Between teaching Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) students to save lives and coaching golfers to steady their nerves, Coppell High School health science teacher and girls golf coach Gary Beyer approaches each day at CHS with the steadiness he learned from years in the firehouse and on the frontlines of medical emergencies.
“As soon as you think you’ve got something figured out, something happens and kind of knocks you in the back of the head,” Beyer said. “As you start to get comfortable in something, something crops up and says ‘wait a minute.’”
Prior to finding his calling in public service, Beyer worked in beverage sales for 14 years.
“It wasn’t a very rewarding or fulfilling occupation.” Beyer said. “It’s not like being a teacher or a paramedic or a firefighter, where your job directly affects someone else.”
After the company was bought out, it wanted to transfer Beyer to Houston from DFW, meaning that he would have to uproot his family. With his kids in middle school, he did not want to, so instead he shifted careers.
In his 40s, Beyer enrolled in EMT school, where he was “the oldest student in the classroom,” as he calls himself.
After earning his certifications, he joined the Coppell Fire Department in 2000, where he worked for 17 years as a firefighter paramedic. The job was grueling but meaningful.
“When you’re a paramedic, you can’t save everyone,” Beyer said. “But you can go home every day knowing you did the best you could. There’s somebody who’s going to walk out of a hospital because you helped.”
Coming from a family of nurses and educators, Beyer was drawn to his role as a paramedic, finding fulfillment because of its direct impact on people’s lives.
“I knew pretty quickly that I really liked doing it because you can go home every day thinking, ‘I did the best I could,’” Beyer said. “More times than not, there’s somebody that’s going to walk out of a hospital because I helped. That is something I couldn’t really put a price on.”
The highs and lows of his job gave him a perspective only few get to experience.
“I’ve delivered two babies. I’ve had to tell parents their children weren’t living,” Beyer said. “But I’ve also seen someone go from being dead to walking out of the hospital a week later.”
When Beyer retired from the fire department in 2017, he did not take a break. A week later, he came to Coppell High School.
The district wanted to expand its Health Science Department by adding Pharmacology, Medical Assistant and EMT programs. Beyer helped build the courses from the ground up, developing curriculum as he taught.
At CHS, lessons learned from his previous careers carry over into teaching.
“Because of his experience at the fire station as an EMT, the way he handles work around us really shapes how we deal with responsibilities,” senior Nanditha Bodapati said. “He doesn’t just tell us what he thinks, it’s based on real experience, especially when we go on clinical rotations at the fire station.”
Even on the golf course, where Beyer is Coppell’s girls coach, the lessons of his previous careers shape students.
“It taught him teamwork and how to stay calm under pressure, which is really important for golf,” senior golfer Riya Bapna said. “He’s always reminding us to stay patient and composed, even when we’re frustrated.”
Across all of Beyer’s careers, one theme connects it all: service. Whether he’s responding to emergencies, teaching CPR, or guiding a student during a golf round, Beyer has found great purpose in being able to help others.
“For me, putting somebody else or a group of people before yourself is very genuine and rewarding,” Beyer said. “I try to do that everyday. I think the service industry occupations are what I’m supposed to do.”
With retirement on the horizon, Beyer does not know exactly what comes next. He may take a teaching position at Dallas College, where he is already an adjunct faculty member for EMT courses, or stay in the classroom a little longer. Either way, he is at peace with the possibilities.
“There’s always a handful of decisions that we make that could change the course of where we as adults end up and consequently, our children end up,” Beyer said. “If I’d have stayed in the beverage business, who knows where I’d be?”
Beyer thinks all of his careers have shaped him into the person he is today.
“Everybody’s experiences, good or bad, contribute to who you are,” Beyer said. “You take the good from each one and you move forward.”
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