This story originally appeared in the Greenup (Ky.) Beacon, written by Rick Elmore. | TEAM FOCUS

The "Friday Night Lights" no longer shine on Bill Baldridge.

The legendary Kentucky high school coach and former leader of the Morehead State Eagles finds himself still coaching these days although not on the athletic fields.

Baldridge is the director of the Eastern Kentucky chapter of Team Focus, an organization founded by his long-time friend and former MSU teammate, Mike Gottfried.

Gottfried, who played quarterback for the Eagles' only Ohio Valley Conference championship team in 1966, became close friends with Baldridge and introduced the Morehead-native to a life of mentorship.

Baldridge, now 76, stepped down from his last football coaching job — and stepped into a life of providing boys ages 10-18 a positive male role-model.

"Mike is like a brother to me," said Baldridge who said he speaks with Gottfried every day. "He helped me with my school scheduling and with my football. We came up with playbooks together."

Gottfried became a mentor to Baldridge whose father became absent in his life following the divorce of his parents. Baldridge's mother moved the family to Shelby, Ohio where he went to school.

There, a 12-year-old Baldridge was caught by the high school football coach, Bill Wilkins, sneaking under a fence to see a football practice. Instead of punishing the intruder, Wilkins taught Baldridge how to keep football statistics and how different formations worked.

Baldridge was hooked. Other mentors came in the form of a preacher and a teacher in Shelby. While he played baseball and basketball too, Baldridge was good enough as a tackle and defensive end to return to Morehead where he lettered all four years he was on the football team and earned second team All-OVC honors following his junior and senior years.

After graduation, Baldridge said he intended to enlist in the Marines however, shoulder and wrist injuries led to a failed physical. That prevented a likely trip to Vietnam and instead led Baldridge down the road to a coaching career on and off the field.

Bath County was the first stop along Baldridge's coaching and educational career. In 1968, Baldridge took the head coaching job of the football team but didn't stop there. He was also named to the assistant head coach of the boys' basketball team and the head coach of the track team.

As football coach at Bath County, Baldridge led the team to the Cave Run Athletic Conference title and earned Coach of the Year honors at 24-years-old.
In 1970, Baldridge went to Harrodsburg High and stayed through the 1972 season. In 1973, he got his first head coaching job at Georgetown College, but returned to Harrodsburg the following year.

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