By Ryanne Forcht,
Sports Editor
I wanted to write a tribute to my favorite Seton Hill University (SHU) guy for Valentine’s Day.
Written word lives forever, so I guess I�ll apologize in advance.
I remember the first time I met Coach Fogle like it was just yesterday. My Butler High varsity team had just finished putting Plum through a rather severe beating, when I saw Coach Fogle trotting over to the team bench, player program in hand, waiting to tell me and two of my teammates that there was a place for us at Seton Hill. He seemed harmless enough with his grey Seton Hill warm-up jacket and white tennies, so I considered the offer.
Not so long after that game, I was on my first visit to the Hill. While most people claim to have been completely enamored by the driveway on their first visit, my first time was not so–my teammate’s mom decided to go the back way (you know, the one off of Route 30, past the quaint little junkyard, and then through Caritas Christi).
It will suffice to say that my first visit was not my favorite.
However, Coach Fogle continued communication with my family and I was back in no time.
We all know the end to this story–I officially decided to become a Setonian in December of 2000.
I digress–back to Coach Fogle. The first day of soccer pre-season, he came blazing out in front of Brownlee on the Spirit (the world’s most abused golf cart) to whisk me away from my sweaty family members and into college life. (Please note, my family generally isn’tsweaty, but it was August, I was moving onto the third floor Brownlee Hall with no elevator, no fan, and no where near a reasonable amount of stuff.)
So, again, there I was with Coach Fogle, who would take on several roles for me that first year, including, but not limited to: that crazy man with a whistle, my work-study boss and an adopt-a-dad-like-figure. Never short on jokes or on Elvis impressions, Coach Fogle filled a void in my heart (until the weekends when I traveled home to my real family), and kept me from getting (too) homesick.
He took care of me and my teammates at soccer games, fed us all we could ever want at a Wendy’s and Sheetz (never complaining if we ordered the worst possible choice on the menu) and helped us fight through the pain of running at practice by starting an �Airborne Ranger� chant. Generally, Coach Fogle helped us take life a little less seriously (which, if you know me, is something I need to work on continuously).
Coach Fogle, also known as �Foges� by his favorite athletes, first graced this campus in the way-back-when of 1972. Since, he has coached tennis, volleyball, basketball, softball, and soccer.
Of course, his favorite SHU memory was starting up women’s soccer, but who is keeping track?
From all of the SHU athletes who have come to know and love Coach Fogle, we say: �Happy Valentine’s Day!�
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