Denny Garver August 26, 1957 - October 03, 2017 Denny Garver was born August 26, 1957 in Dallas, Texas to parents Frank Edward and Artie Mae Garver. Denny worked for the U.S. Postal Service for 36 years and coached youth sports in Plano for 40 years including teams from Plano Senior High and Plano West Senior High. Throughout his many years of coaching, he mentored countless young people who look up to him today as a positive figure in their lives. Each year, a baseball player from Plano West Senior High is awarded the Denny Garver Scholarship, based on merit, character and with the intent of furthering their education. His passion was for his family, and he was devoted to his wife of 40 years, Debbie. He was incredibly proud of his son, Matt and daughter in law Moriah and couldn't wait to show off new pictures of his grandsons, Maxton and McCoy to anyone that would look. Denny never met a stranger and he had the special gift of seeing the good in everyone. He was truly the kind of guy that would give you the shirt off his back if he saw someone in need. Denny is survived by his wife Debbie Garver, son Matt Garver and his wife Moriah, grandsons Maxton and McCoy Garver, brother Frank Garver, sister Debbie James and her husband David, sister Donna Odle and her husband Gary, nieces and nephews Todd Odle, Jeff Odle, Michael James, Meredith Reno, Chip Reno, Landry Reno, Hudson Reno, and Emerson Reno. He was preceded in death by his parents Frank and Artie Garver. The family will receive friends at a visitation from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. on Friday, October 6, 2017 at Allen Family Funeral Options. A service to honor Denny’s life will be held at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 7, 2017 at Hunters Glen Baptist Church, 4001 Custer Rd., Plano, Texas 75023 with Pastor Jody Mazzola officiating. Serving as pall bearers will be Brian Bern, Zac Bragg, Russell Sanders, Brian Foster, Cy Laali and Giscard Richa. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Maxton and McCoy Living Trust. Checks payable to the account as styled and sent to Legacy Texas Bank, 5000 Legacy Dr., Suite 120, Plano TX 75024. The Dallas Morning News - October 5, 2017

Plano says goodbye to longtime coach, commentator of legendary football game
Matt Welch [email protected] Oct 5, 2017

DENNY GARVER
Denny Garver helped coach the fall and summer baseball programs for Plano West and was the voice of the legendary Plano East-Tyler John Tyler football game.
Photo Courtesy of Matt Garver
In 1994, longtime Plano resident Denny Garver became a nationwide sensation as one of the voices of the legendary Plano East vs. Tyler John Tyler high school football game.

Beyond that memorable November day at Texas Stadium, Garver’s roots within the Plano athletics community ran plenty deep. After nearly 40 years coaching baseball in Plano, Garver, 60, died early Tuesday morning of natural causes.

“No matter how hard of a day the boys were having or how hard we might have got onto them, when you left that ballpark, you knew coach Garver loved you,” said Kevin Clark, Plano West head baseball coach. “He tried to have a gruff exterior, but if you knew him, under all that was the biggest tender heart you’ve ever known.”

Garver spent the final decade-and-a-half of his coaching career helping out as an assistant with the West baseball program, primarily aiding in the Wolves’ fall program and summer teams. He was as tenured as anyone involved in West baseball, with Clark noting that Garver was the only coach to have been with the program through all four of its head coaches: Blake Boydston, Kendall Clark, Don English and Kevin Clark.

“He’s always taken control of our fall program and when we’d have summer teams,” Clark said. “When it came to the season, he was always helping anyway needed. He did our book for us and kept track of all our stats. Any way to make it easier for the coaches or kids, he was there in any regard.”

Beforehand, Garver helped out in a similar capacity with the Plano Senior baseball team during the 1990s and also coached for the Plano Sports Association from 1977-1992.

“I told my younger guys who don’t know him very well to ask one of the juniors or seniors a Denny story and you’ll laugh at every single one you get back,” Clark said.

Clark himself reflected on one of his fondest memories of Garver, which came during the Wolves’ 2008 Class 5A state championship run. The year before, West was eliminated in the regional semifinals by Georgetown, which offered up some parting words for the Wolves.

“One of their kids threw a ball across the field and it was something to the effect of, ‘You shouldn’t have even been on this field or even be here,’” Clark said. “It was high school kids being high school kids.”

Garver kept that baseball and put it to use in 2008 when West rematched Georgetown in the regional finals.

“He kept that ball from the 2007 series and brought it out to the team in 2008 and began reading off what was on that ball to our players,” Clark said. “It was a great motivational tool to get our guys fired up and really helped stoke the fire for that series.”

West went on to defeat Georgetown in three games and ultimately capture the program’s first-ever state championship.

Fourteen years earlier, Garver was busy plying his craft in the broadcast booth as part of the Plano TeleCable network. Commentating local cable games and playoff outings, Garver was the broadcast voice in 1994 during one of the deepest playoff runs ever in East football, which ended in maybe the most iconic game in the sport’s high school history.

The Panthers dropped a 48-44 decision to John Tyler in a game that saw East score 27 unanswered points in the final 2:33 to take a 44-41 lead before the Lions returned a kickoff 97 yards to regain the lead with 11 seconds remaining in the ballgame.

Garver, joined by Eddy Clinton and Mike Zoffuto for the broadcast, delivered numerous memorable sound bites during the Panthers’ comeback, including lines like “Good gosh o'mighty Joe Friday," “I done wet my britches,” "I think I'm gonna be sick. I'm gonna throw up," and "Everybody on their cars in the radio back to Plano, you've done missed the greatest comeback of all times! Of all times!''


As word on the East-Tyler game spread across the country, Garver made appearances on programs like “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” and “The Jim Rome Show” to recount the experience. Garver and Clinton even went on to win an ESPY and starred as the announcers in the 1999 film “Varsity Blues.”

“I’ve watched that video plenty of times,” Clark said. “I was in West Texas when that happened and I remember my dad calling me in and they were replaying that game on the local broadcast in Lubbock and that was the first time I saw and heard it.

“Of course at the time I didn’t know who Denny was, but then between that and seeing him in Varsity Blues, I instantly knew who he was when I joined the baseball program here.”

A funeral will be held at 4 p.m. Saturday at Hunters Glenn Baptist Church in Plano. On Friday, visitation will take place from 6-8 p.m. at Allen Family Funeral Options in Plano. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Maxton and McCoy Living Trust. Checks are payable to the account as styled and can be sent to Legacy Texas Bank, 5000 Legacy Dr., Suite 120, Plano, TX 75024.

“[Garver] supported everybody and knew all the kids from coaching them during the summer,” said Gerald Brence, Plano ISD athletic director. “Guys like that are so valuable to us and really help. He didn’t just support Plano West or Plano either – he supported everybody.

“Almost, if not everybody, in the Plano athletics scene knew Denny.”

Denny Garver, famous for 'Good gosh o' mighty' call in 1994 Plano East-John

From left, Mike Zoffuto, Eddy Clinton and Denny Garver photographed during halftime of the Richardson Berkner vs. Dallas Carter playoff game at Texas Stadium, Friday night, November 14, 2003. The three men were broadcasters of the famous Plano East-Tyler John Tyler game in the 90's. For Where Are They Now feature.

By Kevin Sherrington , Staff Columnist Contact Kevin Sherringtonon Twitter:@KSherringtonDMN
Denny Garver, a mailman and baseball coach who provided one of the most colorful high school football broadcasts in Texas history, died Tuesday in his sleep. He was 60.
Maybe you remember his animated call: "Good gosh o' mighty Joe Friday! Somebody give me something, I'm gonna die!"
Garver teamed with former Ch. 4 sports anchor Eddy Clinton and local high school coach Mike Zoffuto to broadcast a 1994 Plano East-Tyler John Tyler playoff game on Plano cable-access. The excitement level in the booth matched Plano East's late rally in which it scored 27 points in the final 2 minutes, 33 seconds to take the lead with 24 seconds left.
Only to lose, 48-44, on a kick-off return for a touchdown.
"God bless those kids," Zoffuto said, surveying the Plano East sideline. "I'm sick. I want to throw up."

The emotion-wracked play-by-play brought the trio national attention. ESPN and CNN replayed the ending for days. Garver and Clinton appeared on The Tonight Show and Jim Rome's ESPN2 talk show. The playoff game and broadcast were voted "Show Stopper of the Year" at ESPN's ESPY awards.
"Ain't it something?" Garver asked The News in 1994. "God dang, who would have thought two old boys who some folks think they last saw in the movie Deliverance would get such a ride?"
The whirlwind included a video that sold more than 27,000 copies and talk of Garver and Clinton anchoring a national high school game of the week, which never came to fruition.
"For a while there," Garver once said, "it was like falling in a wishing well."

Garver and Clinton, who ran a video production company, eventually lost their non-paying gig and went back to their normal lives. Zoffuto, who coached at Lake Highlands and W.T. White, died at 65 of complications from early onset Alzheimer's in 2012.
"Two of the three amigos have passed on," Clinton said.
Garver's years of service coaching baseball in Plano made him a popular and beloved figure. Every year, a baseball player from Plano West Senior High is awarded the Denny Garver Scholarship.
Garver is survived by his wife of 40 years, Debbie; his son, Matt, a former Plano West assistant baseball coach, and daughter-in-law, Moriah, and grandsons Maxton and McCoy of Austin. A memorial service will be observed at 4 p.m. Saturday at Hunters Glen Baptist Church in Plano.
Twitter: @KSherringtonDMN