Wayne Lamar Peace, Jr. (born November 3, 1961) is an American former college and professional footballquarterback and current high school football coach in Lakeland, Florida.
Peace became the Gators' starting quarterback just five games into his freshman season of 1980 when a knee injury to starter Bob Hewko propelled the rookie into the lineup,[2] and he performed well enough to keep the starting job for most of the next three and a half seasons. Over his career at Florida, Peace lead the Gators to a 28-12-1 record, four bowl games, and their first ever top-10 ranking in the final AP Poll (No. 6 in 1983). He set several individual records as well; his career completion percentage (61.6%) was a school record and his 7,206 passing yards were second in school history when he graduated. During his junior season in 1982, Peace set an NCAA record for completion percentage (70.7%) which was broken by Steve Young the following year.[3] Peace appeared on the cover of the September 13, 1982 cover of Sports Illustrated. In one of a series of articles written for The Gainesville Sun in 2006, the Sun sportswriters ranked him as No. 81 all-time greatest Gator of the first 100 years of Florida football.[4] He was later inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great."[5]
Peace graduated from the University of Florida with a bachelor's degree in marketing in 1986. In February 1987, he founded a State Farm insurance agency in his hometown of Lakeland.[1] In 2006, while continuing to run his insurance agency, Peace became the quarterbacks coach for the high school team at Lakeland Christian School. In January 2011, he was named head football coach at the school, and has led his team to 6-5 and 7-3 records in his first two seasons.[9]
Personal
Peace is married to the former Melanie Britt, who is also from Lakeland. They have four children.[3]
