HAZELWOOD: Everyone has a great Bob Haas story

Apr. 26—Everyone has a good story.

When reflecting on the life of Bob Haas, that line of thought is perhaps the best starting point.

Haas, 82, died on April 20. His legacy, both broad and wide, includes his tenure as a Hall of Fame basketball coach and as a respected, revered and — at times, even feared — math teacher and assistant principal at Willard High School.

Haas was also a deeply loyal family man as a husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather.

He left his mark on many students, athletes, fellow coaches and an entire community.

His coaching statistics are eye-popping. Winning 441 of 515 games at one school across 22 seasons really does stand on its own. So too, does Haas's regular-season state record of 69 consecutive wins over four seasons.

But more telling is what Haas helped create during his years at Willard. For two-plus decades, an entire community lived and breathed the Crimson Flashes' basketball program.

The identity of Willard was built around Haas's basketball teams.

Every boy interested in sports wanted to play for him. Everyone wanted to watch the games. Demand was high for season tickets and lines wrapped around buildings for home and away games. Back when dimmed lights and a spotlighted starting lineup wasn't a regular thing,

Willard home games had that market cornered.

In a time without cell phones and video games dominating daily life, the Willard community turned basketball games into big-time events.

Keith Diebler famously won a state championship at Upper Sandusky in 2005, largely behind the strength of his star sons, Jake and Jon. When he was coaching junior-varsity baseball at Plymouth in the late 1970s, Diebler recalled playing a game at Willard.

When the game ended, the players shook hands — and then took off running to the high school. Open gym for boys' basketball began in a few minutes, and those kids didn't dare be late, Diebler noted.

Greg Nossaman had his own special run as coach at Willard from 1999-2008, winning five district championships and reaching a state semifinal game.

Nossaman borrowed an idea from Roy Williams, the former great Kansas and North Carolina men's basketball coach. While at UNC, Williams invited his mentor, the great Tar Heels coach Dean Smith, to come to a practice and observe his team.

"I told myself I'd invite Bob in to do the same thing," said Nossaman, who has spent his years after Willard coaching at Powell Olentangy Liberty near Columbus.

Nossaman said although he didn't know what to expect, he was shocked at the comprehensive, insightful notes Haas handed to him after the practice.

"It was amazing the stuff he wrote down despite not knowing the players personally like I did," he said. "Bob's thoughts were dead on. He wrote a paragraph or two on each kid, and I couldn't believe how much he knew after watching them in one practice.

"I believe everyone in life is good at something, and Bob Haas knew how to coach the game of basketball."

One story that many folks outside of Willard aren't familiar with is that after 18 years, Haas had actually stepped down at the end of the season in 1989.

Retirement lasted 12 days.

Why? When the All-Northern Ohio League teams were announced, his two star players on a 19-3 league title-winning team — Derek Heath and Mark Briegel — weren't on the list.

Those two had transferred to Willard from Buckeye Central, and the implication was clear: they didn't deserve NOL honors.

Haas talked publicly about how the snub upset him and that it was a motivating factor in returning to coaching. He stood up for his kids, school and the Willard community.

Haas then coached four more seasons, going 76-16 with another three league titles and a regional runner-up finish.

An entire generation of great Willard players and successful coaches grew up with Haas in his second act. One generation knew him as Coach Haas on the bench, another knew him as Coach Haas the color analyst behind the bench on the radio.

To listen to the late Mike Adelman and Haas call a big-time Willard game, notably from the Nick Dials and Jimmy Langhurst era (1999-2006) was basketball heaven. Mike was great at setting the scene — and knew when to let Coach Haas take over.

Oftentimes you'd hear Haas raising his voice, yelling over the din of the Willard crowd, to express his point. He'd explain what offenses and defenses were being run, along with multiple scenarios on what the Flashes could or would potentially do.

But what made those broadcasts so special was the way Adelman deferred to him. When Haas came to Norwalk to call games with Scott Truxell, the same deference was given.

You could often see and hear the reverence those guys gave to Haas during games. They let Haas break down what he was seeing, and listening felt as though he put you right in the middle of the bench during a timeout.

That Haas was calling Willard games in a gym with not only his name on the floor, but with overfilled banners with accomplishments hanging on the walls was an interesting scenario. I often thought that must seem intimidating for whoever was the current head coach of the Flashes.

"He never makes you feel that way," Dave Hirschy said about Haas told me in 2010. Hirschy was head coach at his alma mater from 2009-13 and has spent the past six seasons as an assistant to current Willard coach Joe Bedingfield.

"That barometer he set, that comes with the job," Hirschy said. "When you coach here, you just know that's part of it. Coach Haas set the bar extremely high — and there's nothing wrong with that, because he's still a big part of wanting the program to do well."

To me, Haas's extended reach always stood out. In 2009, when I wrote a retirement story on Norwalk volleyball coach Grace Hutchinson, I noted that she and Haas were the only 500-win coaches in Huron County at the time.

Grace thanked me for the story a few days later and added, "especially for the part about Bob Haas. I always admired and respected the program he ran and it's an honor to be mentioned with him."

That was from a coach in a different sport at a rival school.

Or, how about the recently retired Steve Gray? In his gratitude and appreciation for winning the Division II state championship at Norwalk in 2014, he told me there were quiet

moments where he'd often question, "why me?"

He was thinking about Bob Haas, among others, he noted.

"Guys like Bob Haas, Rob Sheldon (Bucyrus Wynford) and Joe Balogh (Ontario) ... you just wonder why 'this team' — and not some of theirs," Gray said.

"Those are guys I look up to and respect. You just wonder why you're the one being so blessed in that moment."

But speaking of that 2014 state title, few know that Haas's impact on his former players — which predictably went on to be far-reaching — unintentionally helped the Truckers win the championship.

Keith McKinney graduated from Willard in 1982 and was a member of two teams that reached a regional championship and the state semifinals. His brother, Mike, graduated from WHS in 1985 and was on a 19-win team as a senior.

After watching a cousin helplessly coach his son and nephew in youth basketball in Mansfield, Mike could see his family needed help.

Days later, McKinney handed Jeff Thomas Sr. a thick notebook. It held every piece of paper that McKinney had kept from Coach Haas over the years.

More than two decades later, McKinney taught the two boys everything from "the book of Haas" and never deviated from it. Every word was followed, including a specific warmup routine.

Those youngsters — Jeff Thomas Jr. and Ben Haraway — became all-time greats at NHS who led the Truckers to the state title.

"In a way, Bob Haas helped shape those kids," Thomas Sr. told me in 2014. "It brought an element of discipline and structure to their game — taught entirely from his system."

Truxell related that story to Haas the following season, eliciting an "aww, shucks" type reaction.

And that brings me to my favorite Haas story:

If you didn't know him, you wouldn't have any idea what Haas had accomplished as a coach. He was humble and unassuming.

That his team didn't win a game at state bothered him, you'd never know it. If he was proud of specific stats, you wouldn't know that, either — although his late wife, Sandy, did tell me her favorite was his 44-0 record vs. Bucyrus.

Haas was always the same guy all the time. Boys' basketball was never about him.

After I watched Willard score 100 points in consecutive games in 2006, I asked Haas if he knew the last time that had happened. He was incredulous, saying, "I can't imagine we've ever had a team do that."

Of course, his teams had done so multiple times — including in his third-to-last season. Instead, he demurred from past accomplishments.

One of my last lengthy interactions with Haas came just before a huge Willard vs. St. Paul boys' game in Norwalk in January 2020.

Haas approached the bench as I interviewed Cassie Crawford, Willard's all-time points leader in girls' basketball, for a separate story. As always, he told me I was doing a good job. I coyly responded that I was just trying to reach his level of success as a coach.

Again, Haas was incredulous, saying, "you already have."

Of course, that's not true. But Haas had that wonderful quality of making you feel good about yourself.

He then told Crawford to keep up the great work, and to be sure to "keep bending your knees more" at the free-throw line.

Bob Haas was forever coaching. He was forever lifting up and impacting everyone around him.

And because of those qualities, among others, everyone will always have a good Haas story to share.