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2009-11-21

2009-11-18

2009-11-05

Agriculture

Lifestyles

Monday, June 08, 2009 12:09 PM

Photo by Elliot J. Sutherland/The Ottawa Herald

Louis Coppoc took a job teaching and coaching at Williamsburg High School in 1957 and spent the better part of 38 years working with community members and friends to maintain and improve the school’s football field and track. The Williamsburg City Council recently elected to name the field for Coppoc.

Longtime Williamsburg resident: ‘There wasn’t any reason to leave’

By JENALEA MYERS, Herald Staff Writer

WILLIAMSBURG — After coming to Williamsburg, Louis Coppoc never left.

“With the people in the community and the school system, there wasn’t any reason to leave,” Coppoc said.

Coppoc recently was honored by the community when it named the football field — now the Coach Louis Coppoc Field — at 100 E. South St. for him.

“It’s not deserving at all,” he said of the field’s name. “It’s not my field because a lot of people and individuals helped with developing it.”

Coppoc came to Williamsburg in 1957 and began his career as a teacher in the Williamsburg School District — a job that was his first and last.

He dabbled in numerous subjects like American government, history and psychology.

“My principal would say, ‘Get some credits in this so you can teach it,’” he said. “And off I’d go.”

But it was coaching that took up much of Coppoc’s time. It became his passion.

“I miss the kids more than anything else,” he said.

He misses the students he met coaching football, basketball track and cross-country and the memories they made — even the bad ones.

“I had a team once that only lost one game,” Coppoc said. “I can still visualize the game. We made one mistake, and it cost us the game.”

He coached other teams that went undefeated and athletes who competed at the state level.

“I really encouraged goal setting — both long-range and short-term,” Coppoc said. “I encouraged them to go beyond teachers for education. If you don’t go beyond your teachers, you don’t make any progress.”

Coppoc said he mostly emphasized PRs — or personal records — in track.

“I told them to constantly try to improve yourself,” he said. “Don’t worry about competing with others.”

And many lessons were ones that stuck with the students.

“Even today, I talk to kids and they remember me talking about goal setting,” he said. “A lot of kids I had still live in the community.”

It was that impact that Coppoc made in his 38 years with the school district that led the Williamsburg city and community to honor him with the field’s name and the reason he never left the community.

“The parents were really supportive, and the school and teachers made it a pleasant place to work and live,” he said. “There wasn’t ever any reason to take off.”

Jenalea Myers can be e-mailed at jmyers@ottawaherald.com.

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Longtime Williamsburg resident: ‘There wasn’t any reason to leave’

By JENALEA MYERS, Herald Staff Writer

E-mail this story to a friend | Print this article | Enjoy the convenience of home delivery of The Ottawa Herald.

E-mail this story to a friend | Print this article |
Enjoy the convenience of home delivery of The Ottawa Herald.