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Former Oxon Hill High School football great Walter Cross has memories of the late Cliff Haskins that go way beyond the X's and O's on the football field.

"To me he was like a father," Cross said last week after Haskins, 59, passed away after suffering an apparent heart attack on Aug. 17 and crashing his SUV on Indian Head Highway in Forest Heights.

Cross played for the Clippers under Haskins from 1994-1997 and earned a football scholarship to the University of Michigan after finishing his career as Maryland's all-time rushing leader (5,227 yards). He is just one of many lives that Haskins impacted in more than two decades of coaching in Prince George's County. Haskins had spent the last six years as an assistant coach at Charles H. Flowers High after serving as head coach at Oxon Hill from 1989-2002. He joined the Oxon Hill coaching staff as an assistant in 1985 after coaching for several years at the Oxon Hill Boys and Girls Club.

Funeral services were held Tuesday morning at Fort Foote Baptist Church in Fort Washington, where many of the late coach's family, friends and players celebrated his life.

"His players and coaches loved him and he loved them," Haskins daughter, LaKiaha, said Tuesday. "To him, football wasn't just about playing on the field. It was about the people he helped develop. You see these guys here that are 20, 30 or 40 years old and they have come back to see their coach. They still talk to each other and spoke to him because of that bond they built."

In his professional life, Haskins carved out a distinguished career with the Metropolitan Police Department, the Drug Enforcement Agency and the FBI before joining the Prince George's County Public school system in 1994 as a security guard. He had most recently been employed with the U.S. Marshals Service.

Haskins served with the security staff of Prince George's County Public Schools, and after leaving his post at Oxon Hill, he moved to Flowers, where he took an interest in assisting with the Jaguars' football program.

"He came up and told me that he had taken a year off from football and that he didn't want to be a head coach but still wanted to help out if he could," said Flowers head coach Mike Mayo. "We run a similar offense here at Flowers [to the one] he ran at Oxon Hill and he wanted to see how I ran my offense. Through that process he started coaching with me. He knew what I was looking for on the field."

While Haskins was often short with the media during his coaching days at Oxon Hill, those who knew him well have nothing but good things to say about him.

"He was pretty much a cool cat," said Cross, who served as a pallbearer for his late high school coach. "Coach Haskins was coach Haskins every day. No matter what, he was going to be him. He still loved Oxon Hill. Anything that you ever needed, he was always there. If you played for him he cared about you, he was going to be there for you."

"I'm just proud of him," said Haskins' first cousin Francine Haskins. "Just look around. Bad people don't have this many people at their funeral. Only good people do."

A number of local dignitaries paid tribute to Haskins during the service including Prince George's County Councilman Tony Knotts (D-District 8), who helped establish a proclamation declaring Aug. 24 "Cliff Haskins Day." A representative of Assistant United States Attorney Ronald C. Mason also paid respects to Haskins.

During Tuesday's service, plans were announced for a scholarship fund in Haskins' name that will benefit students at Oxon Hill High School.

"One thing you always knew was that coach cared about the kids," Johnson said. "He gave it his all. I know the community is going to miss him and that man did love football. He couldn't give it up. He loved the kids and they loved him. They had good and lasting relationships."

thampton@gazette.net