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Bradley Central High School

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The Rex Dockery Award

     John "Rex" Dockery was a 1960 graduate of Bradley Central High School. While at Bradley Dockery played several sports but excelled in football, as a starting All-State guard. He signed a scholarship to the University of Tennessee where he played for four years and graduated. Dockery then went into coaching as a graduate assistant at Tennessee. Dockery then became the Head Coach at Harriman High School in 1967 leading them to a record of 8-2. Dockery then became the Head Coach at Morristown East High School in 1968, where he led them to a state championship in 1969. Coach Dockery then moved on to the college ranks back at his alma mater, the University of Tennessee under Bill Battle. Dockery coached current Tennessee Football coach Phil Fulmer while at Tennessee and was responsible for recruiting one of Tennessee's most heralded players, Condredge Holloway. In 1972, Dockery moved on to become the Offensive Line coach at Georgia Tech, where he was reunited with his high school teammate Steve Sloan. In 1973 Dockery followed Steve Sloan to Vanderbilt. Coach Sloan was the Head Coach at just 29 years old and Coach Dockery was the Offensive Coordinator at just 31 years old. In 1975, Rex again followed Sloan to Texas Tech as his Offensive Coordinator. At the age of 36 Coach Dockery became the Head Coach at Texas Tech, where he was named the Southwest Conference Coach of the Year in 1978. In 1981, Coach Dockery moved on to Memphis State University (now the University of Memphis) as it's' Head Coach. While at Memphis State, Coach Dockery took the program to levels they had never been before. For example, when he arrived Memphis State had no weight room facilities, were averaging 15,000 fans at home games, and had not had a winning season in many years. In three short years they had a state of the art weight room facility, averaged 40,000 fans at home games (biggest increase in NCAA at the time), and had a 6-4-1 winning season in his final season in 1983 going 3-1 against the powerful SEC and playing against four top 10 teams. During his 17 years as a high school and college football coach, Coach Dockery led his teams to two high school bowl games, one high school state championship, and 8 college bowl games. Coach Dockery was named as the Southwest Conference Coach of the Year in 1978 & the Metro Conference Coach of the Year in 1983;in 12 years as either a Head Coach or Offensive Coordinator his offensive teams averaged over 400 yards of Offense; and coached with coaching greats Bill Parcells, Al Groh, Steve Sloan, Jerry Glanville, and Romeo Crennel. On December 12, 1983 the 41 year old Dockery boarded a plane with Offensive Coordinator Chris Faros, talented freshman Charles Greenhill, and booster Glenn Jones to attend the Lawrenceburg QB Awards Banquet. In the keynote speech Coach Dockery planned to tell his young audience how to meet the challenges of life head-on and the importance of love in a winning record. Coach Dockery never delivered his message, as early that evening his plane went down, and all four men were killed.

Rex believed that being a coach was an honor and shaping young lives a responsibility. His job was to make the most of human potential…from the playing field to the business world. In order to do that he stressed the value of an education and taught the importance of mental toughness. He demonstrated the value of hard work, discipline, laughter, and most of all love. He demanded much from his players but gave back much more. Because of his untimely death at the age of 41, Rex did not reach all the people he would have with his positive philosophy. The Rex Dockery Award was created as a tribute to that philosophy and to challenge young men to strive to be the best they can be.

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BRADLEY FOOTBALL

Bradley Central High School

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