Service for former Pickens coach who was gunned down is Saturday

A memorial service for former Pickens High School football coach Bill Isaacs, 75, is scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday at Bruce Field, according to hisfamily.

“Words cannot describe the pain this heinous crime has put on our family and the Blue Flame community,” Isaacs’ grandson, Zachary Gantt, said, of his grandfather’s death Monday.

The event is to be held on the same field in Pickens where Isaacs coached the Blue Flame for 27 years.

Albert Leon Bowen, 64, of 412 Gilliland Road, has been charged with two counts of murder. Also killed was a friend and neighbor of Isaacs, Dickie Stewart.

The Sheriff’s Office said Bowen had an ongoing dispute with one of the victims. Bowen is being held at the Pickens County jail.

“Preliminary information is that the incident may have stemmed from an ongoing dispute between Bowen and one of the victims,” Chief Pickens County Deputy Creed Hashe said.

The family has arranged a list of speakers, including colleagues, players, friends and family.

“At the conclusion of the speeches we will ask the entire group in attendance to join the family on the field to celebrate Bill’s life,” Gantt said.

A private burial will be held.

Dillard’s funeral home of Pickens will be handling the burial and arrangements.

Isaacs, inducted into the South Carolina Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2011, became head football coach at Pickens High School in 1965 at the age of 24 and directed the Blue Flame for 27 years. He was the winningest coach in program history.

He took over a program that had lost 33 consecutive games and led Pickens to a record of 181-109-5, including nine conference championships and 14 state playoff games.

Isaacs, who won coach of the year honors nine times, guided the Blue Flame to a state-record 57 consecutive regular-season victories between 1969 and 1975, a stretch that included five straight Western AAA Region titles.

He also coached the basketball team to a 43-17 record and the softball team to a 37-2 record while at Pickens.

A native of Lenoir, N.C., Isaacs lettered in basketball and football for four years at Lenoir High School. As a sophomore and junior, he also played baseball and ran track.

Isaacs attended Appalachian State University, where he played center and middle linebacker for the Mountaineers’ football team.

Easley Mayor Larry Bagwell, who was the football coach at Easley High during the time Isaacs was coaching the rival Blue Flame said: “Bill and I were enemies on the field and friends off the field. I had a lot of respect for him. He ran a real strong program.

“It’s just sad that his life had to end that way.”

The Pickens County School District put out a statement saying Isaacs “is fondly remembered in Pickens County as the winningest coach in the history of Blue Flame Football. His impact as a coach and as an educator cannot be overstated.

“The list of his accomplishments is long, including 181 wins and nine region championships, but his legacy is in the lives he enriched during his 27-year tenure at Pickens High School.

“We are shaken and heartbroken at his death, and we extend our deepest sympathies to both the Isaacs family and the Blue Flame family.”