LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – The iconic name of Mike Leach continues to receive honors. The newest recognition is from the American Heart Association and the Paul \u201cBear\u201d Bryant awards. Officials are posthumously honoring Coach Leach with the Heart of a Champion Award.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis award is really meant to recognize someone from the college football world who\u2019s had a lasting impact on the sport, and also has a connection to the work of the American Heart Association,\u201d Steven Embree, the Executive Director of the Paul \u201cBear\u201d Bryant Awards, said.<\/p>\n
He explained it was a \u201cno brainer\u201d to pick former Red Raider football coach Leach as the recipient of the Heart of a Champion Award. The Pirate was a stand out among the crowd of college football coaches at every level of the game.<\/p>\n
Bailey Butler, the Development Director for Lubbock\u2019s chapter of the American Heart Association, explained coach Leach stood out for a number of reasons like his mind for the game, but especially when it came to caring for his players.<\/p>\n
\u201cI listen to some of his former players and just how incredible of a coach he was and how caring he was on and off the field,\u201d Butler said. \u201cHe really did care about his players. He really did want the best for them. He was there for them. You look at that, and that\u2019s that Heart of a Champion.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leach\u2019s resilience, courage, and character defined his life on and off the field. His daughter said it\u2019s inspiring to continue watching the impact he\u2019s had on the game of college football.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt means a lot for him to be recognized,\u201d Kimberly Betty said. \u201cI wish he were around so he could see the impact he truly made; so often people, in general, we don\u2019t feel that or see that until it\u2019s too late.\u201d<\/p>\n
Coach Leach is now ingrained in Lubbock\u2019s culture, according to Butler. She felt it was essential to honor him in the Hub City, especially in partnership with Texas Tech.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe community rallies around Mike Leach,\u201d Butler said. \u201cThat will never change. I think that will be a forever thing. We cherish our memories with him.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Pirate is written into Texas Tech history after taking the football program to a bowl game every season as a head coach from 2000 to 2009. In that time, he also garnered the highest wins of any coach in Red Raider history, 86.<\/p>\n
Betty looks back at his time with Tech fondly.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of these remembrances, you know they were a part of Dad\u2019s story and they\u2019re a part of my story and so to have it in Lubbock, of all places, for me that\u2019s just a wonderful experience,\u201d Betty said.<\/p>\n
The American Heart Association hopes Leach\u2019s recognition will continue to raise awareness about heart health within the community.<\/p>\n
Butler said the main things people need to know are their blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and how that relates to diet and exercise. She says if something feels off, or if a dramatic change in readings happens, people need to go to the doctor immediately.<\/p>\n
The Lubbock chapter of the American Heart Association is currently working to raise awareness and certification for hands-only CPR in people across the community. Butler explains this small action could help save a life in the future. To help spread awareness you can donate through the 2025 Lubbock Heart Walk<\/a> <\/a>through November.<\/p>\n Bett will be accepting the Heart of a Champion Award on behalf of her dad at halftime during Texas Tech\u2019s game against Oklahoma State. The entire family will be recognized at the Paul \u201cBear\u201d Bryant awards in Houston in January.<\/p>\n Copyright 2025 KCBD. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – The iconic name of Mike Leach continues to receive honors. The newest recognition is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20472,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[15515,15519,15520,15513,15511,315,15512,15516,9129,300,15514,15510,168,170,169,15509,15518,236,7016,15517,303,311,1769,874,299],"class_list":["post-20471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lubbock","tag-a","tag-amaerican","tag-association","tag-award","tag-bear","tag-big-12","tag-bryant","tag-champion","tag-daughter","tag-football","tag-heart","tag-leach","tag-lubbock","tag-lubbock-headlines","tag-lubbock-news","tag-mike","tag-mike-leach","tag-of","tag-paul","tag-raider","tag-red","tag-red-raider-football","tag-texas-tech","tag-texas-tech-football","tag-ttu"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20471\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}