Remembering former assistant football coach for the Galena Bulldogs.

Dewey Combs won state championships in 1975, 1980, and 1983, at Parkwood High School and also coached the 1966 Trenton team to the state title.

"This was my dream job," Combs told Columbia TV station KOMU during an interview at the dedication of the Dewey Combs Athletic Complex at Junge Field on August 22, 2014. "I ended up here in Joplin and I never looked for another job."

Combs arrived in Joplin the year after leading Trenton to the state championship and remained through the 1986 season. He was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2010.

Ed. -- Alan Cockrell moved from high school at Riverton, Kan., across the state line to Joplin Parkwood. He quarterbacked on the '80 championship team for Combs, ended up at University of Tennessee, and was the first freshman to earn the starting QB position there. Combs was born in Carthage, Mo. He began coaching at Joplin in 1967. He died at age 87, June 25, 2017. He was an assistant football coach at Galena under J.W. Brewington, and the girls' basketball coach.