Whit Parks, Ron Hurst and Doug Frye are cornerstone of Newcomerstown's 'Cradle of Coaches'

NEWCOMERSTOWN — While Miami University in Ohio has the well-deserved reputation as the “Cradle of College Coaches,” Heller Drive in this village should have a similar reputation as the cradle of some outstanding Ohio high school football coaches.

Miami University has provided roots for such legendary football coaches as Woody Hayes, Bo Schembechler, Ara Parseghian, Weeb Ewbank, Paul Brown and Sid Gillman. Heller Drive has provided roots for Whit Parks, Ron Hurst and Doug Frye, who grew up within blocks of each other and have gone on to stellar, award-filled careers that have resulted in each being elected to the Ohio High School Football Coaches Hall of Fame.

Whit Parks was First Team All-Ohio in 1968; was elected to the Ohio High School Football Coaches Hall of Fame in 2020; named to the inaugural Tuscarawas County Sports Hall of Fame in 2022, named to the Newcomerstown High School Wall of Honor in 2022, and was named to the Zanesville City Schools Hall of Fame in 2019.

Parks spent 40 years in education, with 37 years as a head football coach for eight schools in Ohio. His overall record of 213-161-3 included playoff appearances in 1997, 2001, 2003, 2015 and 2017 and six conference championships. He waas a six-time Conference Coach of the year, eight-time District Coach of the Year, six-time Ohio High School Football Coaches Association Region Coach of the Year and the Ohio Division II Coach of the Year in 1997. He was head coach for the North/South All-Star Football Game in 2018, the Muskingum-Licking County All-Star Game in 1988 and 1998, and was assistant coach for the Big 33 Ohio-Pennsylvania All-Star Game in 1994.

Ron Hurst has also been a coach in multiple sports. Hurst had a 178-133-3 record in 31 years as a football head coach, all at Strasburg High School. The Tigers had four championships in the Inter-Valley Conference and made the playoffs in 2000, 2001 and 2002. He was four-time IVC coach of the year and Ohio Division IV coach of the year in 2000. He was an assistant coach in the North-South All-Star Game, coached The Times-Reporter All-Star team five times and was the Eastern District Coach of the Year one time.

Hurst was IVC coach of the year in girls basketball for 1978-1979 and IVC coach of the year in girls track in 2003 and in 2013. He received the IVC Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014. He also coached boys and girls cross country for nine years.

Doug Frye was also an All-Ohioan football player and coached with Parks at one point in his career. He coached in the North-South All-Star Football Game twice and in the Big 33 All-Star Game in 2009. Frye was 245-123 in 34 years as a head coach at six schools, including St. Marys Memorial, Strasburg, Bucyrus and Wapakoneta. His teams made the Ohio playoffs 14 times and in the 2004 Division III state championship game as St. Marys Memorial lost to Cleveland Benedictine. He has also coached basketball, track and baseball.

Dennis “Sparky” Parks, a native of Newcomerstown and a long-time “Red Coat” at Ohio Stadium for Ohio State football games, said, “it is truly amazing that three high school football coaches being elected to the Ohio School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame are from the same town and all lived on the same street, Heller Drive.”

Playing and coaching careers intertwines for Whit Parks, Ron Hurst and Doug Frye

“It is quite unique that Ron, Doug and myself all grew up on the same street, Heller Drive, and then all would be inducted into the Ohio High School Coaches Hall of Fame,” Parks said. “I’m sure nothing like that has happened and from such a small town. And we all played for and learned from the same high school coach, Ward Holdsworth. Both Doug and Ron are my friends. Ron and I are the same age and played together in the neighborhood growing up. We played some kind of sports together since the early years and became best friends and remain so today.

“We learned how to compete in that neighborhood. What a remarkable career Ron had in Strasburg. Doug was about 10 years younger than us and I remember seeing him around the neighborhood. However, our paths crossed quite significantly when Doug was getting into coaching. I was the head coach at Mount Vernon High School and hired Doug to be on our staff, then when we moved to take the Zanesville job Doug also moved with us. Doug then went on to great success as a head coach, and we remain good friends also. Quite a unique situation for three guys from Heller Drive.”

Hurst said, “Whit, Doug, and myself grew up in Newcomerstown and had a love for the game of football. We were able to pursue our dreams of coaching and were lucky to have had some great players and great assistant coaches along the way. Whit and I were best of friends growing up. We lived close to each other on Heller Drive. We did a lot together and ran around together and we still are close friends today. Doug was younger so we didn’t see much of him at the time.”

Frye said, “the Heller factory would let out and the street was packed. High school football was special in Newcomerstown and there is no coach better than Coach Holdsworth. Our class won every game, with one tie, in 7th-8th-9th grades. We were 25-5 in our three years of high school football. I student-taught for Whit at Mount Vernon High School. I went with Whit when he went to coach at Zanesville High School. I got to know Ron Hurst during my time as the head coach at Strasburg High School. They are both outstanding people. I knew Whit and his family well. Paul [Parks, Whit’s father] was an outstanding person. Eric Parks [Whit’s brother] was one the most driven people I have ever met. He also knew my name even when he was substitute teaching … and he was blind.”

And coming from the hometown of Woody Hayes, the longtime coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes, also had an impact.

“Woody was always known to be from Newcomerstown,” Hurst said. “That was always something that you could tell people. People thought that was pretty neat.”

“Woody being from Newcomerstown always was a source of pride for all of us,” Parks said. “I know I studied all of his books and I was impacted greatly by them as I was when I went to his coaching clinics at Ohio State. Woody coming back to speak at our athletic banquets was very impactful to a bunch of high athletes.”

Football, school and family were important lesson builders for Whit Parks, Ron Hurst and Doug Frye

Frye, while his son, Bo, has the same first name as Coach Bo Schembechler, said, “I always brag about being from the hometown of Woody Hayes and Cy Young. Growing up, I was allowed to stay up late to watch one show and that was the Woody Hayes Show. I watched every minute of it. My first book by Woody was ‘Hotline to Victory’ which I have since given to my son Bo.” Bo Frye is the football coach at St. Marys Memorial and Frye’s other son, Koby, is the offensive coordinator.

“My first memories of football in Newcomerstown were of my dad [Paul Parks] taking me to the high school football games as a little boy,” Parks remembered. “I fell in love with everything about it. Then during the week I would go down my alley to watch the high school team practice every day. I got to be friends with the coaches and they and the players were bigger than life to me. All I wanted to do was play football. Then when I was a sophomore Coach Ward Holdsworth came to town to coach football. All our lives changed when this charismatic man arrived in Newcomerstown. He changed football in Newcomerstown and changed a lot of our lives. He was a role model for us all, and we would do anything for him. The highlight would have to be our senior year in 1968 when we beat Dennison St. Mary's in the league championship game to go undefeated. It was a magical night that we all had dreamed of. It was a thrill to accomplish that with all your friends that you grew up with. I distinctly remember people rushing the field and seeing our fans with tears in their eyes. A night for the ages!”

Hurst said, “Newcomerstown was always home. The community has been very supportive from when we were growing up and is still that way. My dad and mom taught us responsibility, respect, hard work, and being a good person. We have tried to instill that with our kids, students, and athletes through the years. Growing up in Newcomerstown was a great learning experience in school as well as athletics. Whit, Doug, and myself grew up in Newcomerstown and had a love for the game of football. We were able to pursue our dreams of coaching. We were lucky to have had some great players and great assistant coaches along the way and, hopefully, we were able to make a positive impact on their lives.”

Frye echoed that sentiment, saying, “I loved being from Newcomerstown. I still use Mrs. Rachel Stoffer's [his high school English teacher] quote with our players: ‘Good-Better-Best … never let it rest, until your good is better and your better is best.’ She was tough but an outstanding teacher. All of our players had it memorized. We recited it after every game. Newcomerstown had everything to do with my development. It was a great small town to grow up in. Then when I was lucky enough to coach with/for Whit, it was re-instilled in me. Growing up in Newcomerstown instilled the value of hard work and pride and the value of playing the game together as a team. The support in our community was outstanding!”

Parks said, “Growing up in Newcomerstown was the best childhood I could imagine. We came from good, hard-working families who taught us great values. It shaped my life as a person, a coach and with my family. It has always been a great source of pride for me to be from Newcomerstown. The Parks family roots run deep in that town and I wouldn't have wanted to grow up anywhere else. My life in Newcomerstown and the influence of my parents, my relatives there and so many others shaped my life as a person, a coach and husband and father. It led me to a life and a career that I wouldn't trade for anything. I love Newcomerstown, Ohio!”

This article originally appeared on The Times-Reporter: Whit Parks, Ron Hurst and Doug Frye grew up on the same street