Longtime Colfax football coach George Massick dies at 86

Longtime Colfax High School football coach George Massick passed away Tuesday night in Auburn. He was 86. Massick coached the Falcons from 1980-90, arriving in Placer County after stints at Chowchilla High School, St. John Bosco High School and Cerritos College. During his tenure, the Falcons went 54-47-4, including a 27-9-3 run from 1984-87. He's the second-winningest coach in school history, trailing only Tony Martello. During his time at St. John Bosco, he led the team to a 40-8 record over four seasons. The Braves won two league championships and made it to three section finals under Massick: 2-A in 1971, 3-A in 1973, and 4-A in 1974. He was a key figure in turning St. John Bosco into a regional power in the 1970s that kickstarted the football program into the national power that it is today. Massick delivered Colfax its first football championship in 1986 when it beat heavily favored Oak Ridge 3-0 for the Sac-Joaquin Section Division III championship. To this day, he's the only coach in section history to win a championship game without scoring an offensive touchdown. The 1986 section championship football team was inducted into Colfax High School's hall of fame in 2006, and he could still remember every play of the game 20 years after it was played. Andy Moore kicked the field goal for the lone points of that championship game, and he can still recall Massick's words of wisdom before the play. The Falcons called a timeout to set up Moore's attempt. Moore had his fair share of struggles earlier in the season, having a PAT blocked and missing a few field goals. Massick took it upon himself to offer his encouragement to the senior, and as he trudged back toward the sideline, he turned and said one last thing: "You better make it," Massick growled at Moore. "Our holder, Tom Patterson, looked at me after that with big, wide eyes and said, 'We better get this,' " Moore said. The rest is history. Moore made his kick to help Colfax capture its first section title and went on to walk on at UCLA. He maintained a close relationship with Massick over the years. Moore would often visit his old coach with several teammates, but a few years ago, he organized an event that showed just how impactful Massick's guidance was for his players. "There was no specific occasion other than I told all of the guys that I played with, 'Let's do this. There's gonna be a point in time where we can't do it.' All 10 seniors that I graduated with came back for the event. We had two fly up from LA; one flew in from North Carolina," Moore said. "Every one of us came to his house and met with him and the other coaches. We just had a barbecue and beers and just kind of reminisced about the glory days." Moore recalls the last time he saw Massick in September, noting he wasn't his old self physically but was still sharp as a tack. "Even though physically he was ailing, he was still there mentally. The stories he told you could tell he's just as sharp as ever and still wanted to talk football and still wanted to reminisce about fun, funny things," Moore said. "Everything was there and he was happy as a clam that we were there." Dave Stallions was a senior linebacker on the1986 team and he recalls that Massick found ways to motivate them like never before. "The thing that George did was he got the whole town bought in around that team. He was awesome about just kind of letting us play," Stallions said. "My junior year, we were actually picked to win league and we kind of were mediocre. We didn't live up to our expectations as juniors and going into my senior year, I think they picked us to finish fourth." Stallions said it was the work ethic Massick instilled in his team that helped elevate the Falcons to their first section championship. Playing for Massick was not for the faint of heart, but those who stayed the course were rewarded with more than just success on the football field. "Under George, football wasn't an easy thing. It was hard. We started out with 35 freshmen and we ended up with 10 seniors that made it all the way through four years," Stallions said. "In terms of teaching us life lessons, he's up there next to my dad. He made us into men first and then made us into football players." If Martello built the house that is Colfax football, Massick poured the foundation. When Massick arrived, Colfax had little football history to boast and after an 0-9 campaign in 1980, it seemed it would be more of the same but things changed in 1981. Massick named Martello his first captain of Colfax football, and Martello wore it as a badge of honor as he helped lead the Falcons to a 5-4 season that would mark the beginning of the program changing its fortunes. "We didn't have a football class. We didn't have the things in place to have a successful program, but the first thing George did after the 0-9 season is he started teaching these classes on self-confidence," Martello said. "It was about taking charge of your own destiny and setting goals and following through. Iit was just really cool because it was more than football. It applied to life." Martello returned to Colfax after his playing days were over and Massick hired him as the junior varsity coach. "I truly knew nothing as far as understanding the true game of football. I was very, very raw, very, very young, and very inexperienced," Martello said. The cool thing that George did is he just let me learn. I think he saw that I was passionate and that I had this fire and desire to learn the game." While most coaches have some form of control over the younger levels, Massick turned Martello loose and let him grow on his own, only offering his advice and input when asked. "He just let me fail a few times so that I could grow on my own at my own pace and at my own speed," Martello said. "He let me spread my wings and learn about the game and learn how to approach kids, how to motivate, how to game plan and do all those things without really interjecting." Martello took over the head coaching position at Colfax in 1996, where he remained for 26 seasons and retired as the winningest coach in Placer County prep gridiron history in 2021. While Martello is the most decorated coach in school history, he attributes his success to Massick. "The foundation he laid is instrumental at Colfax," Martello said. "The game itself is such an incredible game and George is a man of conviction. He coached it that way and he taught his players that it was a game of passion, and there's so much to be gained by playing the game. That's something that I will carry with me for the rest of my life." Massick's coaching style was old school. He showed shades of Bear Bryant and Bobby Bowden in his approach, not leaving room for any nonsense on the field and also making sure his players learned valuable life lessons in the process. "Not everybody bought into his way of coaching. He was very direct," Moore said. "But if you were man enough to rise to his challenges, then the man loved you like a son." "He was a throwback to a different time. He pulled no punches and he demanded the most of us and expected the best out of us," said Chris Nave, Massick's quarterback in 1989 and 1990. "We prayed before games and after every practice you know. There was a life lesson to be learned or to be taught." Nave says while Massick is regarded as a great coach, he was an even better man off the field. While he was hard on his players, it was because he saw their potential and wanted them to achieve greatness. "He always had time for you. He spent all summer working with me as a quarterback and we would do drills to perfection, even if it took hours," Nave said. "We had to be a team, we ate lunch as a team. I always loved that direct approach that he had. He called you out on your stuff and demanded the best of you, but he loved you at the same time and he had your back the whole way." Massick's approach has stuck with Nave over the years. Now Colfax's baseball coach, Nave recycles plenty of lessons he learned from his former coach. "I demand a lot from my players and that came from Coach Massick," said Nave, who has built Colfax baseball into a small-school regional power. "There's no room for a mediocre effort. After practice, I don't know if they like it or not, but I try to teach those life lessons and direct them towards understanding that sports are great, but life is more important in being a good individual and doing the right thing." Nave added, "Being a person of high character is important and he taught us those things. I'm always preaching the same kind of things that he was preaching to us." Massick was an offensive innovator, oftentimes tweaking his playbook and finding new ways to move the ball. "He knew what he was doing when he got here. He came in and he got the community behind him," said longtime Colfax Record sports reporter Mike Ray. "He kind of combined the running game with some wide-open passes. He lined up tight ends as receivers. He was doing things in the early '80s that people weren't doing back then and he was blessed with some real good quarterbacks." Ray said Massick established a booster club on campus that helped bring lights to Colfax in 1989, moving games from Saturday afternoons to Friday nights. In the first game under the lights, Massick led the Falcons to victory over Oak Ridge 14-7. Asked what he would remember about his former coach and mentor the most, Martello said, "He was just a great man. He was really a man of conviction and he really touched a lot of people's lives and added to their lives. He laid a foundation for something that we're really proud of in this community."