Our Founder
Football Fundamentalz 52 Founder
Coach Earl Rose
“An interesting road” does not begin to describe Coach Earl Rose’s football career. Rose played four years of pee wee football, beginning in 1979, and did not play again until 1988, his sophomore year at Grimsley High School. There, Coaches Jeff Smouse, Neal Hatcher, Bill Walton, and Malachi King molded him into an excellent player.
However, because Rose was an undersized offensive lineman, there were no scholarship offers. As a result, college football was not an option. Therefore, after high school, Earl enlisted in the Army in 1991. While stationed at Ft. Gordon, Georgia, a former NFL player said to him, “you look like you can play in the league.” Rose then decided he would try to live the NFL dream After serving four years in the army and being honorably discharged.
In 1995, Rose contacted his former high school coach, Jeff Smouse. Immediately, Coach Smouse, began making calls to get Rose into college to play football. In the fall of 1995, Earl enrolled at Appalachian State University as a fullback. That year, the ASU was the first team in North Carolina history to go undefeated throughout the regular season. In addition, at ASU, Rose met influential players, including Dexter Coakley, Scott Satterfield, Kareem Young, and Marvin Hodge. More importantly, he worked with coaches Tim Horton, Ruffin McNeil, and George Edwards.
After leaving ASU, Rose returned to Greensboro, his home town, to coach at his former high school. He coached at Grimsley for two years, all while being a single father, raising his young daughter. Though the drive of wanting to be an NFL player was still there, it seemed like only a dream at that time.
In 1998, a local semi-pro team asked Rose to play football once again. After winning two championships as a player there, Rose was contacted by Coach Clayton Banner, the head coach and general manager of the new arena football team that would begin in 2000. While playing semi-pro football as a center, Rose had the pleasure of playing with some great players, such as Antonio “Tiny” Stevenson, a former NFL player and Winston Salem State University Hall of Famer and Orlando Adwaters, former Duke University standout. When Rose signed to play with the Greensboro Prowlers, Stevenson and Adwaters both signed contracts to play as well.
Also in 2000, Earl started his own semi-pro football team, which was comprised of players that he has previously played with either in school or semi-pro. From 2000 to 2002, Rose was a player and coach for the Greensboro Prowlers, while also being the owner and head coach for the Carolina Heat.
In 2007, Rose and his family moved from North Carolina to Texas. Since being in Texas, Rose has coached a number of arena teams, as well as little league flag football teams. All of this has led him to the decision to train children the fundamentals of football.
With the help of all of his current and former NFL, arena, college, and high school coaches, players, and teammates, Rose began “Football FUNdamentalz 52,” to train youth how to play the game of football, starting with the basic fundamentals of the game.
