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BOB KERRIGAN HIS YEARS AS A COACH
During his 35 year career as a Physical Education teacher at West, as far as sports are concerned. Bob was their resident “Gil Thorpe” (the mythical coaching figure of comic page fame).
The West High “workaholic” coached football, girls basketball, and baseball.
FOOTBALL (1967-71, 1972-73, 1977-79, 1982…11 YEARS)
From 1967 through 1971, Bob Kerrigan was as an assistant coach, first under head coach Nick Gabardina (a coaching icon himself and the subject of a previous “Spotlight On…” article), and then under Dick Powers (another local sports legend).
For the next two years, he took over the reins of the football program at Bishop Brady High School in Concord.
He returned to West and served as head coach of the Blue Knights from 1977 through 1979.
His final year in high school football saw him serve as an assistant coach to talented mentor, Fred Cole, at Manchester Central
BASKETBALL (1985 – 1989…5 YEARS)
As Kerrigan put it,”No one else wanted the job and the girls really wanted to play so I took it with the understanding that it would be for one year only, but I ended up staying for five. I’d have probably stayed longer had the NHIAA not changed the game scheduling format. When I first started, the girls played on Mondays and Thursdays while the boys played on Tuesdays and Fridays. My son, Ryan, was playing varsity hoop for West and because of the way the scheduling went, I still got to see him play. However, the format changed before his senior season. The girls now played on the same days as the boys with one team staying home and the other traveling…with both teams playing against the same opposing school.
For instance, if the boys team was scheduled to play Nashua at home, the girls would travel to Nashua to play as the visitors. That meant if I continued to coach the girls team, I wouldn’t get to watch my son play his final year of basketball for West. As much as I would have liked to continue coaching the girls, it was a no-brainer and I gave it up.”
continued, ”I really enjoyed coaching the girls because they always played hard, but it definitely was different than coaching boys. If I got upset at a male player in football or baseball and yelled at him, he’d just shrug it off and a few minutes later, it was as if nothing had ever been said. Not so with the girls. If I yelled at one of them, she’d most probably start crying then I’d ask myself what the heck I said to make her do that…plus, unlike boys, girls wouldn’t forget. As I said, I reallyenjoyed my time coaching them, but it definitely was a different experience.”
BASEBALL (1968, 1969, 1970-95. 1996-00…34 years)
Bob served as an assistant coach at West in 1968, then took over the program at St. Marie, a parochial high school, in Manchester, the following year.
He returned to West and took over as head coach in 1970 and stepped down in 1995, a total of 26 seasons heading the West High baseball program where his teams won over 300 games. As he put it, “We didn’t always have winning seasons, but I always had a good bunch of kids for a lot of years, my MVP probably being infielder Greg LaRocca who played pro ball for the San Diego Padres and Cleveland Indians before heading for Japan to continue his career there. Also had pitcher Gary Nutter who made it to Double A with the Chicago White Sox.”
The Blue Knights were the Class “L” runners-up in 1989 then won it all in 1990. His thoughts about those ball-clubs? “Every kid who played on those two teams went on to college. They all didn’t play baseball once they got there, but they ALL went. It was a very smart group of kids and I never had to say anything more than once. LaRocca played on both of those teams and most of the guys played other sports, too.”
It should be mentioned here that, while still working as a PE teacher at West, Bob also served as head coach of the St. Anselm Hawks college baseball program for five years.
Additionally, Bob served as the head coach of Manchester Post 79, an American Legion ball club, a position he held for only one year. Why? The father of one son and four daughters had a talk with the most important person in his life, his wife, Marea. Though he already was spending the majority of his school year coaching, if he continued with ’79, it would now consume his summers, too…and Marea wanted him to be fully aware of what was happening.
It was during their “discussion” that she made a comment to him that is one of the most impacting I’ve ever heard referent to the importance of coaching versus the importance of parenting.
She said “Bobby, I know you love baseball and I know you love your children, but there’s a very important thing you need to remember. Baseball will NEVER love you back. Your children will, and right now, they need you in their lives.” And, knowing she was right, Bob resigned.
Personally speaking, I sincerely believe that many coaches’ wives believe as Marea does. They just lack the courage to do what she did. And very importantly, her husband listened to her “wisdom” and did the “right” thing. Maybe that’s another reason their marriage has lasted for 42 years (they’ll celebrate their 43rd anniversary next February 14th, Valentine’s Day!)
FYI…
Bob led his club to the American Legion state finals during his single year there and on his pitching staff was a 16 year old right-hander by the name of Chris Carpenter. Yes, THAT Chris Carpenter who went on to pro baseball fame as a member of the Toronto Blue Jays and St. Louis Cardinals where he won a Cy Young Award as the best pitcher in the National League as well as two World Championships.
WRAP UP
After all his years in coaching, 50 (that’s NOT a misprint!) separate seasons, what makes him proudest is when former players return to tell him how much they learned playing under his guidance and how much they enjoyed doing it.
As a former high school coach, myself, I couldn’t agree with him more. Having players make a special effort to return to their “roots” just to say “Thanks” is one of the most impacting things a coach can experience. It really doesn’t get any better than that.
A LOVE FOR THE GAME AND ONE CERTAIN PRO
As I mentioned earlier, Bob still loves baseball more than any other sport. As he put it. ”I know to most people it’s boring, but I still could watch it all day long. I love to concentrate on all the little things that happen in a game, the things most people never notice. I do agree that they need to find a way to speed it up, like having umpires widen their strike zones so they call more strikes.”
His favorite professional ballplayer today? He mentioned one name only, Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia. “He’s everything a ballplayer should be, a really good player and a really good person. He’s the total package.”
THINKING BACK
While writing this story, his choice of player and the statement he made about him got me thinking, thinking back to his championship season in 1990, and, though it’s been years, I remembered a conversation that I had with my oldest son, Brant, who played both high school and legion baseball during that same time period.
It’s no secret that young athletes usually try to emulate the characteristics of their favorite “Pro”…and my two sons were no different. Back then, Brant always looked up to Dwight Gooden, then a top-notch fastball pitcher with the New York Mets. In fact, for a while, his teammates called him “White Dwight” and I was OK with that. However, the more Gooden’s life progressed, and it was not a good one due to his involvement with drugs, the more I hoped my son would look to someone else as a role model.
Then I remembered who I suggested he watch.
Enter Bob Kerrigan…
His West High baseball team had just won the 1990 Class “L” title and, after reading the article in the sports section of the Union Leader, I showed it to him and I told him that Bob and I were former classmates and teammates during our high school days and winning a state championship couldn’t have happened to a nicer, more deserving person.
When he pressed me for more info about Bob, I told him that more than the pro that he had always looked up to, it was Coach Kerrigan, NOT Gooden, who possessed the qualities and characteristics that I really wanted him to emulate, and, shortly thereafter, Gooden was history.
And though Bob’s my peer, I DO have to admit that, more than once, I, too, have wished I could emulate some of his admirable traits.
REMEMBERING A HALL OF FAMER
As to how this man, who has spent the overwhelming part of his adult life coaching both male and female athletes, would like to be remembered?
The answer I got from this now part-time Bailiff for the Hillsborough County Sheriff Department was short and to the point.
“As someone who played the game and coached the game the way it’s supposed to be played and coached.”
I played both with and against Bob. I also coached against him. And I can assure you that he definitely accomplished his player/coach goal, and did so admirably.
Returning again to the conversation I had with my son, I’d like to add perhaps what I believe is the most important part of Bob’s legacy, he always demonstrated characteristics that any parent would be proud to have his own kids emulate, especially THIS Dad.
Robert P. “Bob” (“Bobby” to his wife) Kerrigan. great athlete, great coach, and, most importantly, a great guy, as attested to by the fact that he has been inducted into TWO Halls of Fame. The Manchester Catholic High School Hall of Fame in 1995 and the Queen City Athletic Hall of Fame in 1996.
P.S.
With reference to the title of former MLB manager Leo Durocher’s autobiography.
Sorry, Leo, but some nice guys DON’T finish last!
ADDENDUM:
This is the picture Bob painted of himself. Today’s lingo we’d call it an artist’s version of a Selfie!
While wading through the memories I have of Bob, I felt overwhelmed.
They flitted from our days as teammates on the Bishop Bradley High School baseball team (I was a pitcher, he was my catcher) to a particular game at the old West High baseball field (located across the street from the school) when we were opposing coaches, Bob mentoring the West High Blue Knights ball club and me guiding the Crusaders of Memorial High back in the late ’60s.
After meandering my way through those two, I smiled.
From seeing each other years later at a well-known local watering hole, the “Raph,” with my longtime friend/classmate John Gorski, shortly after the Class of ’61 held its 50th reunion to sitting in a room at Gill Stadium as “workmates” helping Henry J. Sweeney Post #2 as it hosted the Northeast Regional American Legion Baseball Tournament.
After those two, especially the time at “The Raph,” I laughed.
From taking Bob to see former Pro baseball player Greg LaRocca (who credited Bob with being the best coach he had ever had) and shared old stories on the patio of Greg’s home to the last time I saw Bob who had now become a resident at the Hillsborough County Nursing Home.
He was in the home because his battle with Altzeimer’s had taken its toll. Though his wife of 53 years, Marea, had come to the difficult realization that she could no longer care for him alone, she continued to visit him daily.
It was at the HCNH nursing home that I “met” that horrific disease for the second time,
The first time was with my Dad, Ted Sr., again at a nursing home.
It was during a brief visit where he greeted me saying “Hi, Ted. How are you?” that a short time later he turned to me and, looking at me, quizzingly, and asked me a question.
He asked me who I was.
Those three words…”Who are you?” hit me hard…VERY HARD.
My Dad didn’t know who I was!
It was shortly after, that I, still dazed, went back to my truck, got in and just sat there as my eyes began to fill with water.
Not long after that, Dad passed.
Though Bob wasn’t my Dad, he wasn’t even my brother, he was just my friend –the same thing happened.
After that last visit, I went back to my truck, got in and just sat there, and started crying.
God bless you, Marea, and thank you for sharing him with us, ALL of us.
Lastly…
Goodbye, Coach
Rest in Peace, Bob.
Ted Menswar Jr. is a life-long resident of the Queen City and a retired member of the English Department of Memorial High School who has been involved in local sports for 70 years as a player, a coach, a mentor and a fan. He can be reached at tedmenswar@outlook.com