Book Review: Dear Coach

Sunday News

Seven years ago, as Lois Herr was helping her 98-year-old mom, Kathryn Herr, clean out an attic, they found a box of old correspondence.

The discovery turned out to be a treasure trove: The letters, penned during World War II, were written to Lois Herr's father, Elizabethtown College coach Ira R. Herr, by former E-town students as they served their country here and abroad.

Herr learned that her parents almost threw out the box years before.

"I'm so glad they didn't," she said.

And because that correspondence was preserved, Herr had the opportunity to share and memorialize it. Her new book, "Dear Coach: Letters Home From World War II," reprints many of those letters, against the backdrop of what was happening on the E-town campus and around the world.

The book's publication will be celebrated during Elizabethtown College's homecoming weekend at 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 17, at The Jay Walk in Thompson Gymnasium.

During World War II and the years leading up to it, Ira Herr coached every sports team at Elizabethtown and also taught physical education, Lois Herr said.

And because gym class was mandatory then, each student on campus knew him, she said, and many developed a close relationship with him.

When Lois Herr found the letters, her initial idea was to just print them, she said.

But then she decided to publish the correspondence in a narrative format. "I wanted to do something more meaningful," Herr said.

She got in touch with as many letter writers as she could, or their heirs, to gain permission to publish their writings, she said.

"That alone was fun," Herr said.

The book also includes lots of wartime and campus photos, and Herr asked to borrow pictures of some of the correspondents in uniform, many of which appear in the book.

Because Elizabethtown College was founded by members of the Church of the Brethren, which has a strong pacifist tradition, there were ongoing campus debates about the war and military service, Herr related. In fact, some of the letter writers were conscientious objectors who ended up in civilian service.

But not all those corresponding with Coach Herr were men. Elizabethtown has always been a coed institution, and some female students - including a few who joined the WAVES - also wrote.

Herr worked with editor Beth Spencer, layout specialist Earl Cummins and student assistant Dena Schaffer on "Dear Coach," which is printed by Continental Press/ITP, Elizabethtown.

This is Herr's second book. Her first, "Women, Power and AT&T: Winning Rights in the Workplace," is about her experiences in telecommunications management and was published in 2003.

Herr currently is running as a Democrat for Congress against incumbent Rep. Joseph Pitts, R-16th District.

Because there were so many letters, Herr wasn't able to include them all in "Dear Coach."

"I had to leave some out in order to tell a story," she said. "There's so much that's not in there."

Her mother's diary from those years also aided her in writing the book, Herr said.

What's amazing is to find a cache of letters like this where so many people who know each other are writing to one person, she said.

Herr also was impressed by the tone. "The letters are very civil," she said. "It was a very different era."

Some are long and detailed, as the servicemen relate what military life is like. They talk about playing sports in their spare time, enjoying themselves away from the base, training for combat, and the harrowing experiences of battle. In some cases, they can't reveal details of their location or assignments, but a common thread is how much they eagerly await replies from Coach Herr.

And they ask frequently how the E-town teams are doing; one soldier even tells the coach that if he has a son, he wants him to go to Elizabethtown and play for Herr.

It wasn't easy to round up enough men to form sports teams during the war, as male enrollment at E-town dropped precipitously. But in 1943-44, Coach Herr still managed to forge a basketball squad from a tiny pool of 10-12 male students.

Many letters also are addressed to Kathryn Herr and little Lois, who was born in December 1941. A few of the men call her "Baby Coach."

For years, the nickname Baby Coach bothered her, she said, "but now it's an honor."

There are some poignant moments, as well. In one letter, Rudy Rudisill reflects on the wartime deaths of pals John Espenshade and Stan Disney.

"I can't feel they died for liberty, Coach, nor did they want to die. Diz and Johnny were great competitors but they wanted to live too."

As an only child, Herr said she considers these men and women her extended family. "I would say they're the brothers and sisters I never had."

And because her dad was 48 when she was born, Herr said the letters helped her learn more about him.

"I think I got to know my father a lot better through the book," said Herr, who graduated from E-town in 1962.

"I didn't know the man they knew," she said of the letter writers.

She never found any of the correspondence her dad wrote, and that was tough, Herr said. "I would love to know what my father was thinking."

In quite a few instances, those who wrote to her dad were the first in their families to attend college, so he was a mentor to them, Herr said. They also felt comfortable confiding in him because he, too, served in the military, during World War I, she said.

Ed Boll and Austin Ruth are two of the former athletes who corresponded with Coach Herr.

"He was responsible for me being able to go to college," said Boll, an Elizabethtown resident who played basketball, baseball and soccer at E-town.

"My dad died when I was 10, and he sort of took the place of a father to me," Boll said.

Ruth, who played tennis and managed the basketball team while in college, said Coach Herr "was one of the white-hat guys, so to speak."

"He was willing to help anyone who needed it," said Ruth, who lives in Hanover. "He was one of the nicest guys you could ever meet."

"Dear Coach: Letters Home From World War II" costs $19.95 and is available at the Elizabethtown College bookstore and at Aaron's Books, Lititz. It also can be ordered through the college Web site, etown.edu. Click on the links to "Campus Life," "College Store" and "Online Store."

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