A Tom Harris column: Mister Roberts

TOM HARRIS
Star Beacon

June 25, 2009 01:09 am

— If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise …

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And — which is more — you’ll be a Man my son!
— From “If,” by Rudyard Kipling

As a teacher and coach, Dave Roberts hoped to pass on important life lessons to his students and athletes. Many of those lessons, he said, are found in the words of Kipling.
Wielding a shovel and filling potholes with tar doesn’t sound like retirement. That is what Dave Roberts is doing, however, riding off into the sunset in a dump truck after 35 years of teaching and coaching in the Pymatuning Valley Local Schools.
The truth is, Roberts is an old hand at road maintenance. Working with the Ashtabula County Highway Department has been his summer diversion for the last 11 or 12 years.
“It’s interesting,” Roberts said. “My boss, Tim Martin, is a former student. There’s another guy there who was in my first 6th grade class at PV.”
It’s easy to imagine Roberts working as part of a road crew. He’s got the size for it. That size gave him an intimidating countenance as he sat, silently and unsmiling, watching the PV junior varsity girls basketball team, which he has coached for the last five years. But if Roberts didn’t always have a smile on his face, he was almost always on the verge of smiling.
“Dave is a great, hardworking guy,” PV girls basketball coach Jeff Compan said. “But when we needed it, Dave always had a joke. He kept things light; he’s going to be missed.”

Back home
Roberts is a member of the PV class of 1967. “That’s the same year Ron Chutas graduated from Grand Valley,” he added. Seven years later, he returned to PV, after an odyssey through Cincinnati, Newport, Ken., and Linesville.
“I went to Cincinnati Bible College and Seminary – it’s Cincinnati Christian University now – and I played basketball there,” Roberts said. “It took me five years. I didn’t buckle down at first. But I got my act together and graduated with a BS in Christian Education.”
After graduating, Roberts crossed the Ohio River and worked in the Newport schools’ Volunteers in Education Program. Then he got a job in Linesville and attended Kent State — both the main campus and the Ashtabula branch — to complete the classes he needed to become a teacher.
“I heard there was a teaching opening at Newbury, and I applied,” Roberts said. “They offered me the job. But then Irwin Podges, who was the superintendent at PV, offered me a job teaching sixth grade at PV. That all happened in a few weeks during July and August 1974.”
The job and the man were well suited for each other. And they remained so through the years.
“I started in the sixth grade, and I left in the sixth grade,” Roberts said.
Roberts kept the same position, but the demands of the job evolved over time.
“I think it got more difficult as the years went on,” he said. “I used to think eighth grade was the toughest grade, but it seems to have moved back. Attitudes change; attitudes are always changing, and not always for the better. And there is so much pressure on the kids because of all the testing the state demands.”
Other parts of the job remained constant over time. The enjoyment he derived from teaching, the rewards of a job well done and, of course, some of the worries never changed.
“Teaching was a lot of fun,” he said. “When I saw kids excel, when I saw their names on the Honor Roll and the Merit Roll, I always felt good. But there’s always the feeling that somewhere you probably slipped up with some kids. That’s not a pleasurable feeling.”

Always a coach
Classroom duties were only a part of Roberts’ job. There was never a time when he didn’t have something to do after the students were dismissed for the day.
“Every year I taught, I had at least one extra-curricular contract,” he said.
Ross Boggs started the Little Laker basketball program during Roberts’ first year of teaching. Roberts got involved and remained involved with the program for 22 years. His work with the Little Lakers is one reason Roberts did not become the JV coach when Compan became the girls basketball coach.
“Years ago I told Jennifer, my wife, that when our youngest daughter got out of the sixth grade, I was going to get out of the Little Lakers,” Roberts said. “Well, once Amanda got out of sixth grade, the person coaching the seventh grade team quit, and I got the job. The next year, the eighth grade coach stepped down, and I became the eighth grade coach. Then the next year, the freshmen coach quit, and I moved up to the high school.
“The next year, when Jeff became coach, he asked me to be his JV coach. I told him I’d been coaching those girls since they were in the fifth grade, and maybe they could benefit from a fresh face.”
Five later, Roberts did agree to become Compan’s JV coach. Over the next five years, the Lakers’ JV girls basketball team compiled an 86-6 record.
“Jeff told me that our winning percentage was 93 percent,” Roberts said. “We had some good years. And every year I coached, we had at least two girls who were 5-feet-10 or taller. We had a lot of good kids. I’d just watch them and think, ‘Holy mackerel!’
“It was fun coaching against Jon Hall. It was a privilege to coach against a legend like him. I made a lot of friends because of coaching.”
Among the many benefits of coaching the freshmen and JV teams was the chance to move from teaching the sixth graders during the day to coaching high school players after school. Besides the change of pace, Roberts also had the opportunity to watch some of his former students master the game and become stars.
Roberts is retiring without any unfulfilled desire to be a head coach. He liked the job he had.
“I don’t think I’d want to be a head coach, not with all the headaches that come with the job,” he said. “You have worry about everything, and it takes so much time. I enjoyed working with Jeff Compan. I was happy where I was.”
As any good teacher and coach will, Roberts learned as much or more from those he taught and coached as they learned from him. And the greatest lesson he learned from the young people he worked with is undoubtedly one he worked to teach them.
“Perseverance,” Roberts said. “That’s what they taught me: perseverance. Rose Lane was a 4.0 student, yet she found time to be a three-sport athlete. How in the world was she able to harness that effort? That’s perseverance.
“Kayla Landis and Olivia Holt have 3.7, 3.8 GPAs. It’s amazing.”
But even with all those bright athletes, it can be difficult at times to get the message across. That’s part of the job Roberts enjoyed, or at least he enjoyed watching Compan do it.
“It’s fun to watch Jeff. He’s not afraid to tell the girls what they need to do. That’s the coach’s job,” Roberts said. “Sometimes he had a hard time getting them to pay attention. But when he clenched his teeth, the girls knew he meant business. Then he wondered why he had to go through all that to get them to listen.”
Frustrating as it may be at times, coaching is rewarding. When a student or player takes those life lessons and applies them, a teacher and coach has to be proud..
“When you look at what these kids have accomplished, you’ve got to be impressed,” Roberts said. “Autumn Sevich is a chemical engineer with a glass company in Toledo. You look at some of the people I’m teaching with: Katie Jernigan, Scott Wludyga. I had my boss, Tim Martin, when he was in the sixth grade. It’s amazing.”

Roberts’ rules
Sports are important, but they’re not that important, Roberts believes. He views sports more as a means to an end, rather than an end in themselves. From the beginning, Roberts let it be known that fielding a winning team wasn’t the ultimate goal.
“When I was coaching fifth and sixth grade, I know we lost at least a handful of games because we didn’t have all our players,” he said. “There were times parents didn’t want their kids to play because of poor grades, or disciplinary problems or for some other reason. I didn’t have a problem with that. If we lost, too bad.”
Roberts demanded effort from his players. He did not, however, demand perfection.
“Our record was secondary,” Roberts said. “I always felt if the kids got better we had reached our goal. If we got a few wins along the way, that was super. I didn’t get into a kid’s face because of a bad pass, or a missed or because we lost. That’s not what it’s about.
“The only reasons I’d get in somebody’s face were for poor sportsmanship, disrespect and for not paying attention.”

In-house rivalry
It’s easy to start an argument between a couple of Ashtabula County natives on the subject of high school rivalries. Roberts, of course, has his opinion.
“Not long ago, Don McCormack wrote an article about the PV-Jefferson rivalry, and how bitter it was,” Roberts said. “But I don’t think there could have been a more knock-down rivalry than the one between PV and Grand Valley. GV was our archrival.
“Now, my wife teaches at GV, and my grandchildren go to school there.”
The Roberts’ children graduated from PV: Christy in 1999, and Amanda in 2002. Grandson Austin, however, will be entering the third grade this fall at GV, and granddaughter Hayley will be starting kindergarten there. That will keep Jennifer Roberts busy.
“Once school starts, she’ll have to keep one eye on the third grade hall and the other eye on the kindergarten hall,” Dave Roberts said.
Surrounded by Mustangs, Roberts is doing his best to preserve the Laker heritage.
“The last few vehicles I’ve purchased have all been maroon,” he said.
Maybe the reason Roberts enjoys the rivalry is that he knows and respects the GV people. He is also very proud of his alma mater and believes the Mustangs should be proud of theirs.
“I have a lot of friends from GV,” Roberts said. “Ron Chutas, Tom Henson, and over the last few years, I’ve had a chance to coach against Krystal Henson.
“And I think both schools have wonderful facilities. The new buildings are really something. These schools don’t have to take a back seat to anyone.”
Roberts is looking forward to GV coming into the Northeastern Athletic Conference in the fall. Restoring conference implications to the mix when the Lakers and Mustangs meet on the gridiron or in the gym can only add to the excitement. PV and GV will now play each other twice during the basketball season, which Roberts thinks is a good thing, sort of.
“I’m glad we’ll be playing GV twice,” he said. “But the way it is in the NAC, you only have room for two independent basketball games. I think the OHSAA ought to change the game limit and start thinking a little about the kids.”
Because rivalries are important and bring an added dimension to high school sports, Roberts is disturbed by the disintegration of the Northeastern Conference.
“I really feel sorry for Conneaut, Edgewood and Jefferson,” Roberts said. “What are those kids going to do without a conference championship to play for? It’s too bad.”

What’s next?
The one question Roberts couldn’t answer was whether he was enjoying retirement. His work on the road crew makes this summer much the same as the summers that preceded it. And when he looks ahead to the start of the school year, he’s not sure what he’ll be doing.
“I’m an avid model train buff, and I’ve got a lot of boxes that still need to be opened,” Roberts said. “Beyond that, we’ll see what happens. Maybe I’ll get my zebra shirts out. We were working up by Phil Garcia’s place not long ago, and I talked to him for a while..”
A man’s career is best measured not by the memories he takes with him, but by the memories others have of him. And Roberts’ 35-year run at PV was a very good one, indeed.

Harris is a freelance writer from Ashtabula Township. Reach him at tharris508@yahoo.com.

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