KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — The Fulton High School is community is remembering Bob Black, longtime head coach, teacher and administrator, after the news of his passing Monday.

According to his family, Black died after a battle with Alzheimer’s disease.

His son, Rob Black, followed in his footsteps, serving as the head coach among other roles.

“You know, life is a lot of times like the game of football, and he was good at teaching both of them,” Black said of his father.

He said they have been part of the Fulton family longer than he can remember.

“By the time I could walk, I was there every day with him, and it just meant so much to be and I couldn’t wait to be a student-athlete there, kind of running around like the guys I looked up to when I was young, so I had the opportunity to do that and then I went off to college and then I came back and started coaching there,” Black said.

He served as an assistant coach for 19 years, head coach for 11 years and has been the athletic director for the past two years. However, he still has not caught up to his dad’s over 50 years of working at the school.

“Bob set the standard for everything we do here at Fulton High School, especially in the football program, as far as being tough on kids and loving them harder than you’re working them you know,” Head Coach Jeff McMillan said.

McMillan said Black’s coaching style has been ingrained in every coach to come after him.

“Everything we are now was basically built by Bob over the years,” McMillan said.

Russell Mayes is an assistant coach for the team and has known Black since having him as a teacher during his freshman year.

“The determination he had, the love he had for the school, was something that was really impressed on me and really made me consider coming back here and be a teacher and to continue to be a part of the football program,” Mayes said. “I was able to do that for many years while he was an assistant coach.”

He plans to teach the new players each year what he learned from Black.

“No matter if we were 1-9 or 15-0, his purpose was to help students, to help young men grow up to be great leaders, that was what Coach Black was all about,” he said.

His son said there has been an outpouring of support from the community.

“Sometimes the word ‘legend’ is used, loosely, but I think anybody that would go back and read some stuff that’s been said about him, he’s that in every sense of the word I think,” he said.

The team plans to honor Black during their first game of the season Friday.