Florida Football Coach and PE teacher Lin-J Shell became a Chalkboard Hero when he prevented a potential tragedy on his school campus.
Many talented educators have also had successful careers as athletes. One of these is Wagner Lindsell Shell, Jr., also known as Lin-J Shell. He is a former professional football player who later taught high school physical education. But he’s probably best known for foiling an incident of potential violence at his Florida school.
Lin-J was born Oct. 22, 1981. As a young man, He played college football at Jacksonville University. Later he became a professional football player, occupying the position of defensive back. He played in both the American and the Canadian Football League from 2004 to 2015. Teams he played for include the Philadelphia Eagles, the New Orleans VooDoo, the Calgary Stampeders, the Toronto Argonauts, the BC Lions, and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. For his athletic prowess, Lin-J was named an East All-Star for the Canadian Football League in 2010 and 2011. He also garnered a Grey Cup in 2014.
After he concluded his career as a pro-ball player, Lin-J accepted a position as a physical education teacher and Assistant Football Coach at Jean Ribault High School in Jacksonville, Florida. He was promoted to interim Head Football Coach at the school just days before the start of the 2019 season, he coached the team to a 4-5 record that year.
On May 9, 2018, while Lin-J was working at Ribault High as the Assistant Football Coach, that he became a hero there. He helped to prevent a woman from using a handgun in the school gymnasium when a brawl broke out. The fight was triggered when the woman became angry about a social media post involving her nephew, who happened to be one of Lin-J’s students. The woman went to the gym with four men. “She got out of the car, she was irate, basically saying she wasn’t going to let anyone jump on her family,” recalled Lin-J. When the teacher noticed that she was holding a gun, he went straight for the firearm. “I came from behind her, I saw she had a gun, I grabbed her hand, put her hand down and hit her elbow,” he continued. Then Lin-J walked the woman backwards out of the gym, holding her arm so that the gun was pointed toward the floor. All the while, he pleaded with her, “Please don’t shoot our kids.” Once he had forced the woman outside, he shouted for help from an armed officer at the school. The officer forced the woman to drop the gun and arrested her. (To read more about the incident, see this onlline article from Bell Media.)
Sadly, this Chalkboard Hero passed away from a stroke in Florida on July 29, 2021. He was only 39 years old. He also tested positive for Covid during the pandemic.
