By Brian Hoffman
Norm Lineburg was the head coach of the Radford High School football team for
38 years, won 283 games and two state championships and has the field at the school
named in his honor. However, for a group of former William Byrd players in the early
‘60s he’ll always be THEIR coach.
Lineburg died on July 17 at the age of 89. He hadn’t coached since the 2006
season but he still attended games and kept up with the Roanoke Valley teams. In the
summer of 1962 he was a 26-year-old preparing the William Byrd High School team for
their season after replacing Jim McGee as head coach.
Lineburg’s Terriers lost their first game, to William Fleming, 14-0 but went 6-2-1
the rest of the way. In 1963 the Byrdmen had their best season to date, finishing 8-2 and
beating everyone but Fleming and Andrew Lewis, where Norman had been an assistant
coach after graduating from Shepherd College.
For those old enough to remember, the 1963 Byrd team was one of the best in
school history to this day. They were ranked second in the state and nine players from the
team played on two Blue Ridge District Championship teams. Four players earned All
Blue Ridge District First Team honors and six players earned All City-County on the first
two teams. Seven players from the team went on to play college football.
Vinton’s Paul Barnard, who is still active in high school athletics, was the
quarterback of that team. He was on hand to join Lineburg when the ’63 Terriers
celebrated their 60th anniversary at Robert A. Patterson Stadium for the first game of the
2023 season. Fittingly, Byrd won the game 72-0 over Liberty High.
“They called him ‘Stormin’ Norman’ for a reason,” said Barnard. “He was old
school. He was really hard on us, but that was the way coaches were back then. He made
us who we were.”
Others from the 1963 team who attended the reunion included David Bates, Jim
Brogan, Richard Brogan, Michael Craddock, Otis Dowdy, Elliott Foutz, Wally Foutz,
Ray Hatcher, Warren Huddleston, Jerry Hunt, Jerry McMillian, George Morehead,
Gordon Mullins, Robert Price, Jimbo Sell and Bobby Sboray. They sat in the stands and
reminisced with their old coach and were recognized at halftime of the game.
Lineburg spent one more season at Byrd, then left to coach the Fieldale-
Collinsville football team for five years. After an 8-2 season in 1969 he was hired to
coach at Radford High School and the rest is history. At Radford he became recognized
as one of the all-time greatest coaches in Virginia High School League history and was
inducted into the VHSL Hall of Fame in 1997. Lineburg is the only William Byrd High
School football coach to be named to the Virginia and National High School Football
Coaches Halls of Fame.
Norm was preceded in death by his wife of 59 years, Joann Young Lineburg. He
was the father of four sons, Robert, Mark, Paul and Wayne. Three of the sons followed
their dad’s footsteps in athletics as Mark is the head football coach at Brookville High,
Robert is the Athletic Director at Radford University and Wayne is the assistant head
football coach at Rice University under head coach Scott Abell.
Paul Lineburg lives in Vinton and was an assistant principal at Byrd before
becoming principal at Northside Middle School. He married Paul Barnard’s daughter,
Crystal.
“We were grandparents together and I saw him in a whole different light,” said
Barnard. “He was a great man, a real family man.”
The Lineburg family has created a history of athletic success in the 63 years since
Norm Lineburg came to Vinton. It all started here, and his former Byrd players are proud
that he was “their” coach.
“I think I’m still involved in coaching after 51 years because of him,” said
Barnard. “He was my role model.”
