My father coached with Dick at Mater Dei High School. I attended Mater Dei my freshman and sophomore years. While I never played on a team that Coach Coury coached, the man had a great impact on my life and my career. Please read the email and then you can click on the "John Huarte" story to get a better fell for my respect for this man.
The following is an email I sent to Steve Coury, son of Coach Dick Coury. Wow.
Thanks coach for the quick response. I am sorry to bother you at your business but I had to contact you. This may sound strange to you but I had a weird dream last night and you dad came to me and spoke to me. I know. Super weird. My father coached with you father back in the 50's at Mater Dei. I actually played my freshman and sophomore years at Mater Dei. I never actually played on a team you dad coached because I transferred to Newport Harbor my junior year. But our fathers stayed close friends. I can remember as a young boy going with your dad and my dad to football practices and scouting out players who were being cut but the LA Rams and trying to recruit them to the newly formed Chargers. No matter where I went your father he was always buying lunch for every body. He was so generous in that way. Sorry to carry on with all this but I feel the need to continue. Before I played at Mater Dei my father coached there, I think in 57. I can remember two things about you dad and you. He hired me to mow your lawn once a week and I remember you mom having me play with you or one of your siblings while she was trying to clean the house or prepare a meal. I also remember working at the watermelon stand in Santa Ana on the corner of Bristol and 17th Street to help raise money for the football program. I remember that because one night I was left alone until dark and when no on showed up I close the stand and walked all the way home that night carrying a cash box that had a lot of money in it. Your dad called me and told me how brave I was and thanked me. I believe my dad forgot about me that day. He was dealing with some post WW II issues and probably had been drinking. Maybe that's why your day had such respect for him. He was a heavily decorated war hero. But with that comes a lot of post war problems for their families. Again I apologize for the length of this email but I felt the need to explain some things to you. The biggest memory I had about you dad and how he changed my life was on a spring Sunday in 1966, I was working at a liquor store in Costa Mesa. Besides being a student/athlete I was also a teenager father. I was finishing my sophomore year at OCC and was considering ending my football playing days and going to work full time as a meter reader with the Southern Edison Company. I think my dad caught wind of this and he did what all good dad's would do. He got you dad to come talk with me while I was working that afternoon. We talked for several hours. He was coaching at USC at the time and I was so impressed that he would take the time for me. He encouraged me not to give up playing and to keep going because he saw that I would make a good coach or at least he felt he owed the talk for my dad. I ended up playing at Long Beach State and did pretty well. I didn't consider the pros because by then I was expecting my third child. I got hired to coach the freshman team my graduate year and then got hired to coach at Edison High School in Huntington Beach in 1969. Two years later we won the CIF championship and I went on to get hired to coach at Chabot College in Hayward, Ca, mostly as a track coach but also as a football coach. I later opened up their campus in Livermore (now called Las Positas College) but since we didn't have the facilities or funding we didn't have athletics for a long time. Still the coach in me created several club teams at the college. So don't laugh but I coached an ultimate frisbee team for over twenty years. (It started out being called Frisbee Football). In fact I have a past player who lives in Lake Oswego. I think he's on the police force. I retired about ten years ago and now live Lake Tahoe. The last time I saw you dad was while I attended a Raiders game in the early 70's. He was the secondary coach for the Broncos. I was there early and saw him on the field during warm ups. I went down and yelled his name and he recognized me and came right over. We talked and I thanked him for his "pep talk" back in 66' that changed my life forever. He was pleased to see that I stuck with his plan for me and I would see him occasionally over the years on the sideline of various NFL games I watched on TV. I can still remember how hard your dad worked. I had to stay late after practices waiting for my dad to pick me up when I played at Mater Dei. He then was coaching at Pious the X High School. I'm sure a job that you dad got for him. I also remember shagging punts and kick off for John Hurate after practices because everyone else was gone. (except your dad) Years later I came home to see him and Dick Litzinger at my dinner table talking with my dad. My dad asked him if he remember me and he didn't. I was 97 lbs. my freshman year and now that I was a freshman in college I was at 170. I told him I was offended because for that year I was taking all the credit for him winning the Heisman because of all those nights we stayed out after practices me running routes for him and shagging he kicks. He laughed and said you were that little kid. He was making the rounds to say thank you to all his formers coaches after he won the Heisman. I guess my day was his freshman or sophomore coach at Mater Dei. Anyway please forgive me for this lengthy story but I had to get it off my chest and ask you if your dad is still OK. I'm guessing he must be almost 90. I remember he was 28 when I was your family's lawn boy. I would love to contact him if possible. And if you think it's not too strange to meet you in person someday. My wife and I are planning a three month road trip this coming spring and would be in the Lake Oswego area in early June. My cell phone number is 925-577-7255. I also have a website which is really a family blog. "thepalis.com" So you could check me out a little more to see that I'm not as strange as it might sound. From one son of a coach to another I'd like to say thank you for taking the time to get back to me and for reading this. BTW, congratulations on you state championship last season and also for all your great success over the years as a player and coach. As a former coach for over 40 years I know how many lives you have touched. Thanks for all your dedication and hard work Coach. Pat Pohl
The two years at OCC improved my skills and confidence. I had a good sophmore year despite going through a divorce. Which we got back together ofter the season. I injured my knee seriously and had to sit out the last two games. I was about to drop out of school and get a real job with benefits but I had an undexpected visit from a very famous and well respected coach. One afternoon when I was working at E-Z-Inn Liquors, Dick Coury who was the head coach at Mater Dei who now was at USC came in and gave me a pep talk to continue my football and academic endeavors. Coach Coury would go on and have a very succesful coaching career in the NFL where I would run into him again at a Oakland Raiders/Denver Broncos game where he was the assistant coach for the Broncos. My father coached with him at Mater Dei when I was younger and were good friends. I know my dad had something to do with that afternoon talk at the store which changed the course of my life and started my on my career as a coach. I had several scholarship offers but they only included room and board to live in dorms. No one had anything for a married player with one and a half kids. So I went as a walk on to Long Beach State who had just finished a 9-1 season. Thank you Coach Coury