COACH

"Several years ago when passing through NN, I stopped at one of my favorite places to eat … Hot Dog King on Jefferson near Ivy Farms.  As I entered I saw a familiar face - Coach Julie Conn.  He was sitting at a table with a young man I didn’t
recognize.  I approached and said, “Coach” - he didn’t look up.  The guy sitting with him explained that he was Coach Conn’s nurse, and explained his medical problems, emphasizing the loss of memory and lack of awareness.  I explained that I had run for Coach Conn in the 60’s.  I went on to explain that I didn’t appreciate him when I was a kid, but over the years I had gained tremendous respect for the man as I thought back over things he had said and done for his runners.  I said to the nurse, 'Please take care of Coach; he took care of hundreds over the years'. 

"I went to the counter, got my to-go order of two footlongs to get me back up the road to my home in Roanoke. 

 "As I was leaving, I walked by the table again.  Coach Conn slowly reached out and touched my arm and said, 'My four D’s - Douthat, Dorner, Dossett and Doonie'.  Tears filled my eyes - he remembered.  We were four of his distant runners in the 65/66 season.  Actually “Doonie” was Ronnie Timberlake -  but Coach called us his 'four D’s'.  The nurse explained that sometime out of nowhere a very specific memory will come back. 

"Several years later I was to find out first hand how that works when my mother died from Alzheimer’s.

"My favorite teacher - Julie Conn. 

"Thanks, COACH.  Save me a place on your team.  I’ll try harder; I promise."

- Jim Dossett ('66) of VA
Thanks, Jim!
 

I was certainly no "jock", but Julie inspired me to do the best I could with the body I was given.
Today, he could not survive in an era of political correctness and "getting in touch with your feelings."
Julie most often motivated you by getting in touch with the seat of your pants with a well-placed kick.
Is it any wonder that we all loved him and that we unofficially named our new gym after him?

- Dave Spriggs ('64) of VA - 05/08/03
Thanks, Dave!
 

SLOW AND STEADY WIN DE RACE
 
Yes, tomorrow I’ll turn 75. Never thought much about it before, but here I am and a lot us sure ain’t!
 
I remember 1943 gym class and grinding around the track behind NNHS with you and a bunch of friends. We
found that by going slow and steady we could carry on conversations. Also that by carefully pacing ourselves
at just the right speed, we could sneak by with only 4 laps instead of the required 5 (1/5 mile track). Someone
ratted on us to Coach Julie Conn and he secreted himself in the grandstands to confirm. As we rounded lap
no. 4, expecting it to be the final, Julie stormed out of the stands and gave us one of his red-faced screaming
lectures. His main theme was that none of us would ever see fifty. During all this, the jocks were sailing past,
happy to do extra laps at high speed, and smirking at the apprehended - now doomed to die young.
 
So here we are – still alive 25 years past our pronounced finality. And the HS jocks? Most of them are already
standing quietly around in front of Heaven's version of the Palace Theater. They are all wearing their ratty old 
“N” sweaters, and wondering what went wrong.
 
In his later years my grandfather used to say to his friends on parting, "May you live long and die happy."
I hope that you do too.
 
- Fred Field ('45) of CA to Charles Wicke ('45) - 06/06/03

        ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

And this response came back from Ralph Wicke, younger brother of Charles:
 
Thanks for the Julie Conn story. He was quite a colorful coach at NNHS. I managed the basket ball team while
I was in NNHS and can still hear him yelling "MOOOOOOVVVEEEE THE BALL!!!!!! Pantiotius" (a Greek player).  
 
Another player, Elmo Stephenson had quit high school in his junior year and joined the navy. He came back
to high school to get his degree after being in the navy about four years where he played basket ball on the
Atlantic Fleet varsity team. Coach Conn talked him into playing high school basketball during his senior year.
I remember having to put a "patch" over his navy tattoo so that the fans and visiting team members wouldn't
notice his age and Newport News parents wouldn't think that this "evil tattooed man" might unduly influence
their children.
 
Everyone has a Julie Conn story.

- Ralph Wicke - 06/06/03

And what great Julie Conn stories these are! Thank you, Gentlemen!
 

Julie Conn, Athletic Director, was a colorful and enthusiastic leader,
with a proven record of winning which speaks for itself.
One of the most outstanding traits about Coach Conn little know to most students was his compassion.
With all his bluster and display of disgust with a young athlete not giving his best,
he had one of the biggest hearts of anyone I have known.
After chewing out a young person, he would come over and put his arm
around their shoulder and give them some words of encouragement.
Moreover, probably not known was his work of compassion, because he made no public display.
It was only because I was a Basketball Manager that I often observed him contacting a friend with means
to seek assistance for some young athlete who did not have suitable clothing to travel with a team.
Time and again, I would observe a young person coming to Coach Conn to tell him
they did not wish to make a trip with the team because they could not meet the dress code of NNHS
for travel to other events or schools while representing the Typhoon.
A phone call to one of his many friends would soon have an embarrassed young athlete
looking like he stepped out of a fashion magazine.
It would have embarrassed Coach if anyone knew of his compassion and willingness to help students,
so I never said anything of the times I overheard such conversations
while working in the equipment room next to his office.
Now that he is no longer with us, I think it only fitting to let our classmates know
that we had not only an inspiring and demanding coach,
but a wonderful human being in our midst quietly touching our lives as we grew and matured.

- Joe Madagan ('57) of FL, Manager, 1957 State Basketball Championship Team - 06/04/04
  Thanks, Joe!
 

Another little tidbit along this line. Julie, Jr.  was an excellent basketball player, and of course played for the Typhoon.
But, Dad Julie was coach, and made him sit on the bench much more than he should have, not wanting to be accused of showing favoritism to his son.

When Harry came along, he refused to play basketball for NNHS as long as Mr. Conn was coach,
not wanting the same thing to happen to him.

THAT is when & why Julie quit coaching basketball, & hired Bill Chambers!

And, as we all know, Harry was good enough to be first team guard on a state champion team or two!!

- Ron Miller ('59) of NC - 06/12/04
Thanks, Ron!
 

Hi Carol,

I’ve been asked by Allan Hanrahan (NNHS ‘55) and his wife Renee Koskinas Hanrahan (NNHS ‘56)  to send you the following information on Memorial Endowed Scholarships at Christopher Newport University.  The scholarships were established in honor of two NNHS educators who were quite instrumental in our lives, and these scholarships will continue to assist CNU students in their educational endeavors.  Contributions can be made at any time by NNHS Alumni and any others who would like to make a donation to honor the memories of Coach Conn and Miss Gildersleeve.  

"NNHS Alumni will be interested to know that there are memorial endowed scholarships at Christopher Newport University in the names of  Ethel M. Gildersleeve and Julius Conn.

Anyone interested in contributing to either scholarship is invited to contact Lucy Latchum, Director of Major and Planned giving, at (757) 594-7702 or llatchum@cnu.edu.“ 

Thanks, Carol.   Wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

Typhoons forever,

- Carolyn Simpson Knight ('56) of VA - 12/11/06
WOWZERONI!!!  Thanks, Carolyn!
 

Just a short note to have everyone take a look at this website. A tribute to two really great men. It makes it
even more enjoyable reading to have a Crabba write this.
 

http://hrvarsity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1759

A tribute to Charlie Nuttycombe

On Aug. 1, the Peninsula Sports Club will honor Charlie Nuttycombe, who coached track and football at both Newport News and Menchville high schools for more than 30 years.

Chris Nicholson, a 1965 Hampton HS graduate, wrote this tribute to Coach Nuttycombe:

Coach Nuttycombe – A Teacher of Values
Tribute by a ’65 Crabber

How do you teach teenagers values when they are rarely paying attention? Sports is an ideal venue to accomplish this because at least the kids must pay attention in order to acquire the requisite skills and make the teams. Coaches, just like teachers, come in all sizes and abilities to influence.

Typhoon Coaches Charlie Nuttycombe and Julie Conn had a major influence on me when they showed that they were concerned about my athletic development in spite of the fact that I was a Crabber. The effect was minor at that time. But as the years passed, I found I was drawing on their unselfish interest in me and using that to modify the way I interacted with colleagues. It is amazing how small but genuine expressions of interest and concern by coaches, teachers, and mentors can have long lasting positive effects on the recipients. Through these actions, many times, are transmitted the essential knowledge of how to interact with others.

Thank you Coach Nuttycombe for being an inspiration to all those you touched.

The rivalry was intense between the Typhoons and the Crabbers in the early 1960’s as it always had been. As a Crabber high jumper at a meet at Newport News High in either 1963 or 1964, I was amazed when coach Julie Conn and later coach Charlie Nuttycombe spoke to me and offered some suggestions to improve my jumping technique.

Their words were genuine and they amazingly seemed to be trying to help me; I was confused at their interest because this was a competition between two schools who hated each other, or so it seemed to me at the time. They repeated this several more times before I graduated. Why would they be interested in improving the performance of a rival competitor? (My brother-in-law Lou Tyree had played football for Julie Conn at NNHS and was a decorated WW II and Korean War veteran. Later I learned he had called coach Conn and told him about me.)

The significance of that was lost on me for a number of years but as I matured, the testosterone influence diminished, and I was faced with other challenges, I realized that two of the most important things in life were treating people right and effective teamwork. Several times during my professional career when I questioned some aspect of my performance, I drew on the lessons learned years before from the two coaches whose efforts to help me might have had a negative impact on the “final score” but they were trying to build my confidence.

They were more interested in the development of a young man than they were in the “final score” of the track meet. The more we all focus on the development of young people, like Coach Nuttycombe always did, the better off the community, the state, the nation, and world will be. Thank you Coaches Nuttycombe and Conn for collectively having been one of several inspirations in my life.


Chris R. Nicholson
HHS - 1965
Va Tech – 1970
Retired after 31 years of federal service - 2003
__________________
HRvarsity administrator / lburke@dailypress.com
 

- Jerry Blanchard ('62) of VA - 07/16/07
Thanks, Jerry!