Coach Daniel Young Spier, age 79, of Marietta, Ga, passed away on Tuesday, April 2, 2024, at home. Coach Spier was born in Atlanta, Ga, to the late Theodore and Cora Belle Young Spier. In addition to his parents he was preceded in death by his brother, Stephen Louis Spier and his sister, Jeanne Modelle Spier Mitchell. He is survived by his wife of 39 years, Molly May Moseley Spier of Marietta, Ga. Other survivors include his daughter, Christi DeZoort(lodd), Tuscaloosa, AL, nieces, Dena Williams(John Heintschel),Cumming, Ga, Lori Haynes, Cumming,Ga, and Tanya Spier, New Smyrna Beach, Fl, nephew, Dirk Spier, New Smyrna Beach, Fl. Coach Spier graduated in 1962 from Murphy High School, Atlanta, Ga. He made the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Honorable Mention team as a tackle and was selected for the GACA NORTH_SOUTH game in 1961. He received a full football scholarship to Vanderbilt University where he played for two years before graduating in 1966 with a BA in English. Also Coach Spier received a Master’s of Arts degree in English and teaching in 1976 from Georgia State University.
Coach began his coaching and teaching career at Dykes. He coached junior varsity football from 1966-67. He became a line coach under Dewey Alverson at Southwest Dekalb from 1968 to 1979. He then became the head football coach at Newton County High School, Covington, Ga from 1979-1984. He finished his coaching career at Westminster (Atlanta) as the defensive line coach from 1985-1995.
He taught all levels of English at all of these schools besides coaching. He was named STAR teacher several times. Dan truly was a Renaissance man. He excelled at writing poetry, painting in all mediums(won awards for many of his paintings that hang in homes and galleries all over this country), singing as lead singer in The Chaplains(a rock and roll band at Vanderbilt), making primitive weapons such as bows, arrows, arrowheads, primitive knives, primitive cross bow, primitive lockback knives, scrimmage pocket and hunting knives, just to name a few. Checkout his website https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.danspier.com%2F&data=05%7C02%7Ckaijoyner%40covnews.com%7Cd84280499b964d7771d508dc6499e9ed%7C596d7feeb08c4816b9fc4c6034829fc6%7C1%7C0%7C638495859444248803%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=E2cYSGxbYjgDY6ZFC%2FzG6h5uDBYgytVwEvzQFI58BjQ%3D&reserved=0 to see many of his accomplishments.
