[Sly Fox]

A man who helped our program in its formative years back in the LBC days has passed away at a relatively young age. Our prayers go out to his family.

DENNIS ROLAND: 1956-2008

Roland made big impression in final year
Central Gwinnett coach dies at 51 after long illness

By KURT ASCHERMANN JR.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 01/02/08

Central Gwinnett High School football coach Dennis Roland died Tuesday morning at 51 after a nearly three-year battle with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Roland, who coached at 10 colleges and universities and two high schools before coming to Central Gwinnett before the 2007 season, died at around 9:30 a.m. at Northside Hospital in Cumming, according to assistant coach and former Central Gwinnett player Bryan Allen. Funeral services are expected to take place in Cochran, where Roland grew up.

"[Roland] called middle Georgia home," Allen said. "That's going to be some turnout; that community loved him."

"We really feel blessed; we knew he was a special guy," said Jane Crawford, vice president of the Central Gwinnett Touchdown Club. "Everybody that was touched by him, he just meant the world to them. He brought a lot [to Central Gwinnett] in a short period of time."

Roland was first diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in May 2005, months after he left North Gwinnett High to become the coach at Southeastern Louisiana. After his cancer went into remission in September 2005, it returned in the fall of 2006, forcing Roland to take a medical leave of absence from Southeastern. But Central Gwinnett athletics director Tally Johnson took a chance, hiring Roland as the school's fourth head football coach in February.

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