Legendary football coach Gene Stallings is revered for his incredible achievements in both college and professional football, including his time coaching at the University of Alabama and at our shared alma mater, Texas A&M University. He also played at Texas A&M as part of Bear Bryant’s famed Junction Boys. His determination, coupled with personal grit and high expectations, drove his players to perform at the peak of their abilities.

Coach Stallings left an indelible mark on the game of football, but his impact on the world is much bigger than any championship team.

In 1962, Coach Stallings and his wife, Ruth Ann, welcomed their third of five children, and their only son, John Mark, aka “Johnny”. The couple’s excitement to welcome another future football player to the family soon morphed into a mixture of heartache, denial, uncertainty, and grace as they learned that Johnny was born with Down syndrome and also had a serious heart defect. Doctors predicted that Johnny wouldn’t live long, and many encouraged the family to institutionalize him, but Coach and Ruth Ann refused to put him on the sidelines.

Instead, the Stallings family committed to raising each of their children with hope, faith, and love, and fully integrated Johnny into Coach’s work on the football field. Johnny became a part of many legendary teams, and even the toughest NFL players loved having him around. Coach’s public witness as a proud and loving father helped to change the narrative about raising kids with Down syndrome and other intellectual and developmental disabilities. In 1987, Coach Stallings and Johnny were even featured on a national television commercial for the United Way that touched the hearts of millions of Americans.

After his coaching career ended, Coach Stallings published a book about his life with Johnny called “Another Season: A Coach’s Story About Raising an Exceptional Son.” Throughout the book, Coach shares fascinating stories about the ups and downs of his career, but those legendary battles on the ball field feel more like a sidenote to the joy and enrichment that he and Ruth Ann experienced as parents to all five of their children.

Unfortunately, Johnny passed away in 2008 at the age of 46. In the revised version of his book, Coach wrote an afterward called “the rest of the story” in which he shares the details of Johnny’s last days and his continued struggle to breathe as a result of his heart defect. When Coach asked Johnny if he was doing okay the night before his passing, Johnny replied like he always did, “I fine.”

Johnny never complained. When asked how he was doing by his mom and dad, he would reply, “I fine.”

Johnny’s attitude inspired Coach Stallings to follow suit. His message is always the same – “My complaining days are over.”

Thank you, Coach. And thank you, Johnny. My complaining days are over, too.

Another Season is the book that inspired Tom Landis to go all in when he launched Howdy Homemade Ice Cream – a company that makes and serves super premium ice cream while providing meaningful and dignified work for adults with special needs to run the shop. Thanks to the dedication and fortitude of Tom and his wife, Margaret, Howdy Homemade is ready for another season – a season of growth through new store openings and increased catering at parties and events – a season of joy as more scoops of Howdy Homemade are enjoyed by kids and adults alike – and a season of hope as hundreds of new jobs will be created for adults with special needs in the months and years to come through the rapid expansion of Howdy Homemade in DFW and beyond.

Last week, the Undivided Life team finished reading Another Season as part of our ongoing book club series and concluded the experience with an incredible time of dialogue, prayer, and reflection, perfectly punctuated by a call with Coach Gene Stallings, who shared his love and blessings with us all.

Our plans for Howdy Homemade’s rapid expansion will come with many moments of disappointment, hardship, and frustration, but we are on the field and ready to play.

Whatever comes next, our complaining days are over.