Fame is overrated. Don Breaux can walk into a store or restaurant just about anywhere and not be swarmed by fans hounding him for an autograph, or bothered by people pointing him out to unsuspecting friends.
But you probably know him. And if you play or played on a sports team in town, you can bet that Breaux knows you.
For much of the past decade the 71-year old Louisiana native has been one of those easy-to-recognize characters at Lake Norman area high school and club sports events, his snow-white hair impossible to miss, the glasses perched near the tip of his nose making him look more like a mad scientist than a brilliant coach.
But the Huntersville resident and former coach who played an instrumental role in three Washington Redskins Super Bowl victories and served as an assistant coach with the Carolina Panthers through the Dom Capers and George Seifert eras, is as good a football mind as there's ever been, according to people who could be classified as experts on such things.
"Out of all the people that coached with me, the two best, most gifted football minds I've ever known belong to Don Breaux and Ernie Zampese," says Hall of Fame NFL coach Joe Gibbs, who counts Breaux as one of his closest friends, and spends Sunday mornings teaching Sunday school with his long-time buddy at Lake Norman Baptist Church.
Breaux mixes an easy-going demeanor with a fiery competitiveness and gets away with it, his sincerity winning him both friends and respect, and his loyalty and incredible ability earning him trust and commitment from those he leads.
Whether he's telling stories to the regulars at Big Bitez restaurant in Cornelius or chatting up a stranger standing next to him as they cast fishing lines off the shores of Lake Norman in pursuit of largemouth bass, Breaux is always engaged and engaging.
"He could spend 30 minutes telling you about what he ate for lunch," Gibbs says. "And he'd make it interesting. He always wants to tell me about his fishing trips. I said, 'Don, I get it. You caught a fish.'"
Sparky Woods, now the head coach at Virginia Military Institute, was on the New York Jets staff in 1994 along with Breaux. Woods laughs recalling a fishing trip with Breaux in which Woods was hauling in fish after fish and Breaux was not having as much success.
Breaux would grumble, change fishing lures, mutter under his breath. But he wouldn't give up.
"I didn't think he noticed," Breaux says, laughing.
Gibbs laughs as he speaks about the man he employed for 17 years and who became his right-hand man during two tenures with the Redskins.
Earlier this week, Breaux's bass boat needed some work. He took it to the shop at Joe Gibbs Racing — not exactly known for its work on boats.
"If they can't fix it, who can?" he asks.
The quirkiness and down-home charm masks the brilliance of a man whom Gibbs says invented the H-Back position, and was a much bigger influence on revolutionizing the passing game in the NFL than most will ever realize.
"Don was born to be a football coach," Gibbs says.
Adds Breaux: "I don't recall ever wanting to do anything else."
As Super Bowl XLVI approaches this Sunday, millions nationwide will be focused on the creativity of the commercials, or reveling in a smorgasbord of foods that have come to mark the super day.
Meanwhile, Breaux will be in the bonus room of his Huntersville home charting every play of the game, just as he's done essentially from noon to midnight nearly every NFL Sunday since he retired from coaching before the 2008 season. If you want to know tendencies of a team or player during the past four NFL seasons, ask Breaux, whose penchant for studying the game isn't limited to the pros.
Anyone who has been to a Hopewell, Hough or North Meck High sporting event over the past decade has probably seen Breaux at a game, and perhaps even talked to him. And all it takes is a few minutes with a proud grandfather to realize he isn't your average Monday morning quarterback, and that his interest went beyond the fortunes of grandsons Brenden, Collin and Weston Reber, who were all-conference or all-state performers in basketball, track, cross country and football at Hopewell from 2005-2009.
"Dad is sort of like Forrest Gump," says his daughter, Kara Reber. "If something is going on, he seems to be right in the middle of it."
Indeed, Breaux seems to be everywhere and know everyone.
