Former Tatum, Longview, and SFA football player Larry Centers (left) and former Kilgore assistant football coach Kenneth Ferro (right) were celebrated as inductees during Saturday night’s 2025 East Texas Coaches Association Hall of Honor Banquet at Holiday Inn Longview-North’s Grand Infinity Event Center. Pro Football Hall of Famer Kevin Mawae (center) presented Coach Ferro during the event. (Thomas Bingham/Longview News-Journal)

LONGVIEW — The East Texas Coaches Association hosted its 2025 Hall of Honor Banquet at the Holiday Inn Longview-North’s Grand Infinity Event Center on Saturday night, and recognized four inductees, two honorees, and one state champion.

Larry Centers played for the Longview Lobos during his high school freshman and sophomore seasons, sat out his junior year, and transferred to the Tatum Eagles as a senior. He eventually competed for the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks in college between 1986 and 1989, and became a ETCA Hall of Honor player inductee on Saturday.

“What an awesome feeling,” said Centers. “To represent East Texas in such a positive way, I’m thrilled.”

“Longview was where I started my first two years of high school, and it was great,” he continued. “[I] learned some tough [and] hard-nosed football, and how to play the game. Tatum took me in my senior year, and gave me an opportunity to go earn a scholarship at Stephen F. [Austin]. I’m forever grateful for them.”

Centers was selected 115th overall by the Phoenix Cardinals in the fifth round of the 1990 NFL Draft. The fullback played for the Phoenix and Arizona Cardinals’ franchise between the 1990 and 1998 seasons, and later signed with the Washington Redskins (1999 and 2000), Buffalo Bills (2001 and 2002), and New England Patriots (2003).

During his professional career, Centers emerged as a receiving threat, and eventually set a NFL record for most career catches by a traditional runner with 827. He was named a NFL Pro Bowler after the 1995, 1996 and 2001 seasons and First-Team All-Pro after the 1996 campaign, and returned to his home state of Texas to win Super Bowl XXXVIII with the Patriots at Houston’s Reliant Stadium on Feb. 1, 2004.

Even with all those accolades and achievements, Centers still credits East Texas coaches for the roles they played in his long and successful football career.

“I was so fortunate to have coaches who really cared about the person as much as the player,” said Centers. “I think that’s what every kid needs. Like me especially, not really being sure what I was able to accomplish [early on]. The coaches that I was able to have really picked me up, gave me that extra bit of confidence, and made a world of difference.”

Former Kilgore High School assistant football coach Kenneth Ferro contributed to the program’s lone state championship-winning season in 2004, and received the Kyle Preston Assistant Coach Award during his ETCA Hall of Honor induction on Saturday.

“Like the award said, I was an assistant coach,” said Ferro. “But, that’s all I wanted to be. The thing I miss most from coaching was practice. I enjoyed working with the kids. Once they got better, you would see [something] in their eyes. They were like, ‘Oh yeah. I see what you’re saying coach’.”

Retired 16-year NFL center and right guard Kevin Mawae was impacted so much by Ferro’s offensive line coaching at Louisiana State that he mentioned his teacher during his 2019 Pro Football Hall of Fame speech. He had more to share when he presented Ferro during Saturday’s ETCA ceremony induction.

“It’s a way to honor somebody who means a lot to me and my life,” Mawae said of the role he played for Ferro on Saturday.

“He’s had such an influence on my life,” he continued. “[He’s] a mentor and a guy who believed in me. He was really the guy who instilled in me what it meant to play offensive line. For him to be honored like this is well-deserved.”

Mawae started learning from Ferro as a redshirt in 1989 and again during his Freshman All-SEC 1990 campaign.

Ferro was part of a LSU coaching staff that departed after the 1990 season, but he and Mawae stayed in touch and remained close. It helped Mawae finish his college career with 1991 First-Team All-SEC and 1992 and 1993 Second-Team All-SEC honors, and continue to find on-field success as he transitioned to the NFL game.

“He’s always meant that much to me,” Mawae said of his long-standing relationship with Ferro. “I knew he was coaching in Kilgore, but I would always check in with him. My wife and I would visit him. It really became an outlet for me. It was a guy that had the best interest at heart and would offer words of encouragement. Even over the years, I’d call [him]. And he’d bounce ideas off of me. It was a give-and-take relationship. And with Coach Ferro, it was more than just coaching.”

The Seattle Seahawks selected Mawae with the 36th pick in the second round of the 1994 NFL Draft, and he played for them until 1997. He then suited up for the New York Jets between 1998 and 2005, and was later named to the franchise’s Ring of Honor. He eventually finished his professional playing career with the Tennessee Titans between 2006 and 2009.

Mawae was recognized as a NFL Pro Bowler after the 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2008 and 2009 seasons, a First-Team All-Pro after the 1999, 2001 and 2008 campaigns, and a Second-Team All-Pro after the 1998, 2000, 2002 and 2004 seasons. He was also a member of both the NFL 2000s All-Decade and 1994 PFWA All-Rookie teams.

“The foundation of me as an offensive lineman started at LSU with my technique,” said Mawae. “I had to learn how to be a great technician, and that started under Coach Ferro. He always would say an offensive lineman’s job is built on a thousand tiny steps. That’s what my whole career was built off of.”

Two head coaches were inducted by ETCA on Saturday. Barry Norton is a former Texarkana athletic director and head football coach at both Texas High and Arkansas High.

Greg Owens served in the same roles at Sulphur Springs High School, and was also Lindale High School’s head football coach.

The event’s honorees included Longview TASO’s Terry Edwards as a football official, and Balfour Graduate Sales’ John Barbe and Chase Barbe for their distinguished service.

The annual ETCA Hall of Honor Banquet also recognizes East Texas football state champions from the most recent season, so Carthage athletic director and head football coach Scott Surratt represented his 2024 UIL 4A Division II state title-winning team on Saturday. He and the Bulldogs earned their 10th football state championship overall, and finished the season with a 15-1 record.