Jim Beall was the right man to hire if a new high school was searching for its first ever football leader.

Beall didn’t intend to open a couple of the programs he coached at, but he welcomed the challenge. His patience and recruitment of knowledgeable staffs were assets that served Beall well, not to mention that he was a heck of a coach. 

Those traits helped Beall carve a successful high school coaching career that, after 37 seasons, continues to positively influence the lives of young men. He’ll get his due on Sunday, when he’ll join the Hall of Fame of the Arizona High School Coaches Association.

Sunday’s ceremony will give Beall a great stage to honor a man that meant the world to him, his father, Charlie, 86.

Charlie passed away two weeks ago.

Charlie was also a legend, earning All-State honors as a multi-sport athlete at Mesa High before playing at Arizona State and joining the city of Mesa Hall of Fame. Charlie’s patience and his love for football rubbed off on his son.

“(Sunday’s ceremony) will be a neat event,” Beall said. “It’ll bring my whole family together and give me a chance to honor my dad. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for my dad. He was my idol. He’s the reason I got into coaching.”

Beall, 60, isn’t ready to hang up his coaching whistle just yet.

He coached a freshman team last season and plans to continue coaching at the school, Higley, he currently works at along with his wife, DeeAnne. DeeAnne has also travelled with Beall to almost every school Beal coached and left a lasting impression at.

“When we would move away from a school, they would tell me, ‘We hate to see you go, but we really, really hate to see your wife go,” said Beall with a chuckle. “My wife and I work well together and get along. But she wouldn’t hesitate to get mad me for making a certain call on the field.”

As the wife of a football coach and athletic secretary, DeeAnne also has sacrificed a lot of her time to help her husband and athletic programs blossom. 

Chinle, Ray, Snowflake, Payson, Mesa’s Rhodes Junior High, Dobson and Higley are the schools Beall has taught and coached at. He helped open Rhodes, Dobson and Higley.

Beall was good at turning a program into a winner. In his first season at Payson, his team finished 0-9, but five years later his team went 13-0 and won a state title.

At Higley, he went 4-5 in his first season in 2001, but, like at Payson, it took him five seasons to reach another title game, helping Higley become one of the firsts Arizona high school programs to play at Phoenix University Stadium. For Beall, the 0-9 season at Payson and 4-5 year at Higley are seasons that Beall also is proud of.

That 0-9 team likely had the highest GPA of any of the teams Beal coached, and the 4-5 team was filled with players who hadn’t played organized football before. Beall didn’t keep track of his record, a fact that didn’t bother the coach one iota during a recent interview.

“I think my biggest strength is that I didn’t have that big of an ego or thought about who got the credit,” Beall said. “I hired a lot of great people who knew more than me. My strength was empowering people and trusting them. I have always been lucky about picking the right people.”

Hall of Fame ceremony

Sunday’s ceremony will be held at the Elks Lodge No. 335 in Phoenix (14424 N. 32^nd St.). The doors open at 1 p.m.

The cost to attend the event is $30. Horizon volleyball coach Valorie McKenzie, former Duncan tennis coach H.T. Clothier, former Sunnyslope basketball coach Dan Mannix, and Cactus track coach Dan Williams also will be honored on Sunday.