Coach Bobby Plummer
Bobby Plummer (July 25, 1940-December 4, 2024)
●Graduated from Seymour High School
●An all-state selection for the Panthers in 1957
●Accepted a scholarship to TCU and played tackle on both sides of the ball
●A three-year starter from 1959-61, he earned All-Southwest Conference honors
●1961 TCU captain and member of the 1959 SWC championship team
●Played in the Hula Bowl (Honolulu), East-West Shrine Game (San Francisco), and the College All-Star Game (Chicago) to cap his college career
●Drafted by the Dallas Cowboys (NFL) and Dallas Texans (AFL); Cowboys took him in the third round with the 39th overall pick, Texans during the fifth (35th)
●Coached at Burbank Junior High School (1962-66) and Westbury High School (1967-68) before joining Ray Alborn’s original coaching staff at Sharpstown Junior-Senior High School in 1968
●Line coach at SHS from 1968-71
●Assumed the head football coaching and boys athletic coordinator’s positions for the Apollos in advance of the 1972-73 school year; he served in those roles until 2000
●Founded Sharpstown’s chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes
●In addition to teaching Health and Physical Education, he coached boys swimming, boys golf, girls track, and girls basketball over the course of his SHS career
●The winningest football coach in SHS history (112); record as a head football coach at all levels was 125-175-6
●Guided the Apollos to their first-ever playoff appearance (1984)
●His 26 victories from 1974-77 are the most of any four-year span over the program’s 56 seasons
●The 1976 Apollos scored 289 points – a school record which stood for 31 years – and permitted 46, a standard still in place
●Sent over 90 players to the collegiate ranks
●Running backs Tim Willey (1974), Carlos Wyche (1989), Joseph Addai (1999, 2000), and punter Chris Uschold (1997) were all-state performers
●Coached NFL players Addai (Colts RB), Aaron Laing (Chargers/Rams TE), Luke Prestridge (Broncos/Patriots P), and Barret Robbins (Raiders C)
●2000 Houston Coaches Association Hall of Honor inductee
A peek at the impact Coach Plummer made on the lives of others
This is a clip from Matt Rogers at Bobby Plummer’s memorial service. It highlights his passion and desire to support and care for the students at Sharpstown High School.
Coach Plummer’s Obituary
Bobby Arnold Plummer
BOBBY ARNOLD PLUMMER, age 84, died peacefully on December 4, 2024, with two of his daughters by his side. Bobby was a devoted father, grandfather, great-grandfather, churchman, and coach. He is survived by four children: Troy, Terry, Elizabeth, and Christie; sons-in-law Walter, Steve, Lee, and future son-in-law Jim; ten grandchildren: Derick, Keri, Joshua, Jakob, Blaine, Kyla, Allie, Mason, Ben, and Michael; granddaughters-in-law Shannon and Allie; and seven great-grandchildren: Raegan, Asher, Piper, Ryder, River, Eli, and Fin, plus extended family and hundreds of former players and students.
Bobby was a widower twice. He is predeceased by Mary Catherine Engbrock Plummer (1966), Mary Ruh Plummer (2003), dear companion Betsy Evans (2022), his parents, and older brothers CB and Don Plummer.
Bobby was born on July 25, 1940, in Seymour, Texas, to Clifford Benjamin and Lillie Iowa Plummer. He lived on their family farm until a football scholarship took him to Texas Christian University (TCU) in Fort Worth, where he met and married his college sweetheart. Bobby was drafted by both the Dallas Cowboys and Dallas Texans in 1962. He signed with the Cowboys, but was cut after preseason. Expecting their first child and needing to eat, Bobby and Mary moved to Houston where he worked out with the Houston Oilers and applied for teaching jobs everywhere he could. Bobby landed his first coaching position at Burbank Junior High, and later said he learned that, “Coaching was what God wanted me to do for my life.” He spent the next 39 years in education, 33 of those at Sharpstown High (28 seasons as head football coach), the same school from which all four of his children graduated.
Bobby, a life-long believer, met his second wife (Mary Ruh) at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Houston, where they attended the same Sunday School class. They married in 1971, moved to the Sharpstown area, and became members of Gethsemane UMC soon after. Bobby was a member of Gethsemane for over 50 years. He and Mary taught children’s Sunday School, were devoted members of the Questors and Challengers classes, and volunteered in many ways, including cooking and serving for Silver Circle.
Bobby lived in the same Sharpstown home for 52 years, until March 2024, when he moved to Brookdale Tanglewood Oaks in Fort Worth. We would like to thank his caregivers who showed our dad love and kindness and treated him like family. We also appreciate his former players and students who kept in touch over the years – stopping by the house, texting him, sending him cards, and just remembering him. He enjoyed your visits and notes more than you can know. Thank you for caring about our dad.
A memorial service will be held on December 28 at 1:00 p.m., at St. Luke’s—Gethsemane UMC, 6856 Bellaire Boulevard, Houston TX 77074. In honor of Dad, please feel free to wear your Sharpstown jerseys, shirts, or green & gold, or alternatively, TCU purple works, too. He loved his Horned Frogs!
