Most Indiana high schools don’t have any Hall of Famers, but Munster can proudly proclaim two football coaches who wear that label.
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John Friend, a 1987 Indiana Football Hall of Fame inductee, and Leroy Marsh (2007) have been joined at the hip for nearly a half-century. They show no signs of dissolving their partnership, even though Friend hasn’t coached at Munster since 1979.
Between them, they have 332 victories, beginning when Friend introduced the program with an 8-0 record in 1965. Seven wins came against JV teams, and the Mustangs also beat DeMotte’s varsity.
“We started the program with 21 kids in 1964,” said Friend, who migrated to Munster after coaching with Hammond’s Bernie Krueger, another Hall of Famer.
In 1966, Friend’s first full varsity team won eight in a row before bowing to Crown Point and Gary Wirt when the Troopers were taking no prisoners during Walt Nabhan’s watch.
Before shifting his focus to Purdue Calumet, Friend guided the Mustangs to seven Lake Suburban Conference titles in 10 years. During his reign, Munster produced 25 All-Staters, including Glenn Scolnik who starred at Indiana University, and owns the distinction of being the west county school’s only NFL player.
Scolnik toiled for the Steelers in 1973 and also spent two years with former Purdue coach Joe Tiller at Calgary in the Canadian Football League. Others who came close were Keith Johnson, who was drafted by the Lions after starting for the late Bo Schembechler three years at Michigan, and interior lineman Dennis Flynn, a standout at Illinois who made the last cut in Dallas when Tom Landry was presiding over “America’s team.”
“Glenn might have been our best all-around athlete,” said Friend, who still serves on Munster’s school board. “He was also a strong pitcher and an outstanding basketball player on our sectional championship team.”
Marsh qualifies as the dean of Northwest Indiana football coaches with 36 years under his belt. His 213 victories qualify him as the area’s No. 1 active winner, a distinction previously claimed by Russ Radtke, who moved from Griffith to New Prairie several years ago.
“It’s been a pretty good run,” said Marsh, whose busy summer included attending the recent wedding of former player Prince Kwateng, a star linebacker at Northwestern who spent time with the New Orleans practice squad and briefly played in the United Football League.
Marsh also received a distinguished service award at the annual North-South All-Star Game.
“Munster’s been very kind to me,” Marsh said.
He was an All-State lineman during Pete Rucinski’s East Chicago Roosevelt dynasty, then started coaching as Friend’s assistant 43 years ago.
Marsh and Friend are currently engaged in a labor of love, working on a 50-year reunion of the football program. It’s planned for August 21-22, kicking off with a game against Lake Central.
“Leroy’s been doing the bulk of the work,” Friend said. “He tweets and twitters, gets on Facebook, using the social media.”
More than 900 players have poured through Munster. How many will attend is anybody’s guess, but the weekend includes a golf outing and dinner on Aug. 22.
“We’ve been working on it over a year,” Marsh said. “We’re excited about it but I don’t have a clue whether it will be 300 or a thousand.”
Numbers don’t matter. Revived memories do.
‘Hawk’ soaring in swan song: An early trip to the disabled list aside, LaTroy Hawkins is bowing out of Major League Baseball in fine fashion. The 42-year-old Gary native is pushing for career totals of 1,000 strikeouts and 1,500 innings to go along with more 1,000 appearances.
Unless the enduring reliever reverses himself, his final appearance in Chicago will be when the Rockies visit Wrigley Field for a three-game series starting Monday night.
Going out on a high note, the 21-year veteran posted an 0.63 ERA over a recent 15-game stretch and gave up only two hits in his last seven appearances. Hawkins’ career includes 77 appearances, five victories and 25 saves on behalf of the Cubs in 2004.
John Mutka is a freelance writer for the Post-Tribune.
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