away. I’m afraid if I had continued to go to Spring Hill, I never would have made it.”
Once inside the ER, French said he started having severe pain in his abdomen.
“It was all I could do to walk four steps back to the counter to hand the nurse the card I had filled out,” he said. “I told her that I wasn’t in pain when I walked in here, but I sure am now. A girl came and got me not two minutes later.
“She asked me to step on the scale. I don’t know what she saw, but she said, ‘Just wait here,’ and went to get me a wheelchair. Before I knew it, I had four people hollering and hooking me up to things and telling me not to close my eyes.”
French remembers texting Faith assistant coach Jeff Estes about football practice that day as he was dealing with the pain.
“I felt pain in my lower abdomen and my upper abdomen,” he said. “Then, I felt them come together in the middle of my stomach. I don’t think I was in pain at that time, but I knew something happened. It went straight up my sternum and into my brain. I felt it. It stayed in my brain a couple of minutes and then it went out the base of my skull, and I had no more pain.”
French said doctors told him then his heart rate had dipped into the high 30s during his visit. A normal resting heart rate for adults ranges from 60 to 100 beats per minute. However, with his pain gone — at least for the time being — and a promise to call his cardiologist and schedule an appointment for more tests, French headed home.
“I was trying to stay with the team,” he said. “We were in the playoffs. I did what I said I was going to do. I called my doctor and set up an appointment, but I was determined to coach my team.”
Upon his return to school the next day, French thanked his coaches for their prayers. One of the coaches he made sure to thank was John Bell.
“I thanked him for praying for me because I knew he had, and then he said something that struck me,” French said. “He said, ‘We were all praying for you.’ I said, ‘What do you mean?’ He said, ‘All of us. The team, the coaches, we all prayed together.’ I asked him what time that was.
“He said it was 3:31. Because I had been texting coach Estes on Monday, I knew exactly what time it was when I felt the pain come together and leave my body. It was the same exact time. I think they prayed me out of pain.”
Whatever you do and before you read on, don’t miss the message in those last two graphs.
My family and I had a similar experience several years ago.
Our daughter was involved in a serious car accident and airlifted from Baldwin County to Pensacola. As my wife and I traveled separately there from our different jobs, we received notices from friends and family members who were praying for Alyssa at that specific moment.
When we got to the hospital, she had a bad gash on her head and was beaten up pretty good, but she was OK. Praise God. When she and my wife went the next day to retrieve her personal belongings out of her totaled vehicle, the firemedic was stunned. He also owned the towing service and had been on the scene the day before. He told my daughter, ‘When we put you on that helicopter, we didn’t think you would make it.’”
Only one thing changed. It was the same thing that changed for coach French.
Prayer.
That wasn’t the end of French’s story.
Far from it.
Faith defeated Elmore County 31-7 in the first round of the playoffs before losing at Eufaula 41-14 the next week to end the season and – as it turns out – French’s Hall of Fame coaching career.
He officially announced his retirement on Dec. 13. A little over a month later (Jan. 18), he finally made it to see the cardiologist. He blamed himself for continuing to make excuses about why he couldn’t make an appointment previously. French had a CT scan that day and, still feeling good, went to have breakfast while awaiting the results.
“They called me quickly while I was eating breakfast and said you need to come back and see Dr. (Gerry) Phillips,” he said. “I told them I was going home to get my wife, and I would be back. I was lying even then. I was going to play golf because it was supposed to rain the next few days. But then the nurse said, ‘Dr. Phillips said to be sure to tell you that it is life threatening.’ That finally jarred me.”
French put golf on hold and returned to Spring Hill. Phillips told him one artery was more than 90 percent blocked and three others were “bad.” French had quadruple bypass surgery on Jan. 19.
“The Lord was with me,” he said. “There were two instances particularly in this whole process where the Lord stepped in and said, ‘I don’t want you to die yet,’ and that’s basically what happened. I got to thinking about how hardheaded I was, and how He had to get hold of me and save me for another day.”
Nearly four months later, French said all of his doctors have officially released him.
“My golf game is still sick,” he joked. “I don’t know any doctor I can take that to, though. I guess it’s the last thing to return after surgery.”
I’m proud to say our daughter Alyssa, now 25, will be a mother for the first time in October.
I’m also proud to say that, though French is still retired and won’t be adding to his 314 victories on the field, he has a much more powerful life win to share with people.
That message? He hears our prayers.
Thought for the week
“Every story of impossible miracles, it’s all about You.
Every story of a prodigal coming home, it’s all about You.
Every story of revival I know, it’s all about You.
Your kingdom is all about lives changed, empty graves, it’s all about You.”
— All about You, Passion and Kristian Stanfill
Ben Thomas is the high school sportswriter at AL.com. He has been named one of the 50 legends of the Alabama Sports Writers Association. Follow him on twitter at @BenThomasPreps or email him at bthomas@al.com. He can be heard weekly on “Inside High School Sports” on SportsTalk 99.5 FM in Mobile or on the free IHeart Radio App at 2 p.m. Wednesdays.
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