A fitting recipent for coaching legend Spencer’s scholarship

By Ray Brewer (contact)

Friday, April 25, 2014 | 12:30 p.m.

Tim Wooters was the type of high school football player Greg Spencer would have wanted to coach.

Spencer is a local legend, coaching Cimarron-Memorial High to two state championships and three zone titles in the late 1990s. While Spencer died prematurely of throat cancer in 2009, his legacy still carries on at Cimarron in the form of the Greg Spencer Memorial Scholarship.

Wooters, a 5-foot-11, 185 pound center and linebacker, was one of the Spartans’ best players last fall, never backing down when facing much bigger opponents on the line.

That’s why Cimarron coach John Parcells last month made the senior Wooters the scholarship’s first recipient. Wooters will receive $500; he’ll attend UNLV starting in the fall.

“He never quits. Just a bulldog,” Parcells said. “That’s one unbelievable kid.”

School officials previously named the football stadium after Spencer, who in 1991 started the program when the school opened at the edge of Summerlin, and coached them to a 75-31 record before stepping down in 2000. They won state in 1998 and ‘99.

Wooters, like most current players in the program, has only heard stories about Spencer: He was a hard-nosed coach who demanded a maximum effort. Knowing he fits that descriptions was humbling.

“I gave it my all and left everything I had on the field,” Wooters said.

Wooters plans to study mechanical engineering. He wants to have a career working on cars. Ironically, that was Spencer’s passion. Yes, Wooters and Spencer would have been a perfect match.

Ray Brewer can be reached at 990-2662 or [email protected]. Follow Ray on Twitter at twitter.com/raybrewer21