Four years later, Rick Gaille still remembered for the way he lived and taught us

He has been gone four years this Friday, but I can still hear Rick Gaille in my ear.

One Saturday, as my wife Robin brought breakfast to Rick, Kenny Trahan and I during our Three Tailgaters radio show, Rick waited for Robin to walk out.

Then he said the following.

“If you are going to have a wife, make sure she’s a great one.”

Whenever there was a problem to solve, Rick was one of my first phone calls. He always seemed to have the right answer.

Even when he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

On a Saturday morning, before we went on the air, Rick looked at Kenny and I and said it was time to practice what he preached.

“How can I tell my players to look adversity in the face, when I won’t?”

Profound stuff from a man who knew he was staring down death.

As a football coach, Rick was just tremendous. He loved the wing T offense. His teams at St. James ran it with precision.

For Friday Night Football, we did a long piece on the offense. One thing that Rick said stuck with me.

“It is not a quarterback centric offense,” said Gaille. “If your starting quarterback breaks up with his girlfriend on Tuesday, he can still function on Friday.”

I thought, ‘there’s a man who understands the high school football player’.

Rick had a way of coaching everyone.

For a taped interview, he rattled off some vintage Rick.

“We are responsible for what happens to us.”

“Know where you are going before you start going somewhere.”

“One and one equals three, the absolute essence of teamwork.”

“Have an abundance mentality, not a scarcity mentality.”

Rick did not live life afraid, nor coach it that way.

In two critical situations during state championship games, Rick gambled on fourth and short against Amite and on a two point play against Evangel.

While those around him second guessed, he would never second guess himself.

Four years have passed since Ken and I went to Rick and his wife Elaine’s home in Laplace. Rick was days away from passing.

But to prove a point, he stood and took a couple of steps.

He was going to prove his point. Fight to the end. Never let your attitude capitulate, even when the body does.

As we walked out of the home, Ken and I both knew it was the last time we would see him in person. However, he’s with us every day.

He made us better.

He still does.