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Former Bryan High and A&M Consolidated football assistant coach Jim Kazmierski poses with his grandson Daylon in 2005.
If they had a hall of fame for assistant high school football coaches it would include Jim Kazmierski, who spent almost four decades on sidelines, almost half of it in Bryan-College Station.
“He was great for our kids and the faculty along with the coaching staff,” retired Bryan High football coach Marty Criswell said. “He was always eager to help. He was selfless, truly selfless.”
Kazmierski initially retired in 2001 after coaching 10 years at Bryan to cap a 32-year-career, but he came out of retirement in 2005 to coach some more at A&M Consolidated for Jim Slaughter.
“He was an outstanding gentleman and I thought he did a great job of being fair with everybody,” Slaughter said. “I appreciated the fact he was like that.”
The 78-year-old Kazmierski died Sunday after battling Chronic Myeloid Leukemia. Kazmierski graduated from Texas A&M, part of Hank Foldberg’s last incoming class in 1964. Gene Stallings arrived for Kazmiersi’s sophomore season, inheriting 132 players. Stallings was one of Paul “Bear” Bryant’s infamous “Junction Boys”, who survived the memorable 10-day training camp in Junction. Stallings put his players through a rigorous offseason conditioning program in DeWare Field House and G. Rollie White Coliseum. Only 57 players survived to be listed in the program for the season opener against Houston. Kazmierski was one of them. The 6-foot-2, 225-pounder, who was considered a big lineman, lettered in 1968.
“He wasn’t what you would call a great player, but he was a good player and he played as well as he was capable of playing and to me, that’s always a plus,” Stallings said. “I enjoyed being around him. He was just an outstanding individual.”
Criswell, while an assistant at Corsicana, met Kazmierski in 1977. Criswell wanted to start a Fellowship of Christian Athletes chapter and he was told by several coaches that Waxahachie had the best one in the state of Texas, because of Kazmierski, who was a longtime assistant with the Indians, working for John Goodner, Jerry McLemore and Scott Phillips.
“I met Jim through [FCA] and he helped us get that thing off the ground and gave us a framework of what they were doing,” Criswell said. “He helped us launch our FCA in Corsicana in ’77. And then in ’81, I went to Denison and they didn’t have one going up there either, so again, we got it going. I was always seeing Jim at FCA events.”
Kazmierski was associated with Waxahachie, but he also was an assistant at Denison under Gerald Meyer (1970-72).
“Jim was locked in and worked for good people,” Criswell said. “John Goodner was a fabulous coach who ended up being on Grant Teaff’s staff at Baylor and Goodner was defensive coordinator for Spike Dykes out at Texas Tech.”
Criswell, while at Denison (1981-91), kept running into Kazmierski at FCA events. When Criswell was hired at Bryan, he brought in Kazmierski, who meshed well with David Greeno, the only assistant holdover from Merrill Green’s staff.
“David Greeno had the FCA going strong,” Criswell said. “He was doing a fabulous job with that, but if I was bringing in somebody new, I wanted to have somebody who would have that influence on our kids.”
Criswell thought Kazmierski, being an Aggie, along with being an excellent assistant, would be a perfect fit on the staff.
“He was very eager to come get on board with us,” Criswell said. “He worked his tail off as a defensive line coach and also what he did for the FCA, working side-by-side with Greeno.”
One reason Kazmierski was glad to return to Aggieland was his son, Mike Kazmierski, who after playing for Bryan, signed with A&M. The tight end lettered in 1997-99, following in his father’s footsteps.
Bryan players Jim Kazmierski coached at Bryan included all-stater and Super Bowl winner Ty Warren.
“He was very detailed oriented, and real big on technique,” Warren said. “He had a history of playing. He [also] was charismatic in his teaching, but he was firm.”
Kazmierski’s teaching included a lot of “isms,” but his personality offered a lot of icebreakers that made his methods unique, Warren said.
Warren, who is currently an assistant at Stephen F. Austin, appreciates what Kazmierski and the Viking staff did for him.
“He was a guy who taught me a lot,” said Warren, adding that Sam Smith was his first defensive line coach on the varsity and after Smith went to offense, Kazmierski too over. “It was a smooth transition, under the leadership of Criswell and that entire staff and it all started at the top. But I couldn’t ask for a better coach at that time in my life. He was a God-fearing guy. He’s someone I kept in contact with over the years.”
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Former Bryan High and A&M Consolidated football assistant coach Jim Kazmierski poses with his grandson Daylon in 2005.
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