Boyce Deitz passes (Swain)
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Prayers for all of Swain County and Coach Deitz's Family and Friends. 🙏🙏🙏
He truly was a legend among his peers. Rest in peace, Coach Dietz.
Prayers for his family and the Maroon Devil family
Heart broken.... He changed the landscape of Swain Football and I am Proud to say I played for the Man in his first two seasons at Swain. His lessons in life helped me in so many ways. I don't have the words.... Prayers to his family and to all of Swain County. RIP
Was not only a great coach but a good person as well .Condolences to the family .
From The Sylva Herald Facebook. I thought it was a great read.
Jackson ‘lost a giant’ in Boyce Deitz
By Carey Phillips and Beth Lawrence
Boyce Deitz, who was involved with nine state high school championship football teams and later in life launched a political career, died Saturday at age 74.
A native and lifelong resident of Jackson County, he was a 1967 graduate of Sylva-Webster High School, where he was an all-conference and All-Western North Carolina guard on football teams that won state 2-A titles in 1965 and 1966.
While still a student at Western Carolina University, his high school coach, Babe Howell, offered him a job as an assistant coach with the Golden Eagles. Deitz eagerly accepted, launching a career that would lead to induction in six halls of fame. Deitz was an assistant coach on S-W teams that won state 2-A crowns in 1972 and 1973 with a combined record of 27-0-1.
After seven seasons as an assistant for the Golden Eagles, Deitz was named head coach at Swain County prior to the 1977 season. In 1979 the Maroon Devils won the state 2-A championship with a 14-0 record. He led Swain to state 1-A titles in 1985 and a threepeat from 1988-90.
After 20 years and 10 conference championships at Swain, Deitz returned to Jackson County to coach Smoky Mountain from 1997-99. He retired from coaching with a career record of 233-87-3, including 218-72-2 at Swain.
He was instrumental in stadium renovations and the construction of a field house at Smoky Mountain.
He remained involved in athletics when he was named regional outreach and development director for the athletic department at Western Carolina.
His sixth hall of fame induction came in August when be became part of the N.C. High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame. He had previously been inducted into halls of fame representing Jackson County, Swain County, Western North Carolina, the N.C. Coaches Association and N.C. Athletic Directors Association.
Deitz worked as a field representative for Rep. Heath Shuler during the three terms Shuler served in Congress. Shuler was a star quarterback on three of Deitz’s state championship teams and went on to be Heisman Trophy runner-up at the University of Tennessee and play for Washington in the National Football League.
Former players
recall Deitz
“If we are lucky, we will have someone in our lifetime who shapes our lives, make us want to be a better person and be the best version of ourselves we can be,” said Ty Smith, a standout lineman on the S-W state championship teams in 1972 and 1973. “That was Coach Deitz to each of his players, to every student and I dare say to every person who ever knew him. It has been 53 years since he became ‘my coach’. The impact he had on all of us is active in our lives today. It is fair to say not a week passes that I have not asked myself, ‘What would Coach Deitz do?’”
Smith, who spent several years as a college assistant coach at schools including Florida, Virginia and Louisville, said Deitz was at the top of his field.
“Twenty-two years of coaching college took me to high school practice fields from San Francisco to Virginia Beach from upstate New York to Miami from Chicago to Odessa, Texas, as well as six universities,” Smith said. “I can confidently say he was the best I ever met.”
He recalled making one of his regular visits to Deitz’s home shortly after some college teams began to use zone blocking, which was considered a breakthrough for offenses.
“I couldn’t wait to show him the zone blocking scheme,” Smith said. “After 30 minutes explaining the concept, he put on a game tape to share what he had come up with to use against Tuscola because of their defense. You guessed it. He had been using the zone blocking scheme before it was invented!”
Smith said one of his favorite stories involves Deitz making a spur of the moment decision to travel to the University of Kentucky in Lexington for the first time. The Wildcats were coached by Jerry Claiborne, a member of the College Football Hall of Fame.
“When he got on campus, he headed to the football stadium,” Smith said. “He walked into the football offices and on his way said hello to everyone, continuing through the hall to the head coach’s suite. He stepped in and asked the secretary if Coach was in. She said he was and asked if she could help because his calendar was full. Coach Deitz did not break stride while she was talking and said ‘Oh he will be happy to meet me,’ opened Coach Claiborne’s door and stepped in. I can just see his secretary trying to stop him and apologizing to the head coach.
“He spent the afternoon in the hall of fame coach’s office. As the end of the day came, Coach Claiborne asked Coach Deitz if he didn’t have plans would he come home with him so his wife could feed him supper. After eating, the three of them sat around talking, then Mrs. Claiborne asked if he would spend the night with them so he and her husband could spend more time together. That is my Coach Deitz.”
As a way of showing the respect Deitz commanded, Smith asked, “How many ex-players or students who have long been grown up do you know who call him Boyce rather than Coach? I dare say not many which speaks volumes. I know I am one. The last words I heard from him were ‘I love you’ and I know he did.
“Those times when his family and friends miss him the most, just look at us kids that he touched and realize how he is still alive in us,” Smith said.
“He was always enthusiastic and pressing during training and on the practice field,” said Bob Bradley, who was a senior on the last Sylva-Webster team Deitz coached in 1976. “Coach Deitz was a great motivator and inspired basic hard work as a means to success. Coach Deitz had a care for his players which exceeded the norm and reached far beyond sports. He was just a great leader who had your back.”
Bradley’s memories of Deitz extend into the classroom.
“He also taught a good civics class, which he always kept interesting and fun,” Bradley said.
Local politics
Deitz was elected to two terms on the Jackson County Board of Commissioners, serving from 2014-22.
Commissioners and others who worked with the man remember him fondly.
“It was a pleasure to watch Boyce work and love this community and its people,” former county attorney Heather Baker said. “He loved our mountains! With every decision he made, he thought about who would be helped and how he could do more. We have lost a giant.”
“My time spent with Boyce Deitz over the last 10 years will without a doubt be a part of my life that I will never forget,” former commission chair Brian McMahan said. “A mentor and a friend, he made me feel like I was part of his family. He had the biggest heart for the youth of this county, and that was evident through his support as a commissioner of public school projects and recreational activities that they would benefit from. The impact that Boyce Deitz had on this county from his eight years of service on the Board of Commissioners is enormous. Jackson County is definitely a better place today because of him.
“Boyce always had his finger on the pulse of the community. His connection and ability to communicate with people from all walks of life was what truly made him a man of the people. He would constantly think about what the impact of his decisions would be on those individuals.”
Deitz served on the Commission with one of his former players.
“I don’t think I ever officially called him a commissioner,” current commissioner Mark Jones said. “He was always my coach; he was my Sylva-Webster High School football coach. It’s good to have, as a young teen, an individual who can mentor to you, who drives you physically, mentally keeps you in line.”
“He was such a generous, thoughtful person,” former commissioner Gayle Woody said.
Woody learned a little more about what made Deitz magic when the two campaigned together in 2016.
“He had the amazing ability to go into a store, a gas station, a business and connect with whoever was there,” she said. “Boyce found a way to connect with people on a personal level. It didn’t matter who it was, and when he did that, then he’d listen to them. Then, they would in turn listen to him. It was just powerful.”
Jackson ‘lost a giant’ in Boyce Deitz
By Carey Phillips and Beth Lawrence
Boyce Deitz, who was involved with nine state high school championship football teams and later in life launched a political career, died Saturday at age 74.
A native and lifelong resident of Jackson County, he was a 1967 graduate of Sylva-Webster High School, where he was an all-conference and All-Western North Carolina guard on football teams that won state 2-A titles in 1965 and 1966.
While still a student at Western Carolina University, his high school coach, Babe Howell, offered him a job as an assistant coach with the Golden Eagles. Deitz eagerly accepted, launching a career that would lead to induction in six halls of fame. Deitz was an assistant coach on S-W teams that won state 2-A crowns in 1972 and 1973 with a combined record of 27-0-1.
After seven seasons as an assistant for the Golden Eagles, Deitz was named head coach at Swain County prior to the 1977 season. In 1979 the Maroon Devils won the state 2-A championship with a 14-0 record. He led Swain to state 1-A titles in 1985 and a threepeat from 1988-90.
After 20 years and 10 conference championships at Swain, Deitz returned to Jackson County to coach Smoky Mountain from 1997-99. He retired from coaching with a career record of 233-87-3, including 218-72-2 at Swain.
He was instrumental in stadium renovations and the construction of a field house at Smoky Mountain.
He remained involved in athletics when he was named regional outreach and development director for the athletic department at Western Carolina.
His sixth hall of fame induction came in August when be became part of the N.C. High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame. He had previously been inducted into halls of fame representing Jackson County, Swain County, Western North Carolina, the N.C. Coaches Association and N.C. Athletic Directors Association.
Deitz worked as a field representative for Rep. Heath Shuler during the three terms Shuler served in Congress. Shuler was a star quarterback on three of Deitz’s state championship teams and went on to be Heisman Trophy runner-up at the University of Tennessee and play for Washington in the National Football League.
Former players
recall Deitz
“If we are lucky, we will have someone in our lifetime who shapes our lives, make us want to be a better person and be the best version of ourselves we can be,” said Ty Smith, a standout lineman on the S-W state championship teams in 1972 and 1973. “That was Coach Deitz to each of his players, to every student and I dare say to every person who ever knew him. It has been 53 years since he became ‘my coach’. The impact he had on all of us is active in our lives today. It is fair to say not a week passes that I have not asked myself, ‘What would Coach Deitz do?’”
Smith, who spent several years as a college assistant coach at schools including Florida, Virginia and Louisville, said Deitz was at the top of his field.
“Twenty-two years of coaching college took me to high school practice fields from San Francisco to Virginia Beach from upstate New York to Miami from Chicago to Odessa, Texas, as well as six universities,” Smith said. “I can confidently say he was the best I ever met.”
He recalled making one of his regular visits to Deitz’s home shortly after some college teams began to use zone blocking, which was considered a breakthrough for offenses.
“I couldn’t wait to show him the zone blocking scheme,” Smith said. “After 30 minutes explaining the concept, he put on a game tape to share what he had come up with to use against Tuscola because of their defense. You guessed it. He had been using the zone blocking scheme before it was invented!”
Smith said one of his favorite stories involves Deitz making a spur of the moment decision to travel to the University of Kentucky in Lexington for the first time. The Wildcats were coached by Jerry Claiborne, a member of the College Football Hall of Fame.
“When he got on campus, he headed to the football stadium,” Smith said. “He walked into the football offices and on his way said hello to everyone, continuing through the hall to the head coach’s suite. He stepped in and asked the secretary if Coach was in. She said he was and asked if she could help because his calendar was full. Coach Deitz did not break stride while she was talking and said ‘Oh he will be happy to meet me,’ opened Coach Claiborne’s door and stepped in. I can just see his secretary trying to stop him and apologizing to the head coach.
“He spent the afternoon in the hall of fame coach’s office. As the end of the day came, Coach Claiborne asked Coach Deitz if he didn’t have plans would he come home with him so his wife could feed him supper. After eating, the three of them sat around talking, then Mrs. Claiborne asked if he would spend the night with them so he and her husband could spend more time together. That is my Coach Deitz.”
As a way of showing the respect Deitz commanded, Smith asked, “How many ex-players or students who have long been grown up do you know who call him Boyce rather than Coach? I dare say not many which speaks volumes. I know I am one. The last words I heard from him were ‘I love you’ and I know he did.
“Those times when his family and friends miss him the most, just look at us kids that he touched and realize how he is still alive in us,” Smith said.
“He was always enthusiastic and pressing during training and on the practice field,” said Bob Bradley, who was a senior on the last Sylva-Webster team Deitz coached in 1976. “Coach Deitz was a great motivator and inspired basic hard work as a means to success. Coach Deitz had a care for his players which exceeded the norm and reached far beyond sports. He was just a great leader who had your back.”
Bradley’s memories of Deitz extend into the classroom.
“He also taught a good civics class, which he always kept interesting and fun,” Bradley said.
Local politics
Deitz was elected to two terms on the Jackson County Board of Commissioners, serving from 2014-22.
Commissioners and others who worked with the man remember him fondly.
“It was a pleasure to watch Boyce work and love this community and its people,” former county attorney Heather Baker said. “He loved our mountains! With every decision he made, he thought about who would be helped and how he could do more. We have lost a giant.”
“My time spent with Boyce Deitz over the last 10 years will without a doubt be a part of my life that I will never forget,” former commission chair Brian McMahan said. “A mentor and a friend, he made me feel like I was part of his family. He had the biggest heart for the youth of this county, and that was evident through his support as a commissioner of public school projects and recreational activities that they would benefit from. The impact that Boyce Deitz had on this county from his eight years of service on the Board of Commissioners is enormous. Jackson County is definitely a better place today because of him.
“Boyce always had his finger on the pulse of the community. His connection and ability to communicate with people from all walks of life was what truly made him a man of the people. He would constantly think about what the impact of his decisions would be on those individuals.”
Deitz served on the Commission with one of his former players.
“I don’t think I ever officially called him a commissioner,” current commissioner Mark Jones said. “He was always my coach; he was my Sylva-Webster High School football coach. It’s good to have, as a young teen, an individual who can mentor to you, who drives you physically, mentally keeps you in line.”
“He was such a generous, thoughtful person,” former commissioner Gayle Woody said.
Woody learned a little more about what made Deitz magic when the two campaigned together in 2016.
“He had the amazing ability to go into a store, a gas station, a business and connect with whoever was there,” she said. “Boyce found a way to connect with people on a personal level. It didn’t matter who it was, and when he did that, then he’d listen to them. Then, they would in turn listen to him. It was just powerful.”
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