William Paul Mallard: Pied Piper of Sports, Inductee into GA Sports Hall of Fame

William Paul Mallard, 1943 –2013

Billy Mallard's life was defined by relationships: if you knew him, you loved him. Nobody was funnier, and the stories and memories of Billy's larger-than-life personality and clever wit will live on. William Paul Mallard (Billy), 69, died Thursday, Nov. 21, 2013 at Emory University Hospital Midtown after battling head and neck cancer for less than a year. 
Billy was born in Charlotte, N.C. to the late Ernest Lynwood (Baggy) Mallard, Jr. and Martha Matheson Mallard on Dec. 5, 1943. He is survived by his wife of 36 years, Cindy Bickerstaff Mallard, and their two sons: William Paul Mallard, Jr. and Charles Thornton Mallard and his wife Samantha Vester Mallard who were married in Billy's hospice room the day before he died. He is also survived by his sister Marilyn Kehoe (Jack) of Athens, Ga., brother Lynwood Mallard (Lulie) of Charlotte and sister Ann Fielding (Craig) of Cramerton, N.C.; and by his mother-in-law Gayle Kennedy as well as sisters-in-law and brothers-in-law Marcie and Dan Brown of Atlanta and Chip and Jayne Bickerstaff of Jacksonville, Fla. and numerous adoring nieces and nephews.
Billy's three-sport legacy at Myers Park High in Charlotte was predictable as his father was a three-sport inductee into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame. Billy attended The Citadel on a football scholarship, but his football career ended with a knee injury. He took a job in Atlanta and, as a born salesman, was involved over the years in a variety of businesses, primarily specialty advertising culminating most recently in his own business, Mallard Promotions.
Billy was a raconteur extraordinaire. He found humor and good spirit in all situations and affirmed everyone. A lifelong sports analyst, Billy was a colorful local TV announcer of Lovett football for four years. He was an avid fisherman from childhood, frequenting the water with his boys, friends and relatives across favorite locales including the Piedmont Driving Club lake, the North Carolina Outer Banks, Sea Island Marshes of Glynn and the Rock House in Coweta County. No one was better company during a slow day on the water.
A sort of Pied Piper of sports, Billy was a beloved coach of multitudes of children at Buckhead Baseball, NYO football and PRUMC basketball. To be on Coach Mallard's team was a treat as well as a learning experience. He loved his boys and girls fiercely, cut them no slack and rewarded them with endless laughter. His greatest legacy is and will always be the loving warmth and laughter that he constantly brought to his family and friends, and the hole that he leaves in all of our lives can never be filled. 
Billy was a member of the Piedmont Driving Club, Capital City Club, Round Table, Nine O'Clocks and the Sea Island Club. 
Visitation was at H.M. Patterson & Son–Spring Hill on Sunday, Nov. 24. A service will be held at Northside Methodist Church at 1 p.m. Monday with a reception following at the church. The family suggests donations to be used specifically for head and neck cancer research at the Winship Cancer Institute, 1365 Clifton Rd NE, Atlanta, GA 30322 or Gentiva Hospice Health Service, Inc., 3350 Riverwood Parkway, Suite 1400, Atlanta, GA 30339. Online condolences may be made at hmpattersonspringhill.com.