Lou Slapnick, more than a coach

Long before the Miami Heat, the team Clevelanders now love to hate, will ever become a dynasty, the Lady Railroaders of Collinwood High have blazed a trail of greatness unrivaled in local track and field.

The key ingredient to their success is coach Lou Slapnick, who has retired after 32 years of teaching and coaching.

How about seventeen City of Cleveland championships in seventeen years of coaching at Collinwood, along with nine state championships, the result of his drive and dedication to his beloved Lady Railroaders?

Coach Slapnick, or 'Slap' as his students and players like to call him, was a standout athlete at St Joseph High school (for younger readers, St.Joe's and Villa Angela were separate schools at one time). His main sport was baseball, and it earned him a scholarship to Ashland College. Coach Lou was a fine pitcher, who in his words "could really bring it, but that's about all I could do with the ball" began his college studies by majoring in business, thinking that he may be involved in the family floral business. Eventually, though, his love of sports and working with young people led him to change his major to education, with coaching in mind.

He started his teaching career at Myron T. Herrick Jr High in 1975 teaching Physical Education. He transferred to Patrick Henry Jr high in 1978, continuing to teach phys ed, and began his coaching career. He coached boys basketball and boys and girls track where he established a reputation by winning three city titles in basketball, and eight consecutive city championships in track.

Following the encouragement of Leonard Jackson, the commissioner of sports for the Cleveland schools, Lou applied for and accepted the position of girls track coach, at Collinwood in 1994.

Some of his biggest memories are the 1st state championship in 1997, with the 2010 state championship also being right up there, the icing on the cake, going out as a state champion. He is proud of the fact that in addition to the nine state championships, his teams were able to score in the state meet all seventeen years

'But, my most cherished memories are the friendships and love that I have developed with the girls over the years', says Coach Lou

His greatest disappointments have been girls who did not not follow up on college, or went off to college and made some mistakes, and did not fulfill their potential.

As impressive as these track feats are, they are not nearly the whole story. Slap's impact goes far beyond the track and court. As Ernie Harris, one of his colleagues and fellow coachs at Collinwood, puts it: "Coach Slap may ultimately be known not for track, but for producing healthy, intelligent young ladies."

His Lady Railroaders were adept in the classroom; Slap helped develop many valedictorians, salutatorians and high academic class rankings among his runners.

Several of his former students and players shared their thoughts with me about Coach Slapnick:

Brittaney Jones, class of 2005: 'Schoolwork came before everything else with coach..he taught us so much about the meaning of hard work, dedication, and being like a family.. There were so many girls who did not have fathers, some who did not have parents, he took them in, and made us feel like family.. I love him so much.. he knows so much about everything, not just running and jumping'..

Reverend Erik Howard, a student at Patrick Henry Junior High near the start of Lou's tenure there: 'He is a man who will be a friend for life. He treated me like an adopted son, and that's how he treated every student and player. I received my first and last paddling from him at Patrick Henry. I made sure I was never in trouble after that. His retirement is bittersweet-so well deserved, but now he is no longer there to affect the lives of so many..'

Paula Spencer, class of 2003: 'Coach taught us persistence, discipline and teamwork..Just like at school, we cannot pick our teammates at our jobs. Having learned how to function as a team has been so important to me on my job at Huntington bank'..

Ricardo Crumble,  a student and basketball player at Patrick Henry ' Aside from sports he taught me how working hard at school and life is so important to achieving your goals, the teamwork skills that he taught us helps so much on my job at the Federal Reserve..He has touched so many peoples lives..

Shantell Lewis, class of 2005: 'Throughout a family structure that was ever-changing, Slap was always there for me, he was the stability in my life.. we stayed in touch through college, Not often that someone comes in and stays in your life..  He is a coach, mentor and father all in one..' 

Rhondalynn Crawford, class of 1998: ' He was an instrumental person in all of our lives, went out of his way all the time to make sure we had what we needed to be presentable young ladies..the most valuable tools he has given us is to be dedicated to what we do, to finish what we set out to do..try to make what ever we do leave a legacy..the work ethic that he gave me helps in my professional life - my job is not 9 to 5 and requires a lot of persistence..'

Rochelle Hall, class of 2005: 'Although I grew up in difficult circumstances I was able to mature under coach Slap's leadership, he told me regardless of my situation I was able to become what I wanted to become.. a lot of times young people from a poor urban area find themselves in difficult situations and then use that as an excuse to not succeed..Slap did not allow us to do that, he took us around the world and told us : you can do this, you can succeed....'

Having spent the time with Coach Slapnick and his student athletes I came away with the belief that our community has truly been blessed by his remarkable efforts and achievement..

Teachers and coaches have the potential to strongly affect lives, to provide lifelong, and life changing lessons.

We in Collinwood are fortunate to have a man who did that so admirably, so effectively guiding the lives of so many young people..

Thank you, Coach.