I don't suppose I ever knew a wiser coach.  His patience and gentle kindness with players was in sharp contrast to conventional thinking on how to teach the game.  The world of football has lost a quiet hero, the likes of which we shall never see again. 

The timing of his passing on the day of a Massillon-McKinley game does not escape me, yet I am dumbfounded to explain it.  Looking back, I don't think any of us would have had it any other way. 

I recall when he stepped down from coaching in 1971, giving his modest farewell address at Tiger Stadium, and even back then I realized we could never replace him.  His absence from the coaching staff was immediately felt.  (When Ducky left, the "Golden Era" of  Massillon Tiger football left with him.)   I remember him saying at the time he retired that he had found a little heaven in Massillon.  Not many coaches who come here can say that.  It speaks well of Ducky's unique approach to life.  He always found good where others had not noticed. 

As a fan I oft times watched the team practice.  I remember one warm August day when Ducky was teaching the team how to employ a widely gaped punt formation.  The players were spread so far apart that I remember thinking -- this will never work, the opponents will shoot through the gaps and block every punt! 

When the practice session ended, the players all ran off the field, and Ducky was there gathering up footballs and chin straps and various bits of debris, as though it was this cherished old man's place to look after such mundane matters. 

My friend, John, and I walked up to Ducky (who always took time for the fans), and I asked him how such a formation was going to work.  He grinned at me, with those sad wise eyes of his twinkling brightly, then he softly explained the strategy in detail, and when he was done it was so easy to grasp that I felt embarrassed that I had not seen the simplicity of his approach.  That was Ducky.  He had a knack for turning the complex into the simple. 

We shall eternally miss him.  He was our finest Tiger.  The heaven he found in Massillon was a heaven he created.  Wherever Ducky goes now,  it will be heaven because he is there.