Roll Call Tribute

Published in (Fort Worth) Star-Telegram on January 20, 2011

John P. Dunn(1929 - 2011)
John P. Dunn, 81, of Stephenville went home to be with the Lord on Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2011, in Fort Worth Memorial service: 2 p.m. Friday at Stephenville First United Methodist Church. Visitation: The family will receive friends following the service in the fellowship hall. Memorials: a favorite library.

Johnny was born April 27, 1929, in Indian Gap to the late John Dunn and Almabel Allison Dunn. He married Sue Thompson on Dec. 23, 1954, in Weslaco. Johnny was a 1947 graduate of Stephenville High School and earned his bachelor's degree from TCU where he played football and ran track earning the McCorkel award. He also served in the U.S. Air Force playing football at Carswell, where they won two national championships. Johnny coached for one year in Stephenville, one year in Dublin and served as an assistant coach at Tarleton in football and track. He became Tarleton State's head coach in 1960, its final year as a junior college. He guided the program through a major transition period when Tarleton became a senior college in 1961. In 1966, his last season as head coach of the Texans, they were invited and won the Aztec Bowl in Mexico City. Johnny earned a master's degree from North Texas and a doctorate in philosophy from Texas A&M. He worked for 37 years at Tarleton as a coach, a professor, director of physical education and vice president of development for the university. He was a member of Stephenville First United Methodist Church and attended United Presbyterian Church in Antonito, Colo.

Survivors: Wife of 56 years, Sue Dunn; daughters, Michele Brown and husband, David, of Stephenville
and Lura Manley and husband, Scott, of Weatherford; son, John Paul Dunn and wife, Leslie, of Somerville, Mass.; grandchildren, Amy Manley, Bryan Manley, Johnny Frank Dunn, Willa Dunn and Christa Manley; sister, Florence Brownlow of Malakoff; aunt and uncle, Joe and Lura Fagan of De Leon; and numerous cousins.