By Matt Florjancic
D3sports.com
"How do you want to be remembered?"
It is a question everybody is asked at some point in life. Whether it is a coach talking to a team on the verge of a big game or a graduate looking back on his or her college days, that question is posed to them. When talking about former Baldwin-Wallace College football coach Bob Packard, who passed away after a heart attack last Saturday, he is remembered for how he lived his life and treated people with respect.
"He cared and loved every single player that he coached and came into contact with," said Baldwin-Wallace Sports Information Director Kevin Ruple. "We got an email from a player who for about the three years he was in college had never spoken to his father. For some reason, there was a disconnect.
"Apparently, the father must have talked to Coach Packard and said 'I really would love to reconnect with my son,' " Ruple continued. "He was a junior and the next year he was going to be a senior and a captain. [Packard] was talking to him about the value of being a parent and a father and being a leader. 'We're a family as a football program and you need to find out more about what family is really like and I just want to let you know today you're not riding home on the team bus. You're riding home with your father.' That was the first time the kid had spoken to his father in three years on that three-hour trip back from Ohio Northern."
Since that 3-hour drive Packard arranged, the young man in question has developed a new relationship with his father. The two talk on a weekly basis.
Bob Packard passed away this past week at age 64. Baldwin-Wallace athletics file photo |
On the field, Packard led the Yellow Jackets to great heights. He retired as the school's all-time wins leader with 156 career victories. Not only did Packard motivate players, he developed future coaches, including his successor at B-W, John Snell.
"He was my mentor," Snell said. "He was a great friend, somebody I could go to with just about any issue that was going on in my life. I trusted him to talk to him about anything.
"If there was any issue that I just needed to ask somebody that had experience, he was great about that, always available if I needed him," added Snell. "He wouldn't tell me what to do. He would just give me some direction in terms of what he did and what his thoughts were."
Some coaches are known for emotional outbursts when calls do not go there way. However, yelling at officials or being critical of others was not Packard's way. Instead of projecting his opinions, he would take time to teach others.
"He never let things get him too down. He never let things get him too up," said Snell. "To me, that was a sign of great strength to be able to stay as even-tempered as he did.
"He was someone who allowed you to do your job," added the sixth-year Yellow Jacket head coach. "He was great about letting guys coach and do their job. The other thing was, the longer I'm in this profession, especially being a head coach, the more I realize for him to be in it for 20 years as a head coach takes great strength."
While his resume at Baldwin-Wallace was full of accomplishments, there were times when the program struggled against the competition. At the start of the 1983 season, the Yellow Jackets lost four straight games to Ashland, Wittenberg, Dayton and Buffalo. This slow start caused people to take notice of Packard's strength as a coach and person.
"My first year at B-W in 1983, we lost our first four games of the year and he used to tease me, 'Oh, the only reason we're 0-4 is because you're the new SID,' " said Ruple. "Buffalo had a really great team and we lost 22-21. There were maybe ten to 15 seconds left in the game. We lined up to kick a 51-yard field goal to win the game. The ball is two-thirds of the way to the goal posts and all of the sudden, some flag comes flying in. They call us for motion and they put it back to the 46. So, [Wade Massad] lines up to kick a 56-yard field goal. He kicks it and again, its right dead down the middle and all of the sudden, the ball is just about to get to the goal post and a flag comes flying in again and they call us for motion.
"Then we line up for a 61-yard field goal which was just wide left," added Ruple. "Of course, the first question [the reporters] asked him 'Coach, do you think the referees cost you that game?'. He said, 'No. I give the University of Buffalo all the credit. They played a great game. I can't comment on the officials because I haven't seen game film. Once I see game film, I'd get a better idea of that.' He was professional and representative and just the kind of person you want. I learned at that point, that's the way you've got to be. It's just a football game. It's not life or death."
While he loved the sport of football, Packard knew there was more to life than a brown ball, green field and results on the scoreboard.
"A lot of things that we still do in the program were things I had taken from him," said Snell. "Even though he doesn't have a physical presence in the program, he built some of the traditions that I think have an effect on our players and families."
"From 1983 through 2001, I knew every Sunday morning at 6 o'clock in the morning, I could go to the Rec Center, or prior to that, the Watts Center, and I knew Coach Packard would be sitting there watching film," Ruple said. "He would teach me about the game of football. I would have a lot of questions about why we did this and why we did that. He would explain tendencies to me.
"That would be 15 minutes of the hour or hour and a half I'd be there because it would always turn to 'How's your family?' or 'How's your mom and dad?,'" added Ruple. "He was always wanting to know what he could do to help you more. When my dad died in an accident in 1998, he made it a point, two, three, four times a week to come over to [the] Bonds [Administration Building] to knock on the door, walk in the office, sit down and ask me how I'm doing. If I was having a tougher day, he would close the door."
While others ponder their own legacies, the one Packard leaves behind is paved with caring individuals who know what being a family means. His legacy was not shaped by wins or losses. Rather it was formed through how he treated people and the way Packard handled his responsibilities as a person first, coach second.
"Bob Packard is easily the best coach and athletics administrator I have ever dealt with," Ruple said. "I couldn't tell you who would be second because he is so far above everybody else in the way he deals with things, his leadership, integrity and honesty. I hope more people are like Bob Packard."
