June 7, 2011

FAYETTEVILLE, NC -- Former Fayetteville State head football coach James Toon died on Saturday. He was 73.

Toon coached the Broncos from 1997-1999, taking over for Jerome Harper. The Broncos' position was Toon's first head coaching job, and after three years, he compiled a 10-22 overall record. Toon's Fayetteville State teams were 8-13 in the CIAA.

Toon came to Fayetteville State after having served as the director of intramural activities at North Carolina A&T. He was hired by then FSU Athletics Director Horace Small.

"Coach Toon is a people person," Small told The Fayetteville Observer-Times when he brought Toon on board on Jan. 8, 1997."He knows a lot about football. He is a community-based person. He is someone who works real well with people."

Toon worked at N.C. A&T for 24 years before coming to Fayetteville State, spending some time on the Aggies' football coaching staff.. Toon played at A&T from 1958-61 and was an all-American in 1958 when the Aggies won the CIAA championship. He played professionally for the CFL's Edmonton Eskimos and the NFL's New York Giants.

Funeral services for Toon, a graduate of North Carolina A&T State University, will be conducted at 1 p.m. Thursday at the Cape Fear Conference "A" Headquarters, 25 Beaver Road, Erwin. Burial will follow in the Toon Family Cemetery in Dunn. Viewing will be held from 1-6 p.m. on Wednesday at the Dafford Funeral Home in Dunn and from noon-1 p.m. Thursday at the Cape Fear Conference "A" Headquarters in Erwin.

Toon is survived by his daughter Donna Foster, of Elgin, SC, aunts - Daisy Toon Jacobs, and Gertrude McDuffie, both of Dunn, longtime conmpanion Joyce Maddox and children, Ronald and Reginald Maddox, and one grandchild, Roslin Hicks.