Mccook Coach Dies

[Benard]

Don't know if you guys remember Justin Coleman who was an outstanding qb for UNK lopers but this was his dad.

 

Ron Coleman will be remembered as a McCook High School coach with great enthusiasm.

 

"He had a huge impact on thousands of lives, as a teacher and as a coach," said Rick Haney, McCook's athletic director. "The thing we discussed as a staff was that everything Ron did, he had fun. He enjoyed coaching, he enjoyed golfing, he made it a lot of fun for everybody."

 

Coleman, 52, died Tuesday in Omaha after suffering severe head trauma from an apparent fall Monday as he was checking a leak in the roof of his house. He was flown to Creighton University Medical Center in Omaha, where emergency surgery was performed.

 

Coleman taught physical education on the elementary, middle school and high school levels. School counselors from McCook and nearby towns were available to students at his schools Wednesday, along with clergy from McCook churches.

 

A David City, Neb., native, Coleman was a graduate of Seminole State College in Oklahoma. He began teaching and coaching in McCook in 1978, said Haney, who was one of Coleman's students.

 

Haney said Coleman, at some time, coached every sport McCook offers except volleyball and swimming. Coleman's golf teams won seven state titles, beginning in 1990 and including three of the past four.

 

Coleman was the 2003 national coach of the year for boys golf by the National Federation of State High School Associations and a current finalist for the national coach of the year award presented by the National High School Athletic Coaches Association.

 

He was a longtime boys basketball assistant coach who held the title of co-coach last season with Steve Nicholson. He also coached quarterbacks and defensive ends for the McCook football team, the Class B state champion in 2002 and 2003 and runner-up this year.

 

"As a football coach, RC stood for doing things right and wanted to have everyone enjoy what they were doing and have fun," McCook Football Coach Jeff Gross told the McCook Daily Gazette. "He was one of the best friends anyone could have. He was proud of every kid and every team."

 

Coleman was intending Monday night to travel with Gross to Omaha for the photo session for the All-Nebraska football team that will appear in the Sunday World-Herald.

 

"When Jeff first drove up, he knew something wasn't right," Haney said. "The snowblower was in the middle of the driveway, the car was out front, the garage open and there were no lights on in the house. Jeff found Ron inside on the dining room floor and immediately called 911."

 

A team of five doctors at McCook Community Hospital worked on Coleman, Haney said, then called for an air ambulance to take him to Omaha.

 

 

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[slacker]

"When Jeff first drove up, he knew something wasn't right," Haney said. "The snowblower was in the middle of the driveway, the car was out front, the garage open and there were no lights on in the house. Jeff found Ron inside on the dining room floor and immediately called 911."

That's got to be the worst feeling.

[Blackshirt]

Very sad. My condolences to the family.