'I miss my friend': Cedar Crest girls basketball mourns loss of beloved assistant coach

If you're fortunate enough in life, at some point you'll meet someone who will not only become a faithful friend, but a trusted mentor who will not hesitate to tell you and show you the truth about yourself while somehow also making you laugh your head off.

Such people are rare, but they do exist.

Ask anyone who ever spent five minutes chatting with Mike Hackman. As many a former player and coaching colleague can attest, they broke the mold when they made Hackman. Which is why they're all so devastated at his passing late last week at the age of 78. They know they'll never meet anyone like him again.

Best known locally as a Cedar Crest girls basketball assistant to head coach Will Wenninger during the Falcons' heyday of L-L League dominance in the early 2000s, Hackman's coaching career also included a stint as the head coach at Warwick and a successful run as an assistant for some excellent Manheim Township teams in the mid and late 2010s. It all came full circle for Hackman when he rejoined Wenninger on the bench in South Lebanon when his old boss took the Cedar Crest job for a second time in the spring of 2020. But referring to Wenninger as Hackman's boss and Hackman as his assistant falls woefully short of describing their unique coaching partnership and friendship.

"He was my father figure and best friend," Wenninger said of Hackman, who was old enough to play the former role and plenty fun enough for the latter. "He just made me so much better. Not only as a coach, but as a person, a teacher and a husband.

"The thing about Hack is, everybody has a story about him and no one had a negative word to say about him."

That's due in large part to his unique ability to juggle the roles of respected authority figure and goofy friend without ever letting those two sides of himself conflict.

"Just the way he connected with people," said Wenninger of what made Hackman both highly respected and eternally beloved. "Even though he wasn't in the classroom, he was a great teacher. He just connected to people. He was one of a kind."

That's a fact confirmed by another coach Hackman worked extensively with, Manheim Township girls head coach Sean Burkhart.

"Mike was one of a kind," Burkhart said "I know that sounds cliche but he really was. He had a funny way of bringing some of his old school mentality to the kids of today, which is obviously not an easy thing to do. He always wanted what was best for the kids he was coaching and always cared about them and how they would go about finding their success. In both basketball and track, Mike was a great mentor to many and his impact on the league and it’s players and coaches. I saw this first hand as a 21 year old first year JH coach and again ten years later when I became a varsity coach as well. "

As Burkhart noted, Hackman also did some track and field coaching. It is a little-known or remembered fact that Hackman also served as the jumps coach at Cedar Crest in the early 2000s and guided Falcon long jumper Pete Habegger to a 3A state title in 2003.

Hackman even used highly respected head coach Rob Bare as a target of his sarcasm prior to leaving his staff, much to Bare's delight as he retold the story.

"One heck of a jumps coach," Bare said of Hackman. "When it was time for him to move on, he looked at me, laughed, and said, 'Bare, I wouldn't have done it your way, but it worked.'"

"I looked at him, laughed and said, 'I guess I'll take that as a compliment!'"

Two others Hackman came into contact with at Cedar Crest, recent Crest grad and senior center this past season, Sarah Batra, and Falcon athletic director Rick Dissinger, had a similarly high level of respect for Hackman.

"No doubt one of the best coaches I ever had," Batra said. "He was an amazing mentor, person and coach, and he will be missed by so many."

"Mike had a positive influence on CC athletes during his time at Cedar Crest (both in the early 2000’s in girls BBall and T&F, and during the last 2 years with BBall)," Dissinger said. "He was knowledgeable, passionate and had a unique way of connecting with and teaching today’s athletes. He and Will had a great partnership as coaches. He will be remembered and missed by all those he met during his tenure at CC."

But it is his 23-year friendship with Wenninger that will define Hackman's time. It got off to a bit of a rough start when the two met for the first time when Wenninger was hired at Cedar Crest in 1999 and as any father figure would, Hackman sometimes told his boss things he didn't want to hear, including during a loss to Mechanicsburg this past season.

"When I first got the job, I was coming from Annville-(Cleona) and we were bad," Wenninger said. "So I met him at the Quentin DIner and I said, 'I'm coming to Crest to build a program and I want to win.' And he said, 'It's not like you exactly won at Annville.' I thought, 'I just met him.'"

But after a more in-depth discussion, the two found their coaching philosophies were similar and Hackman agreed to join the staff, eventually setting into motion an unprecedented run of success for the Falcons that culminated with a memorable blowout win over Red Lion in the 2003 3A district title game at Giant Center.

The two weren't able to duplicate the same level of success after reuniting for the last two seasons, but just as he did when they were winning championships, Hackman would still fire off a zinger at his boss when he felt it was warranted,.

"We had a lot of similar philosophies about basketball," Wenninger said. "But when he didn't like it he would tell me, and when I got outcoached he would tell me. This year, we were playing Mechanicsburg and what I saw on film was that they had tremendous 3-point shooters. So we took away their 3-point shooters in the first half, but their post player had 16 points. So we're sitting on the bench (at halftime) waiting to go in and talk to the kids and he looks at me and says, 'Will, great scouting report.' I said, 'Hack, that's what I saw on film.' So we came out in the second half and held their post player to four points, but they hit five 3s on us. He was unique and I'll miss him."

Hackman stayed true to himself to the end, never letting on to Wenninger how sick he really was. He even showed up to an open gym a week before his death despite being in clearly failing heath. When an alarmed Wenninger suggested he quickly seek medical attention and not attend any more open gyms, Hackman quickly dismissed the notion.

It was just Hackman being Hackman, putting the team's best interests ahead of his own. It was just one of the reasons he was so beloved.

"I've never been on my phone as much as I have the last three days," Wenninger said. "I've never gotten so many texts. It talks to his character, speaks to his sense of humor. I can't emphasize enough his connection to people. Kids, adults, parents, any stakeholders in the game. I don't know what to say about him. He was one of a kind."

Hackman, who is survived by his daughter Jenny, will be laid to rest Saturday at 10 a.m. at Luther Acres Retirement Community in Lititz. Contributions in his name can be made to the American Heart Association and the Boys and Girls Clubs of Lancaster.

This article originally appeared on Lebanon Daily News: Cedar Crest girls basketball mourns loss of beloved assistant coach