Dwayne Webb, a longtime coach and teach in Osceola County, who inspired the lives of many students and athletes over a three-decade education career, will be remembered in a service Sunday at Gateway High School.
Webb passed away at the age of 60 on Nov. 15 after a short but spirited bout with colon cancer.
Services will be held in the GHS auditorium from 3-5 p.m. The dress code is casual.
Webb had coached football, basketball and weightlifting in the county for over 30 years, with stops at Osceola, Poinciana and Gateway High and St. Cloud Middle and High. He had been at Gateway the last 10 years, coaching defensive backs as well as working with the Panthers’ girls weightlifting team, and coached basketball at some of his other stops. He was a PE teacher.
“Shakes me to the core,” GHS Coach Marlin Roberts said. “The kids respected him. We coached against each other in football and JV basketball, and then I talked him into coming over here.
"We had many good memories. I can think of long nights after some losses. We coached on some teams that didn’t have a lot of success, but he told me he’d get the kids into the weight room and get them stronger. That laid the foundation for us getting to the playoffs for the first time ever (2015, 2017-2018). He was a good soldier to lean on.”
Webb has been regarded by students over the years as someone who “coached” up kids for lives outside any sports setting, serving as a mentor to many younger teachers over the years, and a strong male role model for students.
Born in the Washington, D.C. area, Webb attended Frederick Douglas High in Upper Marlboro, Md., and came south to Florida A&M to play football. That’s where he met his wife Denise when they worked at Macy’s.
“My friend said a guy in food services needed a ride home, and it started from there,” she said. “We were best friends first, and it all worked out.”
They came to Osceola County together in 1987 when Deloris McMillon recruited him for a job at St. Cloud Middle School.
“He told her, ‘I have a girlfriend who teaches, too,’ and she told him, ‘Bring her, too!’” Ms. Webb said. “I had no idea we’d end up at the same school. We were the first African-American teachers at St. Cloud Middle, so we broke barriers together.”
Denise, who married Webb in 1991 and has now been at St. Cloud Middle for 35 years, said Dwayne loved teaching and truly cared about his students.
“He had a good heart, and was a true friend, he’d do anything for anyone,” Denise said. “He had a true passion for coaching as well.”
Webb is survived by Denise as well parents Dorothy and Charlie Webb, as children Charlie and Breana Webb, grandchildren Carter Dwayne Webb and Demarius Robinson, and siblings Derwin and Denise Webb.
A GoFundMe account has been set up to raise funds for Mrs. Webb:
