Collins: Henzes' foundation an area example, forever

Jul. 26—The sunset at Hersheypark Stadium that night almost 16 years ago cast a strange hue focused down the tunnel that led to Dunmore's locker room. It almost seemed planned, as if orchestrated by Hollywood, a bright spotlight finding a reluctant star in what any script would describe as the low point of the story.

Jack Henzes' Dunmore Bucks had just lost in convincing fashion — by four touchdowns in the 2007 PIAA Class 2A championship game — to a Jeannette High School team that had more speed and more talent and a future Ohio State star and NFL quarterback/receiver, Terrelle Pryor, who might rate as the most gifted individual playmaker he faced in what at that point amounted to four decades as a football coach.

That December afternoon in Hershey, many coaches might have lamented missed opportunities or pined for one last adjustment to a game plan that didn't quite work out as planned.

As the borough and thousands of others throughout the region mourn his death Monday night at 87, though, it's important to note that nobody should count Henzes among them.

He always knew the score, understood that sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. Sometimes you are better and sometimes you are not. That's life, and a good deal of his coaching greatness came from his innate ability to recognize that his job had very little to do with the category his football team slotted into .

"They aren't going to put the wins and losses on my tombstone," he smiled that night, the sun beating down through the corridor in which he stood, as if on cue.

We can, and perhaps should, take some time now, in the wake of Henzes' passing, to remember the good times. So many of them come to mind. The 1989 state championship game the Bucks won. The three other times they made it to the final on his watch. The 444 career wins on the field. The Halls of Fame that honored his accomplishments. The young men who played for him that went on to greater avenues in life, who became leaders in his image.

It should be noted, though, that this is also the most sad of occasions. It's certain we'll never see the likes of him again. Coaches aren't built the same these days. Neither are football players. Sadly, neither are the ideals that once bound us, but now are so often debated.

Henzes had a saying: "God, family and the Bucks." He lived his life with that rigid view of what's important for almost nine decades.

Of course, he had the advantage of growing up alongside the best possible example. If Jack Henzes isn't the most legendary football coach produced in Northeast Pennsylvania, his father is. John "Papa Bear" Henzes won 251 games and 28 league championships as the leader of the Blakely Bears for three decades through the 1960s. Those numbers aren't on Papa Bear's tombstone.

The lessons he taught are what lived on, and what taught remained evident well into the 2010s as his son guided the Bucks.

"I watched how hard he worked. I always admired that work ethic," Jack Henzes recalled of his father during a 2009 interview. "He treated everyone like they were his own son."

Maybe the best compliment that can be paid to Jack Henzes is that he lived up to his father's teachings.

A few years back, at a seminar for prospective youth athletic leaders held by the Bochicchio Sports Character Initiative at the University of Scranton, Henzes sat quietly in the back corner of the room, listening. Few knew he had even walked into the auditorium. He preferred it that way, when the kids had the stage. He had his time to teach them. But when the lights came on, they had to do it.

But as other speakers wrapped up early, a few minutes to fill popped up. Asked if he could deliver some closing comments, Henzes rose from his seat, strode to the podium and delivered a rousing, 15-minute speech about the importance of leadership that had the students captivated and the coaches in the room inching forward in their seats, nodding their heads in agreement.

That's Jack. A coach dedicated enough to be passionate about what matters, and wise enough to know it's not necessarily the result of a game.

"He was as legendary on the field as any you can find in Pennsylvania," Dunmore Mayor Max Conway said in a statement. "Arguably his greatest accomplishment, however, was his success in building strong, responsible and compassionate individuals. The mark coach Henzes left on his players' lives was felt long after they left the halls of Dunmore High School. Many of his former players have gone on to make meaningful contributions to our area and our nation. For that, we will always be grateful."

He belongs to Dunmore.

However, if the honor can be bestowed upon anybody, Henzes is Northeast Pennsylvania's coach. Understand that's not just because of the wins and championships, but the lessons he taught to kids coming off the prosperity of the 1950s, through the tumult of the late '60s, into the challenges of the '80s and the social upheavals of the 2000s. He didn't relate to generations worth of high school-aged youngsters because he knew how to change. He did it because he knew how he could change. He allowed the sands to shift around an impervious foundation he built generations ago.

Because while so many things change, there are still important things that never will.

Not everything is going to come easy.

Not everything is going to go your way.

So, stay focused. Work hard.

Have faith. Keep faith. Spread faith.

Win if you can, but learn. Lose, but only do so while learning.

"You either get better, or you get worse" Henzes said, thinking back to those lessons from his dad all those years ago. "But you've got to get better. Whether that's academically, athletically or even socially, you've just got to get better every day."

Nobody helped make their people as good, every day, as long or as effectively as Jack Henzes. And darn it, what more can we ever ask of anyone?

Contact the writer:

dcollins@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9125; @DonnieCollinsTT; @PennStateTT