January 2 will mark five years since the passing of Sam Wyche, three days before his birthday. Sam passed on January 2, 2020 from melanoma, after having survived a heart transplant in 2016. He will never be forgotten. A good friend, Sam Wyche, will always be remembered.

I want to pay tribute to this great man, Sam Wyche, who deserved all of the accolades bestowed upon him, at the time of his passing, by those who knew him, and I want to share about the Saviour Sam knew and whom he met, face to face, when he passed. Many people would be more adept at writing in detail about his accomplishments as a football player and coach than I would be. I want to share about him as a longtime friend and fellow church member and fellow Christian. To me, he was a great man because he was a good man. To me, the best thing that could be said about anyone is that someone is a nice person, and he was one of the nicest people you could ever meet.

He meant so much to so many people, and he meant the most to his beloved family, his wife, Jane, and their son, Zak, and their daughter, Kerry, and their families. Although Sam has a great legacy in football, and a great legacy in our community, his greatest legacy is his precious family, whom he dearly loved, and I know they love and miss him.

The last time I saw him was the day he passed, Thursday, January 2, 2020, but I’m so glad that day won’t be the last time we will ever see him. As a Christian, Sam placed his faith in his Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, and his family and friends have the assurance of a reunion one day in heaven, where there will be no more tears and no more parting, but eternal life.

The first time I wrote a story about him was in April of 2001, when I was the Editor of The Pickens Sentinel. The Sentinel’s then owner, the late Jerry Alexander, asked that I do a story on Sam, as Sam had recently spoken at the Pickens Rotary Club (where Jerry was an active member), and Sam and Jane had recently moved back to Jane’s hometown of Pickens. (Although Jane was in a higher grade, she attended Pickens High School at the same time as my mother.) (Sam and Jane had lived in Pickens after they were married in 1965 until his graduation from Furman University in 1966.)

As I was no expert at all on professional football, I wondered if I could do a good enough job conducting an interview with a professional football coach, but Sam made it so easy. He spoke openly about his life, as he sat in my office at the newspaper, and I wrote an in-depth story.

I wrote later stories, also, about him for The Sentinel, including when he began volunteering as an assistant football coach at Pickens High School. He also served as a substitute teacher at Jane’s alma mater, Pickens High. 

Sam also began writing a column for us at The Sentinel, and that was a great experience. 

He was visible in the Pickens community, and I remember taking photos, as he held his little granddaughter, at the Pickens Azalea Festival in 2003, while I was taking photos of the event for The Sentinel.

In 2004, I interviewed him again for an article about him for a Christian publication I created. (By that time, The Sentinel had been sold, and our General Manager was no longer at the newspaper and had passed away, and, after asking advice from my Pastor, I left The Sentinel to begin a Christian publication. All of my co-workers at The Sentinel later left, as well. After being resold a few times, The Sentinel no longer exists. Sadly, those days are gone, but I treasure the fond memories.)

For the article in 2004, I once again wrote about Sam’s background in football and also shared about his Christian faith. While I was at Sam and Jane’s home, they showed me a rescue puppy they had recently adopted, and Sam tried to persuade me to adopt one of the other puppies from the same litter who was awaiting adoption, and he held up their own new pup close to me and said, “Don’t you want one?” I couldn’t, though. My own dog, who was almost 17, had just died, and I didn’t want to get attached to another.

I treasure several photographs Sam had signed for me and especially the inscription he wrote in a Bible of mine that day in June of 2004 that included these words: “Thanks for remaining the special person God made you.”

After serving as quarterbacks coach for the Buffalo Bills for two seasons beginning in 2004, Sam returned to again help coach the Pickens High School Blue Flame. Sam and Jane have been a vital part of the Pickens community and Pickens County through the years, and have been involved with charitable organizations, and Sam also was elected and served as a member of the Pickens County Council from 2008 to 2012. He became a beloved member of our community, and his wife’s hometown became his hometown, and he was a positive Christian influence for everyone and a mentor, especially for young people.

Sam and Jane also joined our church and became beloved members of our church family. I will treasure the times I saw Sam and Jane at church but especially the times just before his passing. I did not know he would be gone so soon. I just wish I could see them together at church again.

He had been through so much, health wise, in his life, and he endured a heart transplant in late 2016 that gave him three more years of life. He made a positive impact throughout his life, including those last three years.

Sam told me years ago that one of his favorite verses of scripture was Philippians 1:21, in which the apostle Paul says, “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Sam explained that the Christian benefits from either living or dying, because we live in Christ and, when we die, we are with Christ. Sam is now with Jesus Christ. His passing is our loss here on earth but his gain in heaven. Sam had a saying: “Have a great life.” He would later say, “Have a blessed life.” I can’t think of a better life than a life in a perfect heaven. But I’m only human, and, as with other family members and friends who have passed and are missed, I just wish that heaven could have waited a little while longer. But thank you, God, for the privilege of having known him. He was a blessing in the lives of his family and friends.