Remembering Tom Raymer

Remembering Tom Raymer

by Jack Evans

Tom Raymer was an outstanding football coach at Coaldale High School and the stories written over the years well document his success. Many do not know of the soft side of Raymer or his humor. I will provide some interesting tidbits on those two areas.

Practice took place on the dirt and stone-filled field adjacent to Sixth Steet. Coach Raymer could always be found sitting in his folding chair observing the field with his back on the Sixth Street side which was slightly elevated.

Prior to the start of the day’s practice, players would go on the field and try kicking and punting to bolster their chances of making the team.

My first encounter with the coach occurred in my freshman year when I was practicing punting the ball. As the coach was sitting in his usual position, I executed a punt with a spiral that traveled between 30 and 35 yards. The only problem with the kick was that it only traveled about 30 feet in the air and buzzed over the top of the coach. He immediately stood up and yelled “Who did that”? I reluctantly raised my arm and thought that I was in trouble. With that he sat back down. For the rest of the formal practice, I worried that he was going to approach me and say something. He never did.

One must keep in mind that Raymer did not wear a whistle at this time and relied on his bombastic voice to call out players while sniffing both nostrils with his Vicks inhaler.

I believe that I can say that there were more “Raymerisms” said well before Yogi Berra was noted for his “Yogiisms”. Coach Raymer had a unique vocabulary!

That same year, while Tommy Sopko was participating in the offensive line drills, Raymer yelled out to Sopko “You go over there” and with that comment he rose to his feet and raised both arms and pointed in two different directions to Tommy, the look on Sopko’s face was both bewilderment accompanied with a smile. Walking home from practice with Sopko was filled with laughter as we went down Kline’s hill. Something that Tommy never forgot and brought up in later conversations for years.

Later in the year and almost halfway through schedule, Raymer hired a bus and took the whole team to Bucknell to see one of his proteges play, Jake Flyzik. He packed the bus with his legendary “ham and cheese” sandwiches to keep the group fed. We had the opportunity to speak with Jake prior to the game, and one could tell that he was extremely flattered. Jake did mention to the group that he was suffering from a cold and Doc asked him what he was taking. Jake responded that he was instructed to take two pills each day, but he said he was taking four a day because he thought that would make him better more quickly. In TPR fashion, a big and bright smile crossed his face.

At the end of the season, the team was treated to a pro-football game being played at old Yankee Stadium between the New York Giants and the Baltimore Colts. On the way to New York, we were treated to an early breakfast at the Phillipsburg Dinner in Phillipsburg, New Jersey. It was a good game, but the Giants beat my Colts. However, the Colts got their revenge and beat the Giants in the playoff in Sudden Death which was attributed as the greatest game ever played.

At the conclusion of the game, the bus took up into Manhattan, and we were allowed to do some sightseeing on our own. The only instruction was to be back at 7:30 p.m. in front of St. Patrick’s Cathedral. No one missed the bus. Once again, on the way home, we stopped at the same Phillipsburg Diner for a late-night snack.

So how did this little coal region find the resources to attend these events? A lot of credit must go to Raymer himself. He raised money with his candy sales and I’m pretty sure some of the profits went back to the team. Another fundraising was accomplished by selling raffle tickets for two tickets to attend the Army-Navy game played in Philadelphia. Back in those days, that was always considered the game of the year.

During the Summer, the coach could be seen sitting on his elevated porch on 2nd and Phillips Street. Maybe he was looking for the guys who would go into Henry’s and buy three cigarettes for a nickel or perhaps look for a player or two to have a conversation about football. I believe he just wanted to talk about football.

Before my junior year began and with my Seek buddy, Danny Moyer, who was an upcoming senior, we would walk from Seek up through Phillips Street to attend the dances held at the Lansy pool. On one of our first ventures, Raymer noticed us and we were summoned to the porch. For the next two hours, we talked football and never made it to the dance.

On subsequent trips to attend the dances, Danny and I would walk up to 3rd street and head north to High Street and then walk south on 1st street to avoid being captured for the evening by Coach Raymer. Today, we would both welcome the football conversation with the coach rather than the dances.

As Seniors in high school, Tom went out of his way, in his own way, to thank us for our contributions to the program. He made sure we had the best of the equipment and at the end of the season, he provided us with jerseys as a keepsake. He always seemed at a loss for words as the season ended.

His ultimate closing with Seniors was when he arranged for our letterman sweaters to be made. I can vividly remember the tailor taking absolute individual measurements.

So, for that “Gruff” man on the outside, he was really a big Teddy bear on the inside. RIP, Coach Tom.