Tommy Reamon ends hiatus to return to football as coach at Denbigh. Alum and Steelers coach Mike Tomlin approves.

Denbigh High’s contributions to Peninsula-area football lore are few, but the exceptions are impressive.

Super Bowl-winning coach Mike Tomlin of the Pittsburgh Steelers played at Denbigh for the late John Quillen, the revered coach whose unbeaten state champion at Heritage in 2000 is regarded as the greatest team in Newport News history.

Denbigh grad Antoine Bethea made three Pro Bowls in 14 seasons as an NFL safety, winning a Super Bowl in 2007 with the Indianapolis Colts.

Add to that list Tommy Reamon, whose attempt to resuscitate Denbigh’s long-struggling program is being hailed by Tomlin, Bethea and others. Reamon, one of the area’s longest-tenured and best-known high school head coaches, was named the new coach at Denbigh on Wednesday after a season off following 34 on the sidelines.

A star running back at Caver High in the Peninsula District, pride in Newport News football ended his short retirement. He yearns to lead a resurgence at Denbigh, which is 2-55 in its past 57 games and enters 2023 with 19 consecutive losses.

In doing so, he aims to show parents and players that the Patriots can win, and that football can be used as a means to secure a college education and become a better citizen.

“My life has been about working with young people,” Reamon said. “I want to show them that if they’ll believe in the process of working hard, on the field and in the classroom, their college dreams can come true.

“And I want them to know that I have the experience, caring and track record to help them realize their dreams. They need to believe they can achieve their dream at Denbigh and don’t have to [transfer] anywhere else.”

A guest of Tomlin’s at the Cleveland-Pittsburgh game on Jan. 8, the Steelers’ head coach gave his enthusiastic stamp of approval when Reamon told of his plans.

“I started doing football camps when I got to a place of influence because when I was a teenager, we went to his camps,” Tomlin told other guests at breakfast. “We [didn’t] have money to go to nobody else’s camp.

“Man, Coach Reamon [would] have a camp, and for five dollars he’d feed you lunch and give you a T-shirt.”

Tomlin, who attended the Tommy Reamon Football Camp as a Denbigh junior, then looked at Reamon and continued, “I just appreciate you being a blueprint for us. I [didn’t] play for [Reamon] one day, but this dude always checked on me. He knew where I was and took care of me.

“He sent my brother to junior college. My brother was a non-qualifier and [Reamon] was a coach across town, checking on him and sending him to school.”

Reamon coached previously at Newport News schools Ferguson and Warwick and then Gloucester before he coached 13 seasons at Landstown in Virginia Beach. He won 182 games, but is best known for sending scores of his players into the collegiate ranks.

Among them were Ferguson’s Aaron Brooks, an NFL quarterback for eight seasons, and Warwick’s Michael Vick, named to four Pro Bowls during 13 seasons in which he transformed the quarterback position with his running abilities.

Vick’s younger brother, Marcus, starred at Warwick and Virginia Tech — leading the Hokies to the first ACC championship game — before a short stint in the NFL.

Reamon cites his work since retiring from Landstown as evidence he can still get Peninsula-area players recruited. Working with the City On My Chest organization he founded with his son, Tommy Reamon Jr., he conducted a football camp in the spring and organized a Peninsula all-star game in December.

Each drew recruiters from almost 30 colleges. Reamon said following the all-star game that nine players received scholarship offers, including a trio of seniors: Warwick’s Richard Martin (North Carolina Central), Woodside quarterback Tayvon Tyler (Fayetteville State) and Lafayette receiver Jaylen Pretlow (The Citadel). McKinley Price, then Mayor of Newport News, gave Reamon the key to the city during the spring football camp.

“Those are opportunities the Denbigh players will get,” said Reamon, who played in the NFL, Canadian Football League and was MVP of the short-lived World Football League. “I want them to understand I have the influence, the knowhow and the contacts to guide them.”

Denbigh athletic director Marcus Johnson-Williams is convinced. He played for Reamon at Ferguson and assisted him for more than a decade at Landstown before becoming head coach at Salem prior to taking the taking the Denbigh AD position.

“Coach Reamon leads to connect, challenge and aspire others to be their best selves with discipline, integrity and fairness,” Johnson-Williams said. “That’s what I learned as a player for him and that’s what I learned [with him] as a coach.

“When I became a head coach, those were core values in my program. That’s what I’d like to see here at Denbigh High School for all athletics, not just football.”