Tag Archives: Jack VerDuin

Wyoming football community set to honor Coach VerDuin with stadium naming, 100 yards of memories

The football stadium at Wyoming High School, which will be filled with fans Friday as the school and the community honors Jack VerDuin, who coached football at Wyoming Park High School. (WKTV)

By K.D. Norris

ken@wktv.org

If you ask someone in the Wyoming-area high school football community to name a few people whom long-time Wyoming Park coach Jack VerDuin impacted as a coach, teacher, friend and mentor be prepared for a long list.

And, as Wyoming High School is set to honor the late VerDuin by naming its new field in his honor this week, it is probably no coincidence that the first two people who talked to WKTV were more than happy to do so and are also now respected educators.

A photo of Jack VerDuin when he coached football at Wyoming Park High School. (Supplied/Wyoming High School)

“For me, it was a lot of things outside of football … as a teacher and an athletic director,” said Oogie LaMar, who was on VerDuin’s state title football team and is currently Director of Adult Education and Community Relations at the Kent ISD. “Many of my memories of him were the times off the field. Back in the day, in study hall. He was my study hall teacher, and so a lot of the discussions we had were just about life and team-ship — being a good person, being a good teammate. Being committed to principals … about the team, but (also) families and how to treat other people.”

VerDuin, who rolled up a 243-118-6 record with the Wyoming Park Vikings before the school merged with Wyoming Rogers into Wyoming high in 2012, was given many honors in his lifetime and after he died in 2007.

He coached the Vikings for 38 seasons beginning in 1962. During the years, Wyoming Park won 19 conference championships and the Class B state championship in 1984, a 33-20 victory over Monroe Catholic Central. The Vikings were then the state runner-up in 1985.

VerDuin is a member of the Wyoming Hall of Fame, Grand Rapids Hall of Fame, Michigan High School Hall of Fame and the Michigan Football Hall of Fame.

But maybe the honor he would appreciate the most would be the special place he occupies in so many of the young people he influenced, on and off the football field.

“Jack influenced me as a person by helping me grow up. He had high expectations and a belief that if we all follow the process, we will all be champions,” said Thom Vander Klay, who played for VerDuin as well and is now a coach and teacher at Wyoming high.  “He rarely let his kids believe they were anything but unbeatable … and he was right.”

Teaching how to coach, how to succeed off the field

Vander Klay, to a large extend, also learned how to coach and how to lead an athletic program, from VerDuin.

“He was way ahead of his time regarding finding the right fit for positions for the football team seven years down the road,” Vander Klay said. “For example, he would watch the 7th grade sporting events (not just football) and find who he wanted for each position on his football teams. We generally all played the same position in the same system on both sides of the ball for 6 years. After that long people get pretty good at what they are trying to do.

“He was not concerned with younger teams’ records as it was all about getting better within the system,” he said. “I have worked as a coach to use Jack’s work ethic, attention to detail, and ways to work with each student athlete from where they come from in order to create synergy and teach them they can achieve when they believe in the process. Not just in athletics but when they are adults and are carrying out their plans.”

That idea, often-used these days, of “planning your work and working your plan” was just part of VerDuin caring more about his students as people than simply as athletes.

“Jack was a consistent professional and had great passion for kids and working hard,” Vander Klay said. “He was a big picture guy that would not accept excuses for falling short of his best.”

LaMar told much the same story — “He really just wanted us to do our best … he always expected that.”

Intentional or not, VerDuin was unique 

Of course, Coach VerDuin was not without his (occasional) mistakes, with his teams and with his style of dress, as both LaMar and Vander Klay reluctantly talked about.

“I do remember when I was coaching with Jack and he came back from Florida (he coached in Naples, Fla., for two seasons) and he thought he could have the same type of pregame speech to a team we had that was just outmatched that year,” Vander Klay said. “He told them how bad our opponent wanted to beat us and how hard they had prepared and how they were so ready for us. The problem was our kids, who were not that experienced and (were) young that year, believed him and we got drilled.

“We said ‘Maybe you can’t use that same speech for a bit coach’ and he smiled and said ‘I get it.’ Two years later he led Park to another championship.”

And that style of 1980s’ coaching attire?

“He did have those white shoes that he wore, the turf shoes,” LaMar said. “As I look back, and see he and all our coaches in their tight shorts, back in the day, but I guess that was just maybe the style.”

WKTV’s Feature Game crew will be at Wyoming high this week as the Wolves host Grand Rapids Union and also a special celebration for the school’s new stadium being named in honor of Jack VerDuin. The celebration — which will also be 1971-72 Team Reunion Night, Community Night and Senior Night — includes free admission. There will be a Wyoming High School open House at 6 p.m., then the Jack VerDuin Stadium Dedication at 6:45 p.m., followed by game kickoff at 7 p.m.

With memories and, hopefully, tradition carried over, Wyoming high to honor Coach VerDuin with field ceremonies

Wyoming High School’s football team practicing at their soon-to-be ex-home field this week. (WKTV)

By K.D. Norris
ken@wktv.org

When Wyoming High School’s football team plays its last game at Davies Memorial Field this week, at the current middle school but at what was once Wyoming Park high, those in attendance will have many memories of games and players on the field.

Jack VerDuin, in a historic photo from Wyoming High School Athletic Department Facebook page.

And the Friday, Sept. 20, game pitting the Wolves against the visiting South Christian Sailors will also be filled with memories of the late Jack VerDuin, who rolled up a 243-118-6 record with the Wyoming Park Vikings before the school merged with Wyoming Rogers into Wyoming high in 2012.

The Friday game will be the first part of a two-part, two-home game special event for Wyoming high as the Wolves will honor VerDuin during their last varsity football game at Davies field before moving to the new football stadium for a Oct. 11 home game.

One person who will have special memories, especially at this week’s game, will be Ted Hollern, Wyoming High School Athletic Director, who remembers VerDuin as an opposing coach, mentor and friend.

Ted Hollern, Wyoming High School Athletic Director. (WKTV)

“I can remember, as a high school student, playing against Jack VerDuin’s teams and how good they were,” Hollern said this week to WKTV. “They were well coached. What a machine they had operating.

“And then (later) … I was at Wyoming Rogers, when he was at Park … to be able to rub shoulders with him. At the time, I was a young football coach … you know, I could pick up on some of his ideas. I was the head football coach at Rogers and he was still coaching here. We shared a lot of time together.”

There will also be many memories by VerDuin’s family and many friends who will be in attendance at the game, set to start at 7 p.m. The Jack VerDuin family will be there as they will be announced as our Honorary Captains for the game.

VerDuin, who died in 2007, coached the Vikings for 38 seasons beginning in 1962. During the years, Wyoming Park won 19 conference championships and the Class B state championship in 1984, a 33-20 victory over Monroe Catholic Central. The Vikings were state runner-up in 1985, falling to Dearborn Divine Child 21-0.

VerDuin is a member of the Wyoming Hall of Fame, Grand Rapids Hall of Fame, Michigan High School Hall of Fame and the Michigan Football Hall of Fame.

Clearly Coach VerDuin and his “Mighty Vikings” built a tradition of excellence — a tradition which Hollern hopes can carry over from the “the house that Jack built” at Davies field to the new football stadium.

“I think of all the players and coaches who have played here, at what was Wyoming Park. How many championships they won. The tradition they had,” Hollern said. “I just think it will be great to remember some of their past, and some of their accomplishments, and then hope that tradition, those accomplishments, kind of springboard into the new place.”

For a story on the new football stadium, and how students and staff at Wyoming high are anticipating its opening, see a School News Network story here.

The South Christian vs. Wyoming Community Night Football Game at Wyoming Junior High will be the WKTV High School Sports Featured Game of the Week, with on-demand video replay available at WKTVLive.org.

(For a WKTV video preview of the game, visit here.)

The game will have a 7 p.m. kick-off, but, among many special events, will have a Jack VerDuin Family Night pregame with a hospitality tent opening at 5:15 p.m. in the north end zone, with all family and friends welcome.