By Zach Dean The Daytona Beach News-Journal
Volusia County has lost a football icon.
Former New Smyrna Beach quarterback and Bethune-Cookman assistant coach Chris Isaac passed away Monday after a battle with an undisclosed form of cancer. He was 61.
“Chris was a great, awesome individual who I have nothing but love for,” said former Bethune-Cookman Head Coach Alvin Wyatt Sr. “He brought of lot of common sense to the program. He was well-liked and players had the utmost respect for him. He was committed to Bethune-Cookman and did everything in his power to elevate the program to the highest level.”
Isaac, a former News-Journal Male Athlete of the Year, was part of a legendary New Smyrna Beach football program from 1974-77.
In an instant classic during the ’75 season, Isaac led the Barracudas to a 22-21 upset over a Titusville Astronaut team that had Cris Collinsworth at quarterback and Wilber Marshall at linebacker.
Isaac played college ball at Eastern Kentucky, where he was a member of EKU’s 1979 I-AA National Championship team and was the starting quarterback for back-to-back national runners-up finishes his junior and senior seasons.
He concluded his career as EKU’s seventh leading all-time passer with 3,611 yards and was enshrined in the EKU Hall of Fame in 2012.
Isaac would go on to play two seasons for the Canadian Football League’s Ottawa Rough Riders before returning to New Smyrna Beach. In his first start against Montreal in 1982, he set the team record with 471 yards passing and tied a record with five touchdown passes.
“I actually ran into him about a month ago,” said DeLand assistant coach Snap Wood, who first met Isaac during his playing days at New Smyrna Beach High School in 1992.
“He was coach … joking around, made me smile, made me laugh. That was the way he always was.”
Wood later coached alongside Isaac at New Smyrna Beach in 2015. The two were part of former head coach Kevin Hubbard’s staff.
“He was awesome for us,” said Hubbard, who left the program in 2018. “His wisdom was huge. He was phenomenal.”
Isaac spent time with multiple area teams over the past four decades, includings stints at Mainland, Father Lopez, Deltona and New Smyrna Beach. He was also a math teacher at Pine Ridge.
Some of his greatest success as an assistant, however, came at Bethune-Cookman, where he coached receivers from 1996-2002 and 2004-07 and was part of the Wildcats’ 2002 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference championship program.
“I’ve known Chris since high schools days, he was a couple years behind me at New Smyrna,” said B-CU Vice President of Intercollegiate Athletics Lynn Thompson. “Man, he was a tremendous quarterback during the heyday of New Smyrna Beach High School football.
“Chris followed Reggie Beverly at QB at New Smyrna, and that era is probably unmatched in the history of New Smyrna Beach football. Chris Isaac is one of the greater quarterbacks to come out of this area.”
Isaac is survived by his wife, Sharon Bostick-Isaac, and three children — Derrell Beverly, Jalisa Isaac, and stepson Paul Rimini. Funeral arrangements have yet to be announced.
“He was a great guy and a great player,” said former Spruce Creek defensive back Bruce McNorton, who played against Isaac and graduated in 1977 before going on to play nine NFL seasons for the Detroit Lions. “I’m truly saddened by his passing.”
Recent Comments