In order to honor
Coach Jackson Horner's passing, I knew my meager writing abilities would be insufficient. I asked one of his very own stars to pen some thoughts for our blog. My gratitude is only surpassed by my humility. Thanks
Bob Hudson!
From the "pen" of Bob Hudson...
Many of us
on this blog have had the pleasure (well sometimes it was a pleasure) of being
coached by a legend – Harry Groves. Whether we threw the Javelin, Put the Shot,
jumped or ran we benefited from our time with Harry.
Some of us
on this Blog also had the pleasure of having been coached by a 2nd
coaching legend – Jackson Horner of State College High School. Jackson passed
away this week and. As spent a little thinking about it, I was wondering why he
had such a great impact on me. When I
was in high school we certainly butted heads on more than one occasion. It occurred to me that he was not a coach,
but really a teacher whose subject from 3-6 PM – and seemingly every weekend
was track and field… and life
What is a
coach – or at least a great coach?
A coach is
like a parent. At the time you both hate them and love them. With the passage
of time you realize that they, like a parent, only want the best for you.
Instead of making you eat your vegetables, they make you do that extra lift or
that additional interval.
A coach
teaches you that the team matters – more than you matter. If you don’t show up
for practice you are letting your teammates down. Coach Horner NEVER missed one
day of school in 38 years. If you don’t
do the interval in the assigned time then the WHOLE team does it again! It was
not the star who mattered, but the 4th and 5th men who
made the difference in cross country.
A coach
makes you do the impossible. A kid who
could not finish a 3 mile warm up becomes a state-runner up. A team that goes almost 20 years without
losing a dual meet, because he creates a culture in which the upper classmen
demand excellence from newcomers.
A coach is
like a CEO – he knows when to encourage and when to kick butt... sometimes simultaneously.
My coach had
a storied career:
He ran, and I believe he was captain of, the
Penn State Cross country team. If I
recall Horace Ashenfelter was a teammate.
He coached a
team that 50 years ago broke the national record in the 2 mile relay – only to
have that last only a few hours thanks to Jim Ryan out in Kansas
He had a
streak of dual meets wins in cross country that lasted 20 years – until broken
by a Chambersburg team led by future Penn State Doug Walters.
He was
listed in Faces in the Crowd by Sports Illustrated
He was in
the National High School coaching hall of fame.
His
accomplishments were many, but more than that, I think back on the life lessons
he and Coach Groves taught us: Show up for practice, don’t give up, work hard
and good things will happen!
It was ironic,
because moments before hearing the news from a high school and Penn State
friend of mine I was in a coffee shop. The manager was going crazy because an
employee – a young kid – had not shown up for work and not even bothered to
call in.
So what’s the
moral of this too long story? The next time you are enjoying your cup of coffee
thank the coach who taught your barista that showing up is over half the
battle. Thanks Jackson we will miss you!
