Joe Kerbel

Joe Kerbel

Biographical details
Born	c. 1921 Seminole, OK
Died
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1947-?	Bartlesville HS
?-1951	Cleveland HS
1952-1954	Breckenridge HS
1955-1957	Amarillo HS
1958-1959	Texas Tech (Assist.)
1960-1970	West Texas A&M
Head coaching record
Overall	68–42–1
Statistics College Football Data Warehouse

Joe E. Kerbel (c. 1921 – March 20, 1973(1973-03-20)) was an American football coach. He is the winningest coach in West Texas A&M Buffaloes history.

After a successful coaching career at Bartlesville and Cleveland High School in Oklahoma, Kerbel became head coach at Breckenridge High School in 1952. Breckenridge had won its first 3A state title in 1951 under coach Cooper Robbins who had just left for Texas A&M, raising the expectations high for Kerbel. He did not disappoint, as he won two additional state championships in 1952 and 1954. He then left for Texas football powerhouse Amarillo High School, which had won four state championships under coaches Blair Cherry and Howard Lynch.

After coaching at Amarillo High School for three seasons, Kerbel became an assistant under DeWitt Weaver at Texas Tech University in 1957. He then took over a West Texas A&M football program in 1960 that had won just two games in two years under head coach Clark Jarnagin. Kerbel turned the program around, amassing a 68-42-1 record the next eleven years and winning two bowl games, the 1962 Sun Bowl and 1967 Junior Rose Bowl, along the way. Notable players for Kerbel included Stan Hansen, Mercury Morris, Duane Thomas, and Jerry Don Logan. Kerbel retired in 1971 after the school chose not to renew his contract. He was succeeded by Gene Mayfield, a native of Quitaque in Briscoe County, Texas. Kerbel died of a heart attack at the age of fifty-one.

Head coaching record

Year	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Bowl/playoffs
West Texas State Buffaloes (NCAA University Division independent) (1960–1970)
1960	West Texas State	3–7
1961	West Texas State	6–4
1962	West Texas State	9–2			W Sun
1963	West Texas State	4–4–1
1964	West Texas State	4–6
1965	West Texas State	6–4
1966	West Texas State	7–3
1967	West Texas State	8–3			W Junior Rose
1968	West Texas State	8–2
1969	West Texas State	6–4
1970	West Texas State	7–3
West Texas State:		7–3
Total:		68–42–1

External links

• Amarillo.com: ‘I thought he ruled the world.’ Joe Kerbel ran the WT football program one way - his way