Remembering Mitch McLemore

Family and friends laid Mitch McLemore to rest yesterday.

The former Petrolia and Haskell head coach passed away over the weekend after a lengthy battle with cancer.

McLemore was one of those loyal old-school coaching lifers who wore his faith on his sleeve and never backed away from a challenge.

While McLemore won two state titles as Stamford’s defensive coordinator more than a decade ago, his head coaching stops came at Junction, Big Spring, Petrolia and Haskell. Not exactly a Murderer’s Row of high school football programs, but McLemore wouldn’t have had it any other way.

McLemore was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in December of 2021 and battled like the fighter he is for the next five years.

I got to know Mitch when he took over the Pirates in 2019. Petrolia’s athletic program was in disarray from the previous regime, and McLemore righted the ship before leaving for Haskell.

The Archer City and Midwestern State graduate was well-known in the area. He coached at Bryson and Munday before his father passed away from a 1992 car accident, causing McLemore to step away from coaching.

But a few years later, he returned to the career he was always meant for, joining Wayne Hutchinson at Knox City. During Stamford’s title years, McLemore was part of a veteran group on Hutchinson’s staff that included Jeremy West, Lannie Templeton and Ronnie Casey.

As a coach’s kid, McLemore spent much of his 60 years around football. When he retired after the 2025 season, it capped off a memorable 33 years in the profession.

“I’ll miss this, but at the same time, I know that God’s plans are better than my plans,” McLemore told me. “I’ve been overly blessed to get to do what I’ve done. It’s about the people – not the X’s and O’s, wins and losses. It’s the relationships that stand out.”

McLemore’s impact, like those of a couple others we’ve recently lost too soon to cancer (Heath Aldrich and Rahsaan Bell), will live on through the coaches he crossed paths with and the players he helped mold.

“He was what we need more of in this business,” a friend texted me last night.

I can’t imagine trying to scramble to fill a hole on your schedule two weeks before the season begins, but that’s the predicament Quanah and Electra are in.

Memphis announced Tuesday afternoon that they didn’t have enough numbers to play 11-man football, so the Cyclones instead are shifting to an outlaw six-man season.

Quanah was supposed to open District 5-2A Division II against Memphis in Week 7. With a bye the previous week, the Indians now could go two full weeks without playing before a critical Oct. 16 matchup against Wheeler.

Meanwhile, Electra was supposed to host Memphis 16 days from today in a season opener. The Tigers’ other bye week is Oct. 9 so they could potentially play Quanah if they wanted to add a game in the middle of their district slate.