Former JCHS coach and Hall of Famer dies

Brent Hall, a former head coach at Jefferson County High School and a Hall of Famer in both the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) and Florida Athletic Coaches Association (FACA), died on Saturday, June 18, in Belleview, Fla.
Hall led the Jefferson County High School (JCHS) Tigers football team to a state championship in the mid 1960s, according to Max Bilinski, himself a former football coach here.
Hall, 86, is credited with compiling a remarkable record of 149 wins, 98 losses and two ties in 22 years as head football coach at several Florida high schools, including in Jefferson and Suwannee counties.
Teams he coached won three state championships. The first one was the Jefferson County Tigers’ win in 1966. He followed that with back-to-back championships in 1974 and 1975 at Forest High School in Ocala, Fla.
Local legend Jack Youngblood, who played as linebacker for the University of Florida and the Los Angeles Rams and is a Pro Football Hall of Famer, played for Hall on the Tigers team that won the 1966 state championship.
Hall is reported to have come out of retirement in 1994 to accept the head football coaching job at the then newly opened Belleview High School in Marion County. And in seven years, according to the FHSSA, he built the program into a state contender that posted an 11-3 record in 2000 and reached the Class 4A State Semifinal Game that year.
Hall was named the Florida Athletic Coaches Association Coach of the Year in 1974, 1975 and 2000. He was named the head coach of the Florida All-Star Team for the Florida-Georgia All-Star Game in 2001.
Hall's coaching career included stints as an assistant coach at high schools in Live Oaks, Tallahassee, and Fort Walton Beach. He also served as an assistant principal at Godby High School in Tallahassee in 1968 and 1969.
Hall fully retired in 2001 and was inducted into the FACA Hall of Fame in 2002. Born in Morgan County, Ohio, he graduated from Marietta College in Ohio in 1960, and soon after moved to Florida.