Sam Houston Mitchell

Sam Houston Mitchell, 74, lost his courageous two-year fight against a rare bone cancer on December 25, 2014. Funeral services will be Monday, December 29, 2014 at 12:30 PM at Athens First United Methodist Church. Interment will follow at Oconee Hill Cemetery. The family will receive friends Sunday from 5:00 until 7:00 PM at Lord and Stephens, WEST, 1211 Jimmy Daniel Road, Watkinsville, GA 30677.
Sam's illustrious football career began on the plains of Auburn, first playing then coaching with the legendary Shug Jordan and ultimately ending his coaching career with Vince Dooley and Georgia in 1978. In 1981 Sam entered private business as a principal financial planner/stock broker and founded Mitchell Investments where he worked until retirement in 2013. Though Sam left football, he never forgot his fellow players and coaches. He often talked to them while mentoring his investment team to the successes he always had on and off the field.
Born on August 23, 1940 in Florence, AL, Sam was the eldest son of Sam Houston and Myrtle Mitchell. He graduated from Coffee County High School in 1958 where he excelled in academics, athletics and student leadership. He was named a high school All American football player his senior year. Recruited by many Division I colleges, Sam accepted a full student athletic scholarship to Auburn. He graduated in 1962 with a bachelor's degree. He later earned two master's degrees.
Upon graduating from Auburn University, Sam began teaching and coaching football at Columbus (GA) High School. After two years as an assistant, when interviewing for the head football coaching position, a very your Sam Mitchell was asked if he wasn't too young for the job. Sam replied "I didn't know age was a factor." He got the job and remains the youngest coach in Georgia high school history to take teams to state championship games.
He left Columbus High to become assistant football coach at Auburn. It was while at Auburn that his secondary, known as Mitchell's midgets, blocked two punts to upset heavily favored and arch rival Alabama to win the 1972 Iron Bowl. This victory remains one of the greatest wins in Iron Bowl history. Sam left Auburn University in 1973 to become The University of South Carolina's assistant head football coach/defensive coordinator, then joined the University of Georgia's staff.
Sam never knew his father who died in World War II just two weeks before the war's end and only a few months as a soldier. He and his brother, Kenneth, finally got to see their father's grave in a recent visit to Luxembourg. "I finally got to put some closure with a father I really never had and was too young to remember," he said recently.
"Sam was a self-made man and fought all the way to a successful career by sheer will and tenacity-always kind, gentle and loving to all he knew. No one ever had to ask Sam for a hand because he always extended it to them," according to his love and his bride, Lana.
Sam is survived by his wife of 52 years, Lana Yother Mitchell; two sons, Mark Houston Mitchell and wife, Michelle, and Thomas Scott Mitchell; grandchildren, Victoria Elizabeth Mitchell, Laura Savannah Mitchell, Sam Carlton Mitchell and Marianne Lynn Mitchell; one brother, Kenneth Mitchell (Dotty), Greenville, NC; mother in law, Margaret Yother; brother in law, Mike Yother (Milly), Gadsden, Al; nephew, Dr. Ken Mitchell (Dawn), Charleston, SC; nieces, Carmen Mitchell, Elizabeth Yother Phillips (Scott), Nashville, TN and Lauryn Yother Barnett (Andy), Atlanta, GA; numerous grandnieces, grandnephews and cousins. God daughter Nanci Williams Bixby.
Pallbearers will be Vince Dooley, Mike Williams, Mike Cavan, Steve Greer, Ted Wilson, Roy Bowman and Don Perno.
Honorary pallbearers will be John Simmons, Dave Beck, Roger Mitchell, Noel Swain, Sentell Harper, Steve Brooks, Ron Terry, Don Smith, Charley Whittemore, Jeff Pyburn, David Woodward, Pete Jenkins and all former players and coaches.
The family would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to St. Mary's Hospice, MD Anderson Cancer Center and University Cancer Center.
Memorial gifts may be made to St. Mary's Hospice, c/o St. Mary's Foundation, 230 Baxter Street, Athens, GA 30606-3791 or Athens First United Methodist Church, Sam Mitchell Fund, 327 North Lumpkin Street, Athens, GA 30601.
Lord and Stephens, WEST, is in charge of arrangements.