There are two particular coaches I had the distinct displeasure of interacting with as sports editor of the EVENING OBSERVER in the 1970s through early 1990s.

The first guy was a longtime varsity football coach who worked for schools in multiple counties.

Before each of the three high school sports seasons, as sports editor, I would send letters to head coaches requesting their teams’ upcoming schedules, rosters and brief summaries of their team. Standard stuff.

Most coaches eagerly and quickly responded for inclusion in our special preseason sections. This guy not so much. Invariably, I would next have to contact his school’s athletic director for the information I needed. If that didn’t work, I would make a call to the school’s superintendent. That always got immediate results.

Bill Hammond

Anyway, one Friday night, this uncooperative lowlife brought his team to Dunkirk and won easily. When I went in search of the coach for a postgame interview, I was ushered into their loud and boisterous locker room.

I introduced myself to the head coach and started to ask my first question when he loudly interrupted, immediately silencing the room. Without prompting, he then began making fun of the Dunkirk High and Fredonia High football programs.

He wondered aloud — for his team’s amusement — how many more years would he have to travel all the way to Dunkirk or Fredonia before he had some, any kind, of competition?

Then he turned on me, asking how could I stand working for a paper that covered such terrible football teams? And wasn’t it embarrassing to have to deal with such clueless coaches running antique offensive and defensive schemes?

See MEMORIES, Page C3

Hanging on his every word, his players began to mock me as well.

I quickly exited and vowed never to interact with that egomaniac ever again.

One last note. One of his final teams revolted and complained about his abusive behavior to the school board. Wasn’t surprised.

The board ignored complaints from the team’s captains and former players. Instead, voting to keep him employed. Surprised.

The second coach on my thankfully short list tried to get me fired.

Some back story. When I interviewed this coach for a preseason article, he went out of his way to praise two transfer students. When I re-interviewed him days before the season opener, he listed the pair as starters.

The night before the first game, I received a tip that both players had been dismissed from the team.

I eventually got nothing but “no comments” from the coach and athletic director on the topic. Contacting some team members, I discovered they were totally in the dark as well.

Day of the game, we ran a story on the unusual dismissals, lack of comments and pictures of the two transfers. The pictures came from our staff photographer, who sometimes moonlighted to provide semi-professional photos of local teams along with headshots and action poses of players.

Within hours of that story hitting the streets, the coach bounded up the 20-plus steps to the editorial department in the old newspaper building on East Second Street. He was angry and he was loud.

He walked straight into the office of City Editor Keith Sheldon and started making demands. He wanted a personal apology from me, along with a front-page apology, and a large correction on Page 2.

But he didn’t stop there. He wanted me fired or permanently banned from covering his team.

His delusional reasoning was that I had somehow depicted him as a racist because the two players in question were not white.

Keith listened to the outburst without saying a word. When the coach finally settled down, he calmly picked up a copy of the day’s paper.

He then handed it to the coach along with a red pencil and asked him to underline everything that was incorrect in my story.

Minutes later he handed both items back to Keith without underlining anything.

There was nothing wrong with my story and that’s what Keith then forcefully told the now-seething coach. He also informed him that not only would there be no apologies, from me or on the front page, but there would definitely be no need for a correction on Page 2.

Then he told the coach that I would continue to cover his team because I was a one-man sports department at the time.

He added that if he tried to ban me from his school, his team and school would have zero coverage in the paper.

Then he hit the coach with the ultimate zinger. He said he was going to discuss this incident with his school’s athletic director that very night in his home at his weekly poker game.

With that, the coach angrily stomped his way down the stairs as the newsroom erupted in applause.

Isn’t it nice when your boss has your back?

See you next month.

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DO YOU have a favorite memory of playing, coaching or officiating? Drop me a line at mandpp@hotmail.com and let’s reminisce.

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Bill Hammond is a former EVENING OBSERVER sports editor.