Brother Max Copeland Night at Mustangs football game to honor community-minded man
The Marble Falls Mustangs players don red socks during last year’s Brother Max Copeland Night. This year’s event is Friday, Oct. 26, during the game against Leander Glenn. It’s in honor of Max Copeland, who passed away in May 2015. Copeland was found of wearing red socks and suspenders as well as giving back to the community and supporting Marble Falls athletics. During the game, buckets will be passed around to collect money for a scholarship fund in his name. File photo
STAFF WRITER JENNIFER FIERRO
When the purple-and-gold Marble Falls Mustangs football team puts on red socks and breaks out the red-laced football, it can mean only one thing.
It’s Brother Max Copeland Night.
The Mustangs have designated the Friday, Oct. 26, contest against Leander Glenn to honor the former pastor of First Baptist Church of Marble Falls and raise money for a scholarship named in his honor. Copeland died in May 2015.
Brother Max, as he was known, was fond of wearing red socks and red suspenders. A red seat in a sea of purple ones was installed at both Mustang Stadium and Max Copeland/Marble Falls High School gymnasium to remember the community-minded man.
At the football game on Friday, red buckets will be passed around in the stands so people can donate to the scholarship fund. Copeland’s wife, Glenna, and their children, Dathan, Dan, and Maxine, will be recognized, too.
“We want to raise as much as we can,” said Pam Parkman, executive director of the Marble Falls Education Foundation.
The foundation and officials at Marble Falls Independent School District will announce the recipient of the first Brother Max Copeland Award, which will go to a person in the community who best embodies the characteristics of the pastor: commitment, love, and encouragement.
A total of six nominations were made. The foundation’s board of directors looked at the criteria and made their selection, Parkman said.
Larry Berkman, a friend of Brother Max’s and the former Mustangs boys basketball coach, said he spent many afternoons on the pastor’s front porch talking about life.
“I learned a lot,” he said. “So many people can relate to Max. He was at everything.”
Simply, there was no bigger fan of the Mustangs than Brother Max.
It’s estimated he attended so many games that people would have to go to one game a day for 22 years to catch up with him.
“What you saw (from Copeland) every day was no different than what you saw on Sundays (at church),” Berkman said.
Berkman praised Copeland’s family for sharing their husband and father with residents across the Highland Lakes, noting the pastor attending an event meant not being home with them.
“Some of his greatest sermons were at funerals,” he said. “You remember that support. He always had something good to say. He was so supportive and always so positive.”
Call the Marble Falls Education Foundation at (830) 693-4357 or visit marblefallsef.org for more information about its mission and the scholarship.