HS Football Coach Held At Gunpoint

((HT: Memphis Commercial Appeal/Jason Smith))

Douglass High School head football coach Darryl Montgomery says he'll forever be indebted to them.

Montgomery was speaking Friday afternoon of Douglass assistant football coach Marcus "Doc" Holliday and the school's athletic director and boys basketball coach, Ted Anderson.

Four days earlier, the two men had convinced 16-year-old Douglass football player Marquette Wallace to lower his 9mm Glock after Wallace had pointed it at them during a weightlifting session at the school.

"All I can tell you is Marcus 'Doc' Holliday and coach Ted Anderson did a tremendous job of preventing something that could have been devastating at New Douglass High School," Montgomery said. "It could have been a catastrophe."

Wallace has been charged with aggravated assault and carrying a weapon on school property. He pulled the gun on Holliday and Anderson after Holliday had instructed him to put on a white football jersey to show he had reason to be in the school.

Wallace refused, electing instead to put on a red shirt, which, according to the police report, was an indication of gang affiliation. He then reached into a bundle of clothes for the gun, chambered a round and aimed the gun at Holliday and Anderson.

Montgomery was on the field with the rest of the team when the incident occurred.

"I had the majority of the kids on the field," he said. "I sent the skill (players) up to lift weights."

Police didn't find Wallace until Tuesday afternoon, when he answered the door at 1691 Ash. He has been detained without bond at Juvenile Court.

"He was going to be a senior," Montgomery said of Wallace. "His mama had passed. He was living with his granddaddy, and we were trying our best, you know, to take care of him.

"We do what we can for all the kids out here, because we know how it is out here in North Memphis. We try to be not only a coach, but a father figure and a big-brother figure to all the kids."

Less than two years ago, Montgomery was an assistant coach and teacher at Mitchell High when a 17-year-old sophomore student shot a 19-year-old senior three times during gym class in the school's cafeteria.

After the shooting, the sophomore student handed the pistol to Montgomery.

"I was the one who took the gun," he said.

Montgomery said his Douglass players are "back on track" following Monday's incident.

"I just want the kids to remain positive. It was a freak incident," he said. "We've just got to go forward.

"I just want to commend 'Coach A' and 'Coach Doc.' They did a tremendous job, a tremendous job. I'm forever grateful and thankful for what they did."

Here's the coverage from WMC-TV in Memphis. Lori Brown has the Memphis "Exclusive"