Coach Larry Gary was the first Black head football coach at an integrated Lee County school

Using sports to bridge the racial divide – one former Southwest Florida football coach says he did exactly that.

As we celebrate Black History Month we sat down with football coach Larry Gary. He was the first Black head football coach at an integrated Lee County school.

On the field, under the Friday night lights, with whistles blowing and cheers erupting… This has always been Coach Gary’s happy place.

Gary went to North Fort Myers High School when Lee County first integrated schools. He played on one of the earliest integrated football teams in the county’s history.

“My mother had five boys, and we for sure knew that on Christmas, we were going to get a football uniform but we played multiple sports but football was where we excelled at,” Gary said. “I think in the beginning it was tough trying to make the change.”

But Gary’s head coach was confident that football could bridge the racial divide.

Gary recalled, “He would say we are football players, we have to learn to get along because that’s how it has to be on the field. We work as a team. I think over time it helps us to be a better person. It brought us together more than anything.”

And those are the lessons Gary carried with him throughout his coaching career.

First at Cypress Lake High School in 1979. Then in 1994 he made history as the first Black head coach of an integrated school in Lee County at the new Lehigh Senior High School.

“It gave me an opportunity to develop my own program, to come up with my own philosophy and it was a lot of hard work, but in the end, it pays off,” he explained.

The coach left Lehigh Senior High School in 2006, and went on to coach football at Cape Coral High School until the end of the 2017 season.

Though Gary is no longer on the sidelines calling plays, he’s happy he paved the way for more Black head coaches in Lee County. “I’m so proud to see other Black coaches establishing their own program and they are doing well … All we want is a level playing field. We want the same opportunity that you give the rest no matter what the color is.”

A level playing field to continue bringing kids together under the Friday night lights.

Coach Gary is still a teacher at Cape Coral High School but has no plans at this time to return to coaching.

Today there are Black coaches leading Dunbar, Lehigh Senior, and Island Coast high schools just to name a few.