MONTGOMERY – The AHSAA is saddened to learn of the death of Hall of Fame football coach Wayne Trawick. He passed away Tuesday, Jan. 26, less than a month after the passing of his wife. Trawick, who was hospitalized at the time with the flu, was placed in hospice more recently.
“Wayne Trawick was the consummate high school football coach,” said AHSAA Executive Director Steve Savarese. “He was always ready to help a young coach, was always striving to become a better coach himself and always put his student-athletes’ needs first and foremost. We all are going to miss Wayne Trawick. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his immediate family and his extended family of hundreds of student-athletes he taught and coached throughout his long and successful career. His legacy will continue for many years to come.”
Trawick was inducted into the Alabama High School Sports Hall of Fame in 1996. A graduate of Abbeville High School and Troy State University, he served as a high school head coach for 43 years. First at Cottonwood, then at Dale County, he had an extremely successful tenure at Andalusia in the late 1960’s and early 1970s. He then coached 25 years at Central-Phenix City, guiding the Red Devils to the school’s first state championship winning the 6A title in 1993. He closed his career in the AHSAA with a 277-138-11 record.
Dedicated to the Wing-T offense, he saw 54 of his players compete at the collegiate level and seven reached professional football ranks. Seven of his assistant coaches stayed with him 14 years or longer. Two of his former assistants became college coaches and one is presently a professional coach. He served as head coach in the Alabama-Mississippi All-Star Game in 1994 and coached in the North-South All-Star Game twice.
The Alabama Football Coaches Association (ALFCA) bestowed its Lifetime Achievement Award to Coach Trawick in 2009.
No funeral arrangements are available at this time.