'This is still his program': Longtime football coach Ed Christian left mark on Eastburg
Longtime East Stroudsburg football coach Ed Christian has died, leaving behind family, players and a high school football program that, in his successor’s eyes, can’t be improved upon.
“I have not changed anything about this program, and I never will,” said coach Matt Walters, who learned how to do the job from Christian. Everything from the helmet logo to the football office to the pregame rituals will stay the same, “and that’s because of Ed.”
Christian died Tuesday at age 83, Walters said.
Long before Walters became the coach, and long before he played for Christian, he was aware of the man. Christian had been the coach for decades, and everyone around East Stroudsburg had something positive to say about him. “When you came through as a player, you immediately felt welcomed in by Ed and his program,” Walters said.
“My heart goes out to the ENTIRE East Stroudsburg community. Ed made a positive impact on everyone he coached/taught,” East Stroudsburg University football coach Jimmy Terwilliger posted on social media. Terwilliger played for and coached with Christian.
Christian began as an assistant coach in 1967, decades before the district split into North and South high schools. He became the head coach in 1981 and retired from coaching at South after the 2018 season. He also taught English and continued to coach after retiring from teaching.
“Coaching football was his life,” said Denise Rogers, South’s athletic director, reflecting that retiring from coaching had been a hard decision for Christian. “Next to his family, that was his passion.”
He was dedicated not only to football but to all the kids in the community, she said. Similarly, while Christian was a mentor and role model in football to Walters and countless others, he also dispensed life lessons.
The lessons Walters learned from Christian are endless, he said, but what they all came down to was “knowing that there’s a right and wrong way to do things, and to always go the right way.”
He led by example, Walters said. “It was how he lived his life, how he coached. That’s how he did it.”
Christian died a month after his wife of 56 years, Margaret “Peggy" Ann Christian, died July 15.
As dedicated to football as he was, Christian always put his family first, Walters said, and he made sure his assistant coaches could do the same. “He would get mad at us if we were spending too much time at the coaches’ office. He wanted us home with our families,” Walters said.
When Walters became head coach, people would comment that he had big shoes to fill or ask him how he planned to fill Christian’s shoes. But Walters didn’t see that as his goal.
Walters is entering his fifth season as the head coach, but “Ed Christian, this is still his program,” he said.
“I’m just here to try to uphold his standards and the tradition that he established here.”
This article originally appeared on Pocono Record: East Stroudsburg football coach remembered as mentor, family man
