West Texas high school football coaching legend Gary Gaines has been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimers’s, the Alzheimer’s Association of West Texas confirmed Friday. 
 
 This summer in Amarillo, he will play a big part in an upcoming charity football game to raise money and awareness to help fight the disease. 
 
 Gaines will make a return to the sidelines as part of the Blondes vs. Brunettes charity flag football game — where he will serve as the game’s honorary coach — that has now taken on personal meaning for Gaines and his family. 
 
 Despite the diagnosis, Gaines is not yet affected by the disease, and continues to perform his daily work, as well as help the Alzheimer’s Association with preparations for the game, which will take place at 6 p.m. June 10 in Falcon Stadium in Bushland. 
 
 "It’s very early-onset," AAWT Area Director Tracy Sommers said. "He will still be at the game and will serve as the guest coach." 
 
 Sommers said she spoke with the Gaines family on Friday, and that the family is declining all interview requests at this time after a flood of calls offering support came in following the public revelation of his diagnosis. 
 
 "He is aware of everything that is going on," Sommers said. 
 
 "Again, this is in the very early stages. He is still working, we met with him and the family Friday," Sommers said. 
 
 "The family has a personal connection the disease. They’re a wonderful family, and they want to do everything they can to help prevent this disease and want to promote the West Texas Goes Purple campaign." 
 
 Gaines boasts a Hall of Fame coaching career that spanned five decades, including stops at Tascosa High; Odessa Permian, where he and the school gained fame from the book, movie and TV series "Friday Night Lights"; Texas Tech, and Abilene Christian before he retired from coaching in 2012. 
 
 Blondes vs. Brunettes hopes to raise $70,000 for AAWT in its seventh year in Amarillo. 
 
 Games have been played nationwide since 2005, raising more than $7 million. 
 
 "It’s a national event, and it’s a well-known event here in the Texas Panhandle," Sommers said. 
 
 "Each year, they try to have a local celebrity as part of it, and this year we are working with the (Gaines) family." 
 
 Sommers also said that in recent years the disease has started to affect more and more young people, with one person in Canyon diagnosed with the disease before age 30. 
 
 "The disease affects so many young people now," Sommer added. 
 
 "And as it’s become more prevalent, people are becoming more aware about it, and that’s part of why this event does so well." 
 
 Tickets for the game are $25 and will include admission to the game and a victory party at The Piehl Barn, where there will be food, drinks, and live entertainment. ||||| In the small town of Dillon, Texas, one night matters: Friday Night. Eric Taylor has recently been hired as the head football coach for the Dillon High School Panthers, the town's pride and joy. Friday Night Lights displays the stress that the town gives the high school players to win, and the hope that the team gives to a small town, and how a team has its low points, its high points, and how they come together as a team on their way to victory. Written by Zac Abrams ||||| Legendary West Texas high school football Coach Gary Gaines has faced many battles on the gridiron, but his biggest battle lies ahead. 
 
 Gaines, 68, was recently diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's Disease. 
 
 His family says, "Gary is staying positive. There are very small noticeable changes. He is still traveling and working. He is doing well." 
 
 The former football coach has been credited with putting Texas high school football on the map with his memorable run to the 1989 5A State Championship with the Odessa Permian Panthers. 
 
 Following his diagnosis, Gaines and his family want to help increase awareness and funding to help find a cure for the disease. 
 
 They have teamed up with the Amarillo Alzheimer's Association to help with the upcoming Blondes vs. Brunettes Flag Football Game, which aims to raise $70,000. 
 
 Gaines will be in attendance as an honorary coach, presenting the game ball and calling plays during the friendly competition. 
 
 The Alzheimer's Association plans to invite his former coaches, players and area football teams to attend the game to support Gaines and all those affected by memory loss diseases. 
 
 The flag football game is June 10 at Bushland Falcon Stadium located at 99 FM 2381 in Bushland. Gates open at 5 p.m. and kick-off is at 6 p.m. 
 
 MORE: Blondes, Brunettes and YOU 
 
 Tickets to the game are $25 and include entrance to the Victory After Party immediately following the game at the Piehl Barn in Bushland. The party will include live music and free adult beverages. 
 
 To purchase a ticket or donate to the cause, click here. 
 
 Copyright 2017 KFDA. All rights reserved.
– The legendary Texas high school football coach who put "Friday Night Lights" into the national lexicon faces his biggest challenge yet. Gary Gaines, 68, was recently diagnosed with Alzheimer's. The Amarillo Globe-News reports the disease is in its early stages, and Gaines is not yet showing major symptoms. His family tells KFDA, "Gary is staying positive. There are very small noticeable changes. He is still traveling and working. He is doing well." Gaines and his family are helping organize a charity football game next month that hopes to raise $70,000 for Alzheimer's awareness. "He will still be at the game and will serve as the guest coach," a local Alzheimer's Association rep tells the Globe-News. "He is aware of everything that is going on." The charismatic coach credited with leading the Odessa Permian Panthers to the state championship in 1989 was immortalized in the bestseller Friday Night Lights. He gained fame when Billy Bob Thornton played him in the movie of the same name; Kyle Chandler took over in the TV series that captured life in a pigskin-obsessed Texas town. In real life, Gaines went on coach and recruit for Texas Tech and Abilene Christian universities. He retired in 2012. (A new test can predict when a person may get Alzheimer's.)