DALTON, Ga. — Trapped by his body through the horrible paralysis of ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease), longtime football coach, teacher and mentor Bill Napier is walking on the streets of heaven today, said Dalton High School football coach Matt Land.

Or maybe it is the sidelines. Or on a practice field. Or just looking over his grandkids.

Whichever way, Land said he is still making a difference and impacting the lives of those he coached, worked with and influenced through his life.

“Somewhere I heard that a big enough ripple in water could go around the earth three times. That has no relevance to me until I think of Bill Napier,” Land said of the long-time area coach who passed away Tuesday night. “He affected the people he coached with and players he coached and those players affect their co-workers and their families and their kids. His ripple will travel through the world three times.

“Everybody had a story about Bill Napier,” said Land, who picked Napier to be Dalton’s offensive coordinator. “It was a story of influence and he influenced people the right way.”

Tributes poured in on social media Tuesday night and throughout the day Wednesday following his death at his home around 8:50 p.m. on Tuesday. Napier, who was a major part of the raising of young men in Murray and Whitfield counties for most of his adult life, had coached in northwest Georgia since 1983 and died from the effects of amytrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). He was 60.

He is survived by his wife of nearly four decades, Pam, as well as sons Billy, Matt and Kurt — all football coaches — and daughter Whitney Releford. Son Billy is the offensive coordinator at Arizona State University, while Matt is the offensive coordinator at Callaway High School in Hogansville and Kurt the head coach at Gladden Middle in Murray County. The family will receive friends today from 5 to 9 p.m. at First Baptist Church of Chatsworth. The funeral service is Friday at noon at the church.

“He’s up in heaven running the veer (a football play on offense) and telling his players to get downhill,” said Roger Rainey, North Murray High School’s athletic director, who also played for and coached with Napier at Murray County High. “There were sometimes I questioned my faith when you think about why him? He had so much more to give and he isn’t finished. But seeing how he responded to it blew me away. He took this disease and said I am going to use this as a platform and reach people. And that is what he did right up until the hour he died.”

Napier had about 400 people who he regularly sent text messages to — mainly motivational sayings or pieces of Scripture. His final text, sent just a few hours before his death, was Proverbs 16:9. “In your heart you plan your life. But the Lord decides where your steps will take you.”

Napier’s imprint on the community was vast. A graduate of Tennessee Tech where he played football, Napier was hired as offensive coordinator at Murray County in 1983 and was later named head coach.

In Napier’s 16 seasons as a head coach for the Indians, Murray County was 94-78-1. His 2000 squad went 10-3, losing in the quarterfinals on the road at Shaw, which finished the season undefeated as the Class 4A state champs. In the history of the program that began in 1950, Murray County has had three seasons with double-digit wins.

Napier was part of all three.

In 1984, Napier was the offensive coordinator under head coach Tony Plavich, and the Indians finished 12-2, winning the region championship over Cedartown and losing at Marist in the Class 3A state semifinals. Both the 1999 and 2000 teams reached 10 wins and back-to-back wins over rival Dalton.

He later worked as an assistant coach at Southeast, Adairsville and finished his career with Dalton High as the offensive coordinator.

Former players said they remember the wins, but remember the life lessons Napier gave them more.

“One of the biggest things I remember was he always used to say ‘Go out there and represent,’” said former Dalton and current Lindsey Wilson College quarterback Payton Veraldi. “Go out there and represent your family, represent your coaches, represent your community and represent the Lord in a way that would make them proud. Even to this day in warmups, I am always thinking to play hard for my family, play hard for coach Napier and my team.”

Veraldi was the quarterback at Dalton when Napier was diagnosed with ALS in 2013. During that time, Veraldi said he was spending more time with Napier than he was his family. And he was bitter when he heard the news.

“Why did this have to happen to coach Napier? Why?” Veraldi said. “But I realized God has a plan and he has worked through coach Napier to impact thousands throughout their lives. I can’t put into words what coach Napier meant to every player who learned and benefited from him. Once you get past the hurt and the selfishness that he isn’t here, you really want to celebrate the man and what he meant to us all.”

Michael Carter said he played football as a freshman at Murray County, but got away from the sport and was doing the typical teenage rebellion. Nothing major, he said, just enough to get in trouble. During his junior year, he said he was walking down the hall and Napier was walking in the opposite direction with a football. Carter said he put his hands against his stomach for a handoff. Napier gave him the ball and said “Be in the field house at 3 o’clock.”

“I didn’t want to play football and I was doing my own thing, but I showed up for practice,” said Carter, who was a running back his junior and senior years. “He saw a young man headed in the wrong direction, and he turned that around. His legacy and the people he touched tell you all you need to know about him. He is a man who will be missed by everyone who came into contact with him.”

Veraldi said he saw that impact firsthand. This past spring, he and Napier went to many area football spring games. Everywhere they went, Veraldi said, people were drawn to Napier.

“No matter where we were — Northwest or Southeast or even Heritage — and even if he didn’t coach them, he made an impact with how he lived his life and faced his challenge,” Veraldi said.

After his diagnosis, Napier established a scholarship endowment which has helped several of the area’s athletes attend college.

Napier spent his later years in a wheelchair where he coached from. ALS strips the body of muscular control, but Land said coach Napier still had the same brilliant mind for football and for life.

“He was a difference maker in life,” Land said. “He wasn’t into making statements, but he was a difference maker and all he needed was a football and a spot of turf and he connected with you. He was an influence of Jesus Christ and the outside veer and he lived both lives — spiritual and personal — with a passion and had an impact which will go on and on.”

Click here to watch the video “A Tribute to Coach Bill Napier.”

Click here to watch a video of Billy Napier, the offensive coordinator at Arizona State University, talk about his father, Bill Napier.