Eddy Peach grew up in small-town Oklahoma, working on his family's small-but-profitable irrigation farm, dreaming of playing professional baseball.

Basketball was fun, as was football. But they were just games between the baseball season. His passion, time and focus were consumed by the sport of Mantle, Mays and Snyder. Someday, he would be just like Willie, Mickey or the Duke.

Teenage life would soon take him away from farm, friends and family. Life became transitory, bouncing from one Midwestern town to another during the summers in a chase for the best baseball he could find. Despite overall athletic prowess, his interest for other sports soon waned.

Baseball became his meal ticket to Oklahoma University and national status. But the chisel-faced Peach was a realist. As adulthood approached, he realized his shot at the big leagues would eventually run out.

Before his college days were over, Peach, the son of a legendary Oklahoma prep basketball coach, made two resolutions that would eventually shape a city's athletic landscape: he would coach football because the money was better, and he would do it south of the Red River where the sport was king.

With that resolve, luck landed him in Arlington. Chance later played a part in his landing of the head football job in 1970 at Lamar, the city's third high school and its first north of I-30.

The road Eddy Peach pounded as a teenager suddenly became non-existent.

Lamar marked the last stop Peach ever made. He has nestled comfortably for 28 years on the north side of town, where Lamar stands almost as an island, isolated from the rest of the school district.

The will and necessity to compete with the best in baseball spilled over into Peach's current profession. Coaching football then and now commands his time, passion and focus.

Peach has made Lamar football a model of consistency and excellence, the envy of the city.

The only thing left to conquer is a state championship, and the current group of Vikings may bless Peach with his best shot. If that happens, the rumor mill insists Peach will become mobile for the first time since his childhood.

Regardless, Peach's legacy is firmly entrenched.

"He's an icon, it's seems like he can do anything," Vikings senior defensive tackle Cedric Hilliard admitted. "At school sometimes, people say he owns the state or runs the school district. They think he's bigger than life, he can control the weather and things like that."

THE BLOODLINE

Nelson Peach has a unique place in Oklahoma high school athletics history. He coached baseball and basketball there, earning a spot in both the Boys and Girls Oklahoma Basketball High School halls of fame.

The fact Eddy took up the family profession came as little surprise to Nelson. After all, Eddy loathed farming and loved sports.

Eddy learned to dribble a basketball before he was a 3-year-old and perfected his hand-eye coordination by hitting rocks across the road as a kid. "He'd stand out there for hours and hours," Nelson said.

Eddy had to be a quality ballplayer. Growing alfalfa in Mooreland, a small town in northwest Oklahoma, was not his idea of making a living. Nelson farmed in addition to teaching and coaching. Eddy helped out, but never could completely separate the sports and farming.

It was evident when it was Eddy's turn to work the land with the family tractor.

"He had to take the radio to listen to a ballgame," Nelson said.

Eddy became a well-rounded athlete in three sports: baseball, basketball and football. Before his sophomore year, Nelson took a teaching job in Elk City, halfway between Amarillo and Oklahoma City, some 70 miles south of Mooreland on state highway 34. During his senior year at Elk City, Eddy earned second-team all-state honors in all three sports.

Eddy accepted an athletic scholarship at Oklahoma University in Norman with plans of playing football and baseball. Before he ever stepped on campus, he decided to play baseball only. As a 5-9, 170-pound running back not blessed with great speed, Eddy thought any athletic future would occur on the diamond.

After all, baseball had already taken him places as a teen-ager.

One summer he played baseball in both Mooreland and Clinton, where his grandparents lived some 100 miles away. He even played in Elk City before he lived there, Oklahoma City and semi-professional baseball in Cushing, Okla. after he graduated from high school.

Eddy never returned home after leaving Elk City High School. The two summers after Cushing, it was Liberal, Kan. during his vacation's from OU. After that the Basin League in Nebraska where he played with the likes of Jim Palmer.

Upon graduation from Oklahoma, where he won a Big 8 Conference batting title and was named All-America, Eddy played one more summer in the Basin League. He knew it was his last.

Suddenly he was 21 and in the job market. The parents of his best friend in high school just happened to be friends with a fellow named Mayfield Workman, the legendary Arlington High coach.

THE FOUNDATION

A little good fortune has paid big dividends for Eddy Peach. The mutual friendship paved the way for his first coaching job at Carter Junior High.

After the first semester of school that year, Arlington High went through a coaching shakeup. Eddy, barely out of college, was promoted from Carter to varsity head baseball coach and varsity football assistant at Arlington.

The breaks didn't end there. Eddy met his wife, Debbie, at a baseball camp he worked. The camp was run by Debbie's father, Al Caprio.

"We'd sit around and talk about anything," Debbie said. "It was an instant friendship."

It resulted in marriage, and the courtship was one in a growing line of Eddy's successes.

The next stage came with the opening of Lamar, the city's third high school erected just north of I-30. Arlington High assistant principal Sam Curlee landed the new principal's position at Lamar. He brought along the 27-year-old Colts' baseball coach to run his football program.

"We looked at it as just an opportunity at that time," said Elvin Jones, Eddy's roommate and coaching buddy at Arlington.

Jones was Eddy's first hire at Lamar, followed by Jerry Ward from Dallas. Ironically, Ward's last interview came in the dugout of an Arlington High baseball game. All three have been at Lamar since.

"I never thought we'd be here this long," Ward said. "But everything fell into place. And you can't have a better boss than Eddy Peach."

Therein lies the key to the uncanny loyalty Eddy's earned. Defensive coordinator David York and cornerbacks coach Mike Nelson are 16- and 18-year veterans on the staff.

Most of Peach's assistants have entertained head coaching opportunities.

"When I first got here [in 1983], everybody had been here forever," York said. "We've got a good situation here. The thing I like is Eddy lets you coach. A lot of times a head coach tries to run everything."

Eddy watches from a distance usually. A normal day of practice has him standing 20 or more yards from the action, arms crossed and eyes affixed for surveillance. He's almost as much of a figurehead as a teacher.

There are times he rushes from his perch behind the scenes to pitch in "his two cents,' York said. Then he's off to his watching quarters again.

His coaches love it that way.

"When Eddy Peach retires,"

THE RESULTS

Nelson Peach won a girls state basketball title in 1956. Eddy's younger brother, Rudy, now the golf coach at Lamar, also won a girls state basketball title in 1973 and later joined Nelson in the girls basketball hall of fame.

Eddy remains the only coaching Peach, other than son Scott, a second-year football and baseball assistant at Martin, to win a state championship.

"Eddy's not selfish," Nelson Peach said. "[A state championship] is not something he grieves about. It's a bigger chore to win in football in Texas. He's probably already more successful than Rudy and I were."

Among active coaches in the state, Eddy (227-75-7) ranks eighth in wins. He's won 12 district championships, and the Vikings are in the midst of a run of 10-straight playoff appearances, a city record.

Coaches and former players assure Eddy is the central figure in that run. While he likes to deflect the credit, others point to his vision, organization, commitment and sheer sideline savvy as reasons Lamar has been so successful.

"We had a tremendous amount of respect for Eddy and his program," said AISD athletic director James Hyden, who was head football coach at Sam Houston from 1968 to 1979. "The one thing you knew was his kids were not going to make any mistakes."

Through the 28-year run, Eddy has displayed a genuine affinity for his players. His inspiration has sparked the careers of dozens of future coaches.

"He just loves to work with the kids," said head trainer Skip Morries, who has been aboard for 17 years. "The thing about Eddy is he just doesn't work with all-stars, but anybody that wants to come out and play football. He's so unselfish."

The current Vikings coaching staff includes three former players - Kenny Perry, Ryan Lyons and Jason Lowe. Each directly attributes their interest in coaching to Eddy.

"He was like a second father to me," said Lyons, a former Viking tailback. "Kids know that he loves them," Perry said. "Other kids from other schools even talk about that. He makes the difference here."

The stories of his intensity before and during games are almost as legendary as his accomplishments. Once he tossed his wedding ring in anger during a game and his assistants had to search the grass for it. After another game, he left in a huff with the team bus, leaving several coaches gathering equipment.

Another time, Eddy stormed into the lockerroom intent on making a statement. He grabbed the first eraser he could find and launched it for a wall. It slipped and hit a scared-stiff player in the face.

It left the player, who never moved, with a chalk beard and Eddy with his concentration broken.

"I've never been so embarrassed," Eddy laughed.

In another story, Jones was said to be been so riled up by a pregame speech he pulled the knob off the locker room door trying to get to the field.

"There are times I have to turn away from the kids because I have tears in my eyes [after the lectures] because I'm so moved," Mike Nelson said.

THE FINAL CHAPTER?

Peach has coached statewide all-star teams and All-Americas at Lamar. And he has led overachievers to the playoffs and even coached in a state finals (Lamar lost to Aldine, 27-10, in the Regular 5A title game in 1990).

"In coaching, [a state championship] is the ultimate, I make no bones about that," Eddy said. "At first, there is an ego factor. But once you get into it, you find out it's not your program, it's the kid's [program]."

In that vein, Eddy insists a state championship will not necessarily fulfill his mission - in life or coaching, especially at Lamar. But the rumors of his resignation surface every year, especially as he gets older, and especially this season since a state championship looks attainable.

Eddy is adamant if and when he does leave Lamar it will not be because he has accomplished his sport's pinnacle.

Lamar has made him happy. The small-town atmosphere within a large city for so many years at Lamar suited him well. In 28 years, Eddy has only known three principals.

The opportunities to leave have arisen more than the public probably realizes, yet Eddy has remained rooted in the area.

"It says a lot for the north side of town and the school that he's be willing to turn down some of the jobs he has," York said. "He tells us we owe North Arlington a successful program."

Eddy also remained loyal to his family while building the Vikings machine.

"He's a very sensitive man and family comes first," Debbie said.

Both sons, Scott and Shawn, have always appreciated that. They played for Eddy Peach the coach, but learned about life from Eddy Peach the dad.

"Dad was more laid back at home," said Shawn, a Baylor student pondering a life in ministry. "Going into high school I was small and I didn't know if I wanted play football. I had a big choice to make, and he let me make my own choices. But when I played for him, I had to make every catch."

Times change. People change. Arlington and Lamar no longer have small-town atmospheres. And Eddy has been publicly vocal about wanting to coach with Scott someday, but the school district has a nepotism rule preventing that.

Eddy Peach, the guy his players insist can make the sun break for practice, leaves the clouds hanging on his future. Regardless, there's no question it will include the sport he had made synonymous with Lamar High School.

"I can't imagine him retiring," Debbie said. "He'll probably die and be buried on the football field."

"I've been at a lot of crossroads," Eddy said. "I've had a lot of opportunities, but you have to make decisions and you never know how they will effect you. Lamar has been good to me."