William "Bill" Yoast (born 1924) is an American high school football coach best known for being featured in the 2000 film Remember the Titans. He was portrayed by veteran actor Will Patton.
Yoast grew up in Florence, Alabama. After a three year tour in the United States Air Force, he attended Georgia Military College and later Mercer University, where he joined Sigma Nu fraternity and earned a Bachelor of Arts in Physical Education. He later earned a masters degree from Peabody College.
A high school and college athlete, Yoast turned to coaching as a career. He worked in Sparta, Georgia and Roswell, Georgia before moving to Alexandria, Virginia, where he spent several decades and earned his greatest notoriety.
Yoast's 1971 season at T. C. Williams High School served as the inspiration for Remember the Titans. Yoast, who is white, worked as an assistant to head coach Herman Boone, who is black and Native American, at the newly-integrated school. The team enjoyed a dominant season, winning the state title and taking a second-place national ranking.
Having retired in 1990, Yoast has published a book discussing his experiences in coaching, Remember This Titan.
Yoast had four daughters and seven grandchildren. His daughter Sheryl, a football fanatic who assisted her father during his coaching career, suddenly died from a heart malfunction in 1996, three years before Remember the Titans was released. She was only 34 years old.
See also
Will Patton, the actor who portrayed Yoast on screen.
Coach Bill Yoast website - http://yoast.net
External links
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