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Whether or not they performed basketball, baseball or the game wherein Lon Herzbrun made a reputation for himself, Blount County’s outdated guard is in settlement: They don’t make them like “Lonnie” any extra.
Herzbrun, who died on Friday on the age of 85, is being remembered this weekend as a soccer standout, a passionate coach, an enthusiastic health advocate … however greater than the rest, an old-school man who got here of age throughout an period when the soccer subject was actually a spot the place ache was an ally and the sweat and blood shed on the way in which to victory certain males collectively for a lifetime.
“Again then, the self-discipline was fairly excessive and the expectations had been fairly excessive,” stated Mike Edwards, a College of Tennessee basketball standout who performed through the Seventies, when Herzbrun served as linebackers coach of the soccer group. “You had been anticipated to carry out not solely on the sector however within the classroom. Appearances had been large, as was the way in which you performed your self, and cash wasn’t even part of it. It was simply old-school values such as you had been raised with at house.
“Each of us had been old style guys, and we had that bond. Again then, you had been anticipated to play harm! We had a coaching room at UT, however that was the final place you wished to go. You wished to play, as a result of should you didn’t, anyone was going to be there to take your home.”
Within the wake of Herzbrun’s passing, nevertheless, Edwards and his co-hosts of “The Sports activities Web page” radio present — launched by Herzbrun and Bob Gilbert greater than 4 many years in the past — are in settlement: Nobody will have the ability to take Herzbrun’s place.
“Blount County has misplaced an icon,” declared Donnie Moore. “Lon Herzbrun has left his legacy not solely on sports activities, however on Blount County as a complete, and there’ll by no means be one other.”
A resident of Blount County since 1956, Herzbrun was born in West Virginia and was a three-sport captain throughout his days at Woodrow Wilson Excessive Faculty in Washington, D.C., earlier than attending the College of Tennessee in 1954. Taking part in for Coach Bowden Wyatt alongside the late Johnny Majors, Herzbrun joined the Military afterward, serving as a Ranger and a paratrooper whereas persevering with to play soccer.
He was named Most Helpful Participant of the Fort Campbell group in 1960, and whereas stationed at Fort Eustis (now Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Virginia), he was named Excellent Service Participant when his group gained the Armed Forces Championship. After his army service, he spent a preseason with the Washington Redskins earlier than taking part in for the semi-pro Knoxville Bears from 1964 to 1966.
On the similar time, he started his teaching profession at Fulton Excessive Faculty, the place he remained till 1968. The next yr, he returned to his alma mater to function linebackers coach from 1969 to 1976. His first yr, Coach Doug Dickey requested Herzbrun to implement a free weight program for the group, Herzbrun recalled in a 2013 interview with The Day by day Instances. As a linebacker coach, Herzbrun had a hand in molding the All-American careers of Jack Reynolds, Jackie Walker, D.D. Lewis and Steve Kiner.
“As a coach, you’re solely nearly as good as your gamers, and he had some good gamers,” stated Ray Path, Herzbrun’s long-time pal and the offensive line coach for the Vols throughout the identical period. “He was an important coach and did job, and his gamers appreciated him. He was a competitor, too, and it didn’t matter what he did.
“My offensive line needed to block on his linebackers throughout apply, and I inform you what, you higher carry your boots, since you’re going to get rolled round. We did numerous one-on-one and two-on-two, the sorts of issues you’ll be able to’t do anymore. We did the fundamentals of soccer — blocking and tackling — and Lonnie did an important job at that. He was a fundamentals coach, and that meant essentially the most to him.
“We all the time began from the bottom up each day, and by the point we obtained them to the highest, they had been soccer gamers,” Path added.
In 1977, Herzbrun left UT to function defensive coordinator for the Maryville School Scots. A yr earlier, he had opened Olympia Athletic Membership in downtown Maryville, which he and his household (together with son Eric and daughter Yvette) ran till 2018, after they bought it to Steve Hepperly. It was at Olympia that Herzbrun partnered with “The Sports activities Web page” founder, the late Bob Gilbert (former sports activities editor for The Day by day Instances, amongst different shops), to launch the present in 1980.
“The preliminary focus of the present was all the time to advertise the athletes in Blount County, and once we took over in 2011, he was in our nook to get the main focus again on the native athletes and the native applications,” stated former Main League baseball participant and William Blount instructor and baseball coach Charlie Puleo, the present host, alongside Moore and Edwards, of “The Sports activities Web page.”
“Lonnie was undoubtedly a giant think about us formatting the present in that path,” he stated. “It was all the time a matter of, ‘We have to acknowledge the native applications and the native athletes.’ Our motto has been, these final 11 years, ‘bringing you one of the best in native sports activities,’ and that’s a tribute to what Lon and Bob Gilbert began.”
“Lon all the time stated that we have to get these youngsters and coaches and put them on our present, and it’ll assist construct their confidence, which can carry them to an excellent greater stage,” Edwards added. “That simply made him really feel actually good that we might try this. I wish to suppose that Lon had rather a lot to do with the success of the athletes right here in Blount County.”
In a way, Edwards identified, Herzbrun by no means stopped teaching, all the way in which to the tip: Three weeks in the past, Herzbrun made considered one of his common visitor appearances on “The Sports activities Web page” and gave the visitor athletes some sage recommendation little question handed on to him throughout his personal taking part in days:
“‘Confidence comes from repetition,’” Moore recalled. “He was as invested in the way forward for soccer as he was prior to now, and he was so pleased with our native athletes.”
“Lonnie was an important coach, however he was a better help of all these Blount County colleges and people youngsters,” Path added. “That’s what ‘The Sports activities Web page’ was developed to do, and it’s superb the youngsters you see come by there. It’s the one program I do know within the state that acknowledges native individuals like that.”
And that, Puleo identified, will be the greatest legacy Herzbrun leaves behind. There are many tales about him, Puleo stated, all stemming from Herzbrun’s standing as a neighborhood legend, and his zest for residing life with the identical depth he confirmed on the soccer subject.
“The man was a Renaissance man: an all-state basketball and soccer participant in highschool, a soccer participant for UT, a pilot, a paratrooper,” Puleo stated. “He had a brand new automobile each week, it appeared, when he would present up for the radio present. He had a cabin within the mountain that he bought and obtained a motor house as an alternative. He all the time had one thing happening.
“He was a treasure, and he’ll actually be missed. It’s a tragic day for Blount County.”
Herzbrun is survived by his spouse, Wilma; a son, Eric Herzbrun; a daughter, Yvette Herzbrun; and quite a few grandchildren and prolonged relations. Companies for Herzbrun can be held at 5 p.m. Thursday, June 9, at Fairview United Methodist Church, 2508 Outdated Niles Ferry Street in Maryville. Search for extra obituary data in Tuesday’s version of The Day by day Instances.
Steve Wildsmith has labored as a author, editor and freelance journalist for The Day by day Instances for greater than twenty years. Along with protection of leisure and occasional information matters, he additionally serves because the social media specialist for Maryville School. Contact him at [email protected].
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