Willie Criss, the patriarch of Fort Worth high school football family, dies at 86
Longtime Fort Worth Wyatt football coach Willie Criss, whose name bears on the school’s field house, died early Sunday morning.
He turned 86 in January.
Criss coached for more than 45 years, starting his career in 1961 then retiring in 2007. He won more than 100 football games while at Wyatt from 1984-1997 and then again from 2004-2007.
The patriarch of the Criss football family, Willie had two sons and four grandsons coaching during the first round of the football playoffs in 2014.
Anthony was the head coach at Arlington Sam Houston. Zachary was at Wyatt.
His grandsons Dominique, Quinnin and Meyer were assistants at Wyatt. Another grandson, Antwaun, was an assistant at Mansfield Lake Ridge.
Willie was a legendary figure among Fort Worth and still scouted for Wyatt and Sam Houston for his two sons, Anthony and Zach.
Criss received his degree at Texas Southern. After being a graduate assistant with Southern, Criss landed his first coaching job at Diboll, just south of Lufkin, in 1961.
During a Star-Telegram story in 2014, Criss said he wasn’t planning a life around coaching because “back then [teaching] was one of the few things that a black person could get into.”
Criss spent two years at Diboll before coming to Fort Worth where he was an assistant at Como High School. When that school closed, Criss coached his two sons as a defensive coordinator at Fort Worth Dunbar.
Then Criss landed his first stint with Wyatt as the head coach from 1984 to 1997.
He retired for the first time in 1997 and Anthony took over.
After three seasons, Anthony moved to Arlington Bowie and Willie had his second stint with Wyatt in 2004 before retiring again in 2007. During the second stretch, Willie won his 100th career game.
After his retirement in 2007, Zach took over, where he’s been since.
This story was originally published February 6, 2022 at 10:54 AM.
