Keith "Moose" Munyan
| Keith Owen "Moose" Munyan, Sr. (Football player and later coach in Mangham, Louisiana) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| |||
| Born | September 6, 1932 Place of birth missing | ||
| Died | July 7, 1996 | ||
| Spouse | Lucille Carter Munyan Children: | ||
Keith Owen Munyan, Sr., known as Moose Munyan (September 6, 1932 – July 7, 1996),[1] was a football player and record-setting coach in the U.S. state of Louisiana.
A corporal in the United States Marine Corps in the Korean War,[1] Munyan graduated in 1959 from Southern Baptist-affiliated Louisiana College in Pineville, at which he was a three-year letterman. In his senior 1958 season, he was named "Most Valuable Player," when he primarily played halfback. He also lettered in baseball at Louisiana College, having played first base, outfield, and excelled as a pitcher.[2]
Munyan was briefly a free agent for the National Football League but sustained a heat stroke and returned to Louisiana in 1959 to become assistant football coach at Leesville High School in Leesville in Vernon Parish in the western part of the state. In 1963, Munyan took the head coaching position at rural Mangham High School in Mangham in Richland Parish in northeastern Louisiana. He continued there as the coach for twenty-seven years and amassed a record of 204 wins, 78 losses, and 6 ties. He led the Mangham Dragons to sixteen district championships and was named "District Coach of the Year" for eighteen seasons. He was active in the Louisiana High School Coaches Association, which honored him for twenty-five years of service.[2] But the Dragons did not win a state championship in their division, the last such success having been in 1956, when Coach Munyan was still attending Louisiana College. Later Dragons head coach Tommy Tharp noted how Mangham citizens particularly rally for the high school teams. "Here, when you hear the word Mangham, even when I was growing up — and that’s been a long time ago — when I heard Mangham the first thing I thought about was Moose Munyan and Mangham football.”[3]
On October 13, 1989, as Munyan's time at Mangham High School wound down, Mayor Frellsen Reese proclaimed "Coach Keith 'Moose' Munyan Day" in Mangham. After the 1989 season, Munyan retired from the coaching position in the public school but instead became assistant coach for the private Riverfield Academy in Rayville, the Richland Parish seat of government. In 1991, Riverfield under Munyan won the Louisiana Independent School Association championship. On February 22, 1992, the Louisiana College Wildcat Athletic Association inducted Munyan as a charter member of the college's Sports Hall of Fame.[2] In 2003, he was posthumously inducted into the Louisiana High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame.[4]
Munyan was married to the former Lucille Carter (1931-2013), the youngest of six children, all deceased, of Robert E. Carter (1892-1980) and the former Lucy Padgett (1896-1994). Robert and Lucy Carter are interred at Highland Cemetery in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.[5] Mrs. Munyan worked for the Farmers Home Administration, served on the Mangham Town Council, and was a member of the United Methodist denomination. The Munyans had two daughters, Toby Butler and husband, Mike, of Monroe, Louisiana, and Debbie Price and husband, George A., of Winnsboro in Franklin Parish, and a son, Keith Munyan, Jr. (born in Leesville, Louisiana, in 1961), a celebrity photographer in Los Angeles, California.[6]
The Munyans are interred at Gwin Cemetery in Mangham.[1]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Keith Owen Munyan. Findagrave.com. Retrieved on September 24, 2017.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Hall of Fame: Keith "Moose" Munyan. Louisiana College. Retrieved on September 24, 2017.
- ↑ Tabby Soignier (December 11, 2014). The boys of all are also the boys of Mangham. Monroe News Star. Retrieved on September 29, 2017.
- ↑ Hall of Fame Inductees (2003). Lhsaa.org. Retrieved on September 24, 2017.
- ↑ Lucy Padgett Carter. Findagrave.com. Retrieved on September 24, 2017.
- ↑ Lucille Carter Munyan. Findagrave.com. Retrieved on September 24, 2017.
