Click on pics to enlargeBy FRANK BARNING
This is the fourth installment of "Do you remember . . .?" Approximately 18 Division Avenue High School faculty and staff members from the late 1950s and early 1960s were still working at the school in 1975.
Today we've included shots of Mr. Amen and Mr. Jewell sitting next to each other from the 1962 yearbook. No, they did not share a desk in the phy. ed. office. Larry Loewy '75 provided photos of the DAHS old timers that appeared in the 1975 yearbook.
Both were highly successful coaches, Amen in baseball and Jewell in football. Both won county titles and sent numerous players on to college ball. They were an institution at Division Avenue and an interesting combination.
Amen played "good cop" to Jewell's "bad cop". To most of us, Amen was the gentle, available father figure. Coach Jewell was a tyrant, pushed boys around and was not generally appreciated. The girls who got to know him, adored coach Amen.
A few of his former football players would argue that the life lessons that they absorbed from Jewell were highly influential as the years after high school drifted into the past. A couple have told me that what they learned from him got them through their Vietnam service.
Mr. Amen passed away in November 30, 2001 at age 87. There is a memorial in his honor near the baseball field behind the school. The plaque reads, "A most beloved teacher, coach and friend. His legacy of sportsmanship, integrity and caring helped shape our lives. We are grateful to have known him."
Still going strong is the old football coach who has attended recent reunions and is involved in fund raising for former players who have experienced health and financial problems. He has been honored by having the football stadium at the school named for him.
They may have been different types, but both men were incredibly memorable institutions at Division Avenue High School.
4 comments:
Brian Fisher, class of 1961
who could forget them, Jerry Jewell put in all his heart into his football team, Jimmie Amen a great teacher in phys ed. I had the pleasure on having them in my high school years, they will always remain in my heart.
Bette Connah McErlean (class of '61)
I remember them both but particularly Jerry Jewell. We girls had a tremendous crush on Mr. Jewell.
I remember both coaches very well. Mr Amen once yanked a player out of a game after he committed a "dirty" foul and told him.
"Play by the rules but play hard". He stresssed dignity and respect in sports and in your own life.
Coach Jewel told the graduating seniors,many who he had coached for four years. "Come back in a year and tell me how hard high school was" Many of us went into the service and went through boot camp and other training. Football was easy.
Both coaches used sports to prepare us real life in different ways. They both succeeded.
Chuck Lotocki (Class of '69)
Those of us that had the great opportunity to have attended "The Division Ave. High School" were very lucky in deed. We were blessed to have had many great teachers that influenced our lives.
For me these two men (Amen&Jewell) were very influential in building my character as a young man growing up in a very difficult time period in our country's history. They gave us self confidence to be the best we could be & to strive for nothing less. The motivation they instilled in so many young men & women who walked the halls of DAHS were getting tools to use for the rest of their lives. I stayed close to Jim Amen long after high school and truly miss him today. He was like a second father to me. I never played football for Jerry Jewel and is probably why I was never as close to him in the years after high school. I have always respected Jerry and what he meant to the culture of DAHS. Thank you for what you brought to our lives.
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