Connors was more than a coach

He was hired as a football coach at Medical Lake back in 1962, but Jerry Connors was much more than that if you ask some of his former players.

For current Medical Lake Mayor John Higgins, a member of the class of 1966, without Connors' guidance, he admits he might not have graduated - or maybe survived his time in the Vietnam War.

"I spent two years in Vietnam and there were times when I didn't know if I was going to make it or not," Higgins said. "Jerry told me you always have a little bit more in the tank than you think you do; he kind of helped me through those years."

Connors, who had a juggernaut of Medical Lake teams in the late 1960s, guiding the Cardinals to a combined record of 26-0-1 from 1968-1970 before leaving for coaching stints at Lewis and Clark, and later Central Valley, passed away Aug. 25 in Spokane at age 79.

Higgins said he wasn't a very good student and was in school just for the athletics. "He'd pull me into the coach's office and kind of give me words of wisdom that I better not go that (bad) direction," Higgins said of Connors.

Connors played at Gonzaga Prep where he was voted by his peers as the team captain in the 1954 All-City team. He graduated in 1955 and went on to play three years at the University of Montana, earning a bachelors degree. He'd go on to collect a pair of masters degrees from Eastern Washington State College.

Gary Glasgow, a member of the Medical Lake Class of 1964, recalled Connors as being an intense coach. "He mainly worked with the backfield," where Glasgow played.

But Connors was new at that time. "He was learning then as a head coach," Glasgow said. "He was always after giving it your best shot, work as hard as you could," was the message Glasgow took away.

Connors, who was also a wrestling coach, was often seen in all corners of the sports fields and courts at Medical Lake. "He did other things too, he wasn't the track coach but he'd come down and work with sprinters; I sprinted," Glasgow said.

Glasgow, who doubled up in spring by also playing baseball - the sport he later played four years at EWSC - said Connors was around practice and he would work on hitting. Connors was a player with one of Spokane's all-time great American Legion teams in the early 1950s.

Glasgow later played softball with Connors on a team sponsored by Gary Bates Realty. "He was a real competitor there, as well," Glasgow added.

After a career that earned him a Washington State Coaches Hall-of-Fame nomination, Connors concluded his career working five years for Steve Kent from 1993-1997 at West Valley High School in Spokane.

"So many head coaches make crappy assistant coaches, so I was obviously a little leery about that," Kent said. "He came in and said, 'Hey, whatever I can do to help.'"

Connors would offer advice only when it was warranted, Kent said.

Connors' funeral will be Friday, Sept. 4 at 11 a.m. at St. Aloysius Church on the campus of Gonzaga University.

Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected].