For 33 years Bill Conley was a campus fixture at the Lovett School, as solid as its buildings. He coached, administered, taught and created countless illustrations -- water colors, pastels and pen-and-ink drawings that he gave as cherished mementos to Lovett students, colleagues and friends.
"Few people have touched as many people at Lovett as profoundly and powerfully as Bill did," said the school's headmaster, Billy Peebles of Atlanta. "He had a multiplicity of talents -- for instance, athletics and art. It's not often you find that combination.
"Bill was also skilled as a disciplinarian -- firm, fair, tough but in a caring way that students understood and appreciated," he added.
William Conley, 80, died July 23 at his Jasper home of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. A memorial service will be at 11 a.m. on Aug. 20 at the Lovett School, with a reception to follow. South Canton Funeral Home & Chapel is in charge of arrangements.
Becoming head football coach and athletic director at Lovett in 1963, he turned around a gridiron program that had won only 13 games in the previous three seasons. During 14 seasons under his guidance, Lovett won 96 games against 45 losses and five ties. In 1970 his Lions captured a state title, going undefeated in 14 games, including eight shutouts.
Frank Wilson of Atlanta, the defensive captain of that team, said its success was due more to superior coaching than the squad's innate talent.
"Coach Conley did more with less than any coach I've ever seen," he said. "He was a hard-nosed Vince Lombardi type. Just the same, his players had immeasurable love and loyalty for him."
Mr. Conley started a tradition that he continued until this year, 15 years after he retired. He drew an individualized caricature of each senior Lovett sports participant -- whether he or she was an athlete, cheerleader or manager. He bestowed similar gifts on Lovett colleagues and friends. And for many years he also drew illustrations for football programs and signage for other Lovett sports.
In 1976 he took a break from football and taught art and drafting for two years, becoming head of the school's art department. In addition, he started a girls softball program. "He coached girls as well as he had coached boys," Mr. Wilson said. "Only, in the girls' case he was more fatherly than hard-nosed."
Then he was asked to become assistant principal of the upper school in charge of discipline, a position for which he was well suited.
Jeff Conley of Duluth said his father had an authoritative but informal manner. "He'd call out students by names like Slick and Ace and Dude -- before Dude was cool. But you'd know there was some seriousness behind the informality."
"Same thing with his whistle, which he did through his teeth," his son said. "When Dad whistled once, you knew you'd better pay attention to him. If he whistled twice, you knew you were in trouble."
Mr. Conley made sure students observed Lovett's rules and enforced them evenly, regardless of the students' standing in school or the prominence of their parents, his son said.
Students treated Mr. Conley with respect. "Bill could calm an assembly of 1,600 chattering kids with just a word or two," said his wife, Phyllis Conley. "He'd say ‘Good morning' in that authoritative voice of his, and the place would go totally quiet."
Mr. Conley got his start in art, his son said, painting ads for display in vendors' windows in East Atlanta, where he grew up. After a hitch in the U.S. Coast Guard, he took art and education courses at Georgia State University, where he earned credits to become a teacher. Before becoming Lovett's head football coach, he coached junior varsity at Marist, then was an assistant football coach at St. Pius X.
Also surviving are a daughter, Priscilla "Prisca" Rhinehart of Alpharetta; another son, Clint Conley of Norcross; and seven grandchildren.
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