 Collier went to work at Paris High School in 1928 as a mathematics teacher and coached several of the school 's sports teams . He got the nickname " George " when he was a teacher because he affectionately called most of his male students " George " and most of his female students " Martha " . He married Mary Varder from Paris in 1930 and spent 16 years working at the high school before enlisting in the U.S. Navy in 1943 during World War II . Collier 's Paris football team had an overall win @-@ loss @-@ tie record of 73 – 50 – 10 . Collier was 37 years old when he joined the military ; although he likely could have avoided enlisting because he was a teacher and had a family , he felt serving in the war was his duty . 
