Let Football Coaches Coach, OK?

Until Monday, when I nervously dialed McNicholas High School in Cincinnati, I hadn't talked to my first football coach in nearly 40 years. I got his answering machine. His voice still made me want to drop on my belly and give him 20.

Steve Klonne.

Ohhhhhhhhhhhh.

I've thought about Klonne often lately. Here's why: In a silly move by prosecutors, a Louisville high school football coach was accused in a trial last week of reckless homicide and wanton endangerment in the 2008 death of one of his players. Those prosecutors told a jury that Pleasure Ridge Park 's David Jason Stinson (pictured) caused the death of 15-year-old lineman Max Gilpin. They said he died of a heat stroke after he was forced to run "gassers," the traditional set of sprints that coaches unleash on players at all levels of football for conditioning and often for punishment.

Thankfully, after 90 minutes of deliberations, the jurors did the right thing. They acquitted Stinson of all charges. Still, you just know football coaches everywhere are glancing over their shoulders these days to see if their players are trotting onto the practice field with a lawyer.

It's football. It's violent. So, courtesy of those coaches who aren't concerned with trying to satisfy the naive by becoming Mister Rogers on the sidelines, it's splendid for teaching eternal lessons about character, toughness and the rest.

Players get hurt, of course, and sometimes, they die.

If you think it should be otherwise, may I suggest bowling?

No doubt, I'm old school -- with much help from Klonne, who was a Telly Savalas lookalike as our freshman coach at Mount Healthy High School in Cincinnati . He was HUGE, and it wasn't just because I was 14 years old. He was a body-building champion. Rain, snow or shine, he wore a white T-shirt with the Mount Healthy Owl logo on the front, gray gym shorts, white socks and black cleats. He looked and sounded like a football coach, which is to say he was scary and loud.

This was in 1970, when Vince Lombardi and Woody Hayes set the template for others in their profession. In other words, coaches were allowed to do anything to players just shy of capital punishment -- spit, curse, kick, grab, smack.

Not only that, for every practice, we were required to jog the one-third of a mile from the locker room to the deeply sunken area that contained a football field, several other wide-open spaces and maybe a drop or two of water.

It was called "Death Valley."

Did we complain? Yes, definitely, yes -- especially on that brutal jog up the hill after practice. But we mumbled in whispers for fear of The Coach, who was among the scariest and most respected persons in your world back then. The thing is, we didn't quit, and nobody died, and few were injured (at least, not to the point of needing an amputation or something), but these are different times.

With significantly less of that old-style approach to coaching, there are more tragedies occurring in football at the high school, college and pro levels.

Or maybe it just appears that way.

According to the most recent numbers compiled by Frederick O. Mueller, chairman of the American Football Coaches Committee on Football Injuries, Gilpin's death was one of seven in 2008 directly due to football. Mueller's stats also showed that such deaths have occurred in single digits for every year but one since 1978.

In contrast, Mueller's stats revealed an average of more than 20 such deaths from 1966 through 1972 -- as in my Death Valley Days. And, according to Mueller's stats, Gilpin's death joined that of six others resulting from heat stroke in 2008 to comprise the third-highest such total since the eight in 1970 and the seven in 1972.

Guess our Death Valley really could have been Death Valley. Consider, too, that coaches back then were huge on players using salt tablets (a no-no these days). Plus, the most significant liquid you consumed was afterward when you were encouraged to purchase a Gatorade or three from the vending machine.

I never heard back from Klonne, by the way. He is a busy man. Just last week, he was named as an inductee into a Cincinnati High School Hall of Fame. In addition to serving as the freshman coach at Mount Healthy and the varsity guy at McNicholas, Klonne's employer since 2005, he was an assistant coach at two other Cincinnati-area teams. He also spent 19 years running nationally renowned Moeller.

At Moeller, Klonne won his traditionally rugged league nine times, and he captured five regional titles and two state championships. He also reached the state finals three other times for a career record as a head coach of 186-71.

It all started for Klonne at Mount Healthy, where he had the same routine in the locker room after practices. He'd drop a 45 on the turntable across the way of Creedence Clearwater Revival singing Lookin' Out My Back Door.

To this day, I think of Klonne when I hear that song.

Well, that and Death Valley. Then, suddenly, whatever I'm trying to overcome at that moment doesn't seem so difficult.

Terence Moore is a national columnist and commentator for FanHouse. He is a frequent panelist on "Rome Is Burning," an ESPN show hosted by Jim Rome, that is seen Monday through Friday at 4:30 PM ET. Moore spent more than three decades working for major newspapers, including 26 years as an award-winning sports columnist for the San Francisco Examiner and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He resides in Atlanta.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

9-21-2009 @ 9:34PM

The Frey's said...

Practicing in 95 heat and denying water to players is a crime, pure and simple. PE majors in college (or blog writers) should not be in charge of who is prosecuted for crimes. Let the PE majors coach and the people with actually take real classes in college and go to law school decide who should be prosecuted for criminal behavior. Whether this coach was convicted isn't the point. When a coach endangers a minor with reckless behavior he or she should have to answer for it. Hopefully, coaches will take note of the State's action in this particular situation and learn from it. So other coaches and schools can try avoid a tragedy like this again.

9-22-2009 @ 5:56AM

depotrat said...

"with actually take real classes in college" Guess you weren't one of them.

Check out all the facts in the case. The kid was on medication that made him more prone to heat stroke. Did he disclose this info - NO.

9-22-2009 @ 9:12AM

ed344mu said...

He may have been on medication but I still think players should be allowed to hydrate themselves as needed. I'm even more old-school than Moore, but lack of hydration can be fatal!

9-22-2009 @ 10:22AM

spflynn21 said...

"It's football. It's violent...Players get hurt, of course, and sometimes, they die."

Mr. Moore, i think you need to reconsider the way you tried to present this story. I have no idea if you have children, but to state the above in the way that you chose, is classless, offensive, and in my opinion, sick. Is that what you would say in a face to face meeting with the parents of any high school aged CHILD who lost their life playing a game? Now I dont think that these coaches should be facing homocide charges, and I agree that football is a tough sport, and with all of the information and stories about these tragedies becoming widespread nationally, parents and players know that there are risks associated with football. But, I would like to see you handle this with a little more sensitivity than basically saying, "oh well, sometimes players die". Please take a step back and put yourself in the position of these parents that have felt the greatest loss in the world, that of a child. Maybe then, you would write with a tad bit more sympathy.

9-23-2009 @ 7:24AM

lrreamon said...

Moore has all the class of a Penthouse centerfold. He has no sensitivity and is a punk-azz sore.

9-22-2009 @ 7:49PM

jzz3skys said...

Terence Moore writes: "According to the most recent numbers compiled by Frederick O. Mueller, chairman of the American Football Coaches Committee on Football Injuries, Gilpin's death was one of seven in 2008 directly due to football. Mueller's stats also showed that such deaths have occurred in single digits for every year but one since 1978."

I can't speak for anyone else, but I"m always suspicious whenever sports bloggers start playing pretend sociologist and start citing studies and statistical increases and decreases.

For example, yes, it's true that in 2008 there were 7 deaths of high school players directly due to football, however, despite the blogger's claims to the contrary, this does not appear to be one of them.

According to what I read, heatstroke incurred during wind sprints which causes the heart to stop, while seemingly connected with the game, may result from any vigorous activity and for that reason are considered *indirect* fatalities.

Deaths that result from damage to the brain, like blows to head or chest, that cause an athlete's heart to stop, are considered "direct deaths*. That wasn't the case here.

So I think this was 1 of 7 indirect deaths of high school football players in addition to the 7 direct deaths.

It even explains all this in the report. Three of the direct fatalities happened while tackling, one while being tackled, one while being blocked, and two in a collision. Of the high school indirect deaths, four were due to heat stroke and three were heart-related deaths.

So this death was not, as the blogger claims (a little too cavalierly, in my opinion), about any romantic notions of "violence" or "getting hurt" while playing the game, it was more needless than that.

Here's a PDF file of the 2008 Annual Report by Frederick O. Mueller, Ph.D. He's not a medical doctor. He's a Professor of Sport Administration in the Department of Exercise and Sport Science at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Here's the link (PDF):

http://docs.google.com/gview?a=v&q=cache:5I9nxiBBFlIJ:www.unc.edu/depts/nccsi/FootballAnnual.pdf+frederick+o.+mueller+ph.d.&hl=en&gl=us

9-26-2009 @ 10:22AM

nannyfive5 said...

Perhaps I didn't get the entire story, but the article I read did not say that the boy told the coach he felt sick, or faint and needed water. If he had, the coach would probably have allowed him to sit. I'll admit, if the boy had done this several times he probably would have been removed from the team which is what should have happened, and is probably why he didn't tell the coach. There is a time during practice that everyone is given to get water. If they don't, then it is not the coaches fault. He can't take each boy by the hand and lead him to the water bucket like you do in pee wee ball.
I am sorry for this incident and my heart goes out to the parents. If it were my child, I would be exploring every avenue to be sure everything possible was done to save my boy's life, but facts are facts. I'm sure the parents feel horrible for allowing him to play with a health problem and on medication, but he died doing what he wanted to do. They were trying their best to allow him to be a normal healthy boy, it just wasn't meant to be .My condolence also goes out to the coach and his team and class mates. It is quite a shock and an eye opener to lose a friend that young, so his death will not be in vain. Other kids will realize that we have no guarantee of tomorrow.

9-29-2009 @ 1:17PM

jenna21t said...

I agree that Moore's composition of the story was not appropriate. Fifteen-year-old Max dies while at football practice, and we get all of three sentences about him from Moore. The rest of the story revolves around Moore's football experience as a kid.

I sympathize for Max's family. I agree that the coach should have been acquitted of charges, it was an accident. No one wanted Max, or anyone else to get hurt or die. But I want to know how this can be prevented in the future. I'm not concerned with how kids used to complain about football practice back in the 70's either. Let's look at today. How can we be more aware of the possible fatal dangers of intense practices? How can we educate coaches in preventing fatal accidents?