TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — Longtime Big Bend high school football coach and former Lincoln Trojan Joey Striplin has died after battling health issues for several years. He was most recently told his cancer was terminal, and his family confirmed to ABC 27 that he was also suffering from pneumonia and that it was the "cancer and pneumonia that took him home too soon."
Striplin was a graduate of Lincoln High School and was also a member of the Trojans football program. He would spend a long run coaching football in the Tallahassee area, coaching in Gadsden County as a head or assistant coach since 2010. He spent four seasons as head coach at West Gadsden High School, where he turned them into a playoff contending program. He was named head coach of East Gadsden in 2017, and led the Jaguars through a merger with West Gadsden High School.
In 2018, Striplin suffered a heart attack and underwent open heart surgery. Striplin then had a kidney transplant the following year, his second.
There will be a celebration of Joey's life at Saint Paul's Methodist Church in Hartford, Alabama (3431 County Rd. 36 Hartford, Al) on Friday, April 16th at 2:00/CT. Dress is casual and Joey requested that friends and family be given the opportunity to share memories during the service.
All of us at ABC 27 want to send our condolences to the family and friends of Striplin during this very difficult time.
