Bob Stuart: Former Eastmoor, Reynoldsburg football coach was 'larger-than-life figure'
Even 35 years after the fact, Brad Burchfield’s memories of meeting his eventual high school coach loom large.
Bob Stuart was, after all, the only high school football head coach to have mentored a two-time Heisman Trophy winner, and 14 City League championships in 29 seasons at Eastmoor padded his legacy even before he arrived at Reynoldsburg in 1988.
“He was a larger-than-life figure … so iconic,” said Burchfield, a 1993 Reynoldsburg graduate who is 152-42 with three state championships in 15 seasons at Hartley. “People have asked me and others if he was that alpha when he walked in the room and everybody just agrees (that he was). He had such a presence. He cast a huge shadow and was a great influence.”
Stuart, who went 234-101-8 in 37 seasons at Eastmoor (1956-84) and Reynoldsburg (1988-95) and served as a volunteer coach at Ohio State between those stints under Earle Bruce, died Aug. 2 at age 98.
A native of Columbus who served in the Marine Corps during World War II, Stuart’s coaching career began in 1952. He served as an assistant at Parma and Summit Station (now Licking Heights) before arriving at Eastmoor, where his players included two-time Heisman winner Archie Griffin, eventual Michigan linebacker Mike Boren and Doug Van Horn and Paul Naumoff, who went on to play in the NFL.
The Warriors’ 1961 team went undefeated and included quarterback Frank Stavroff, who later had a prolific career at Indiana. Stuart was inducted into the Ohio High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1989.
“(Stuart) was a guy who made us feel that we could compete with anybody,” Griffin told reporters July 30 after being inducted as part of the inaugural class of the National High School Football Hall of Fame in Canton. “He always said it’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog. That always stuck with me because what he was telling us was it’s not the size of the person, but the size of their heart that made the difference.”
Stuart concentrated on running backs during his time at OSU but was coaxed back into the high school game to turn around a Reynoldsburg team that went 6-24 in three seasons before his arrival.
“One of the first lines he gave to the guys was ‘toughness doesn’t stop at Brice Road,’ “ said Dave Starling, who coached defensive backs under Stuart and himself has 542 wins as a baseball coach between stints at Reynoldsburg (1983-2009), New Albany (2016-22) and now Hilliard Bradley.
“The kids bought into it,” Starling said. “You could see progress and before you knew it, we hung a league championship banner (sharing the OCC-Central championship in 1993).”
Despite a 49-31 record, Stuart’s contract was not renewed following the 1995 season.
Stuart’s legacy lives on not only in his former players, but also for decades in Eastmoor’s uniforms. He introduced winged helmets in 1980, as much a nod to Michigan’s uniforms as a shot at Ohio State for not recruiting Boren.
“It’s a true story; I wanted to stick it to Ohio State for that,” Stuart told The Dispatch in 2011. “Plus, I had always admired (longtime Michigan coach) Bo (Schembechler) and I thought those helmets were unique. We introduced them, the kids seemed to like them and they stuck. And, by the way, I never heard anything from coach Bruce.”
Stuart’s wife, Betty, died in 2018. One of their nine grandchildren is former Ohio State and MLB catcher Eric Fryer.
Visiting hours are 5-7 p.m. Wednesday and 10-11 a.m. Thursday at Pfeifer-Woodyard Funeral Home in Reynoldsburg. A service will be at 11 a.m. Thursday at the funeral home, followed by burial with military honors at Glen Rest Memorial Estates.
“He had such a presence,” Burchfield said. “That’s the thing I say over and over again. Guys like that now, there’s nobody with that kind of presence. Obviously it’s a different era, but nobody has the kind of presence he had.”
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Bob Stuart: Former Eastmoor, Reynoldsburg coach dies at 98
