Gerald Cheek

Deceased Name: Gerald Cheek - Cheek had diversified grid career

Gerald Cheek, whose short stints at Shawnee and Tecumseh were just a small part of a long and diverse football coaching career, passed away Wednesday in Nicoma Park at the age of 76.

After an outstanding football and track career at Midwest City High School, Cheek played football at Tulsa and Central State - with a Korean War interruption. One of the Tulsa assistants was Darrell Royal, who later became the head man at Texas.

Cheek launched his coaching career with a two-year experience at Alamogordo, N.M., then served in an assistant capacity at Shawnee for one season in the late 1950s.

Cheek spent two seasons in the mid-60s as the head coach at Tecumseh.

He also had a short coaching stint at Hominy, a five-season association with Pomona Catholic High School in Pomona, Calif. and several seasons at Garden Grove, Calif.

Cheek then decided to go to the collegiate coaching ranks as an assistant coach. During a five-season stay (1967-1972) at the University of Washington, Cheek aided in the development of starting quarterback Sonny Sixkiler, who led the NCAA in passing.

He also spent five seasons at Oregon State, like Washington a member of the Pac-10 Conference. Cheek concluded his college coaching experience with a four-year stint at Utah.

After concluding his Utah career, Cheek moved back to Oklahoma, where he served as the head coach at Harrah High School for two years.

He then traveled north to Calgary, Canada, where he spent the 1984 season as the offensive coordinator of the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League.

His longest coaching stop at one school then followed at Palm Springs High School in Palm Springs, Calif. He served there for eight seasons before returning to his native state in 1995. Following a temporary try at retirement, Cheek concluded his coaching career with a five-year offensive coordinator's stay at Crooked Oak High School.

Since retiring in 1997, Cheek had resided in Nicoma Park.

He is survived by his wife, Merry, four sons and a daughter.

Funeral services are slated for 10 a.m. Saturday at Eisenhour Funeral Home.

Funeral services will be held at Bill Eisenhour N.E. Funeral Home at 10:00 a.m., Saturday, December 26, 2009; burial to follow at Arlington Memory Gardens in Midwest City, OK.