National Football Foundation

The game of football is in the DNA of Gerald Brence, who has served as president of the NFF Gridiron Club of Dallas Chapter for more than a decade.
 
After graduating from Cordell High School in Oklahoma, Brence obtained his bachelor’s in education at Southwestern Oklahoma State University while playing football for three seasons. In 1981, he began his career as an English teacher and assistant football coach at Plano Senior High School outside of Dallas while earning his master’s in education from Texas A&M-Commerce. Plano Senior won two state football championships during his time as an assistant.
 
In 1992, Brence became the head football coach and athletics director at Plano Senior, where he posted an overall record of 120-70-1 during 16 seasons. He led the Wildcats to 11 playoff berths, highlighted by a win in the 1994 5A Division I State Championship. In 2007, Brence coached his final season at Plano Senior while being promoted to athletics director of the entire Plano Independent School District, a role he would remain in before retiring in 2019. He is a member of the Texas High School Coaches Association Hall of Honor. In 2021, he returned to the high school sidelines as an assistant coach at McKinney Christian Academy in McKinney, Texas.
 
Involved with the NFF Gridiron Club of Dallas Chapter since its launch in 2008, Brence has served as the outpost’s president since 2010, and he oversees the entire scholar-athlete banquet process from start to finish. As the only NFF chapter in North Texas, the Gridiron Club of Dallas covers a wide footprint and typically honors more than 60 high school scholar-athletes at its banquet each year with a high of 81 recognized in 2017. The chapter also honors local coaches, officials, collegiate scholar-athletes, journalists and other individuals who have made an impact on football and the region. In 2021, the chapter honored 61 scholar-athletes during a virtual banquet.
 
“Football has played such an important role in my life, and it’s an honor to pay it forward by recognizing all of the outstanding student-athletes each year at our NFF banquet,” said Brence. “All of our honorees are so impressive, not only on the field but also as scholars and young community leaders. It’s always an honor to meet these young men, and it’s great to see them go on to succeed in multiple areas of their lives.”
 
Brence lives in McKinney, Texas, with his wife, Beth, and they have three sons who all played college football: Ryan (Army), Beau (UNLV) and Collin (Baylor). Brence has written three novels as well as a non-fiction book about high school football titled “The 70-30 Split.”