Paul Starkey

Paul Starkey never started a football game for Heidelberg College.” I just wasn’t big enough,” said Starkey, a 5-foot-7, 135-pound two-way halfback and team MVP coming out of Louisville High School in 1954. “I was fast enough that if I could have just played offense, I think I would have played. But because of my size, I couldn’t play defense.” At least not for Heidelberg, a team that went undefeated during Starkey’s first two years. It turned out, though, that watching Paul Hoernemann, a college and high school hall of fame coach, was one of the best things to happen to Starkey. After graduation, Starkey returned to Louisville. After seven years as an assistant under James Morgan and Hap Lillick, Starkey took roots on the Leopards’ sidelines. For 27 years, Starkey coached at Louisville, the last 20 as their head coach. By the time Starkey retired in 1984, he was the winningest coach in school history (146-51-3) and was a member of the Ohio High School Football Coaches Association’s Hall of Fame. It is time to add one more honor. Starkey is a 2004 Stark County High School Football Hall of Fame inductee. He and the rest of his class will be inducted July 23 at Skyland Pines Rustic Lodge. In Stark County, Paul Starkey was — and is — regarded as a giant among coaches. What he learned standing on the sidelines, he envisioned his own players doing on the football field.” I remember we were going to play Minerva,” said Tom Chlebeck, the 1965 Stark County Most Valuable Player on Starkey’s first team, which went 10-0. “He changed one little blocking scheme for the game. It was shocking the size of the holes.” The rest was history. We won, and the score was like 62-0, and I scored 50 points.”Chlebeck scored 198 points that year, breaking former Leopard Bob Gladieux’s single-season state record as Louisville outscored its opponents 427-36. That was the first of four undefeated seasons for Starkey, who guided the Leopards to two Tri-County League titles and six Federal League championships.Chlebeck came back to coach under Starkey, one of many former Leopards who went into coaching. “He was just very consistent in his coaching,” said Rick Crislip, who played under Starkey and later became the second-winningest (84-42) Louisville football coach. “He was smart enough to surround himself with good assistants, guys like Bill Umberger, Bob McKinney and Ken Hathaway. He was very motivated (to win), but he did what was right for the players.” “His best trait was putting players in the proper position. He was able to see their potential and the positions they could play.” He had some great players and would be the first to tell you that,” said Tom Winkhart, Perry’s head coach from 1965-76. “But they were just extremely well-coached kids. Above everything else, he was a great person. He was an outstanding gentleman. He respected his opponents. We always enjoyed playing Louisville.” Starkey’s reputation was that of a quiet disciplinarian. A Starkey stare instilled more fear than any tirade could.” He let his assistants be emotional. He stayed very calm and collected on the sidelines,” said Paul Farrah, Louisville’s current head coach and another all-league Leopard under Starkey. “You never saw him lose his temper.” He was a first-class act. But he put up with nothing. That was in the old days. When he told you to cut your hair, you said, ‘How short?’ ”“There was no screaming or yelling,” said Hathaway, a Starkey assistant all 20 seasons. “The kids knew it. He was such a nice guy, you loved coaching for him.” And players loved playing for him.” He was just the kind of coach we needed,” Chlebeck said. “Hap Lillick was the coach that got us going (before Starkey). He was emotional, rah-rah. Paul was just the opposite. All business.” Starkey’s 1965 and 1966 teams both went 10-0, stretching Ohio’s longest winning streak at the time to 38 games. The Leopards went 3-7 in 1967, but Starkey never had another losing season. Organization and attention to details are two traits most often associated with Starkey the coach. For that matter, Starkey the teacher, too.” We would meet on Sunday nights,” said McKinney, Starkey’s defensive coordinator from 1970-85. “We would start at 6 p.m. and go until ... I remember staying until 3 a.m. He was a stickler for details.” It was fun,” Hathaway said. “But we worked seven days a week. Starkey did not like to lose.” Paul had every detail laid out,” said Ivan “Ike” Farrah, Paul’s father and Louisville’s principal during Starkey’s tenure. “He was organized. He was a great math teacher.” Character was a big thing with Paul Starkey. The development of the young men who played for him was more important than wins, which carried over in the winning.” “I guess I got that from Hoernemann and Jim Morgan and Hap Lillick, too,” Starkey said. “It was just by being around great coaching. Hap Lillick’s organization was great. I learned a lot from him about details. We missed a few things on our staff but not too much.” Starkey could pound home a point. And a nail, if need be. Turns out it once was.” We had a big game at GlenOak,” Starkey said of one game in 1971. “They didn’t have a visiting press box. It was a big game. I said we’ve got to have our own press box so that we could be a safe distance away and high enough to see the formations. So Louisville’s coaches brought their own scaffolding, and the Leopards won the game. The Leopards went undefeated that season, Starkey’s last 10-0 team. Ken Kuhn was named Stark County’s MVP and went on to play at Ohio State before being drafted by the Cincinnati Bengal’s. Chlebeck’s, Kuhn and Jeff Kuhn (not related) all were county MVPs under Starkey.Starkey was a visionary who would change schemes year to year, depending on personnel. Sometimes, even in mid-stream.” Hap came from Massillon, and he ran the unbalanced line,” Starkey said. “So I used it ... but in 1967, we didn’t have as many athletes, and we had a losing season. That taught me a lesson not to use one thing.” Some years, Louisville threw more passes. The Leopards went 9-0-1 in 1977 running the wishbone. In 1979, following a 13-0 loss to Boardman, Starkey switched from the wishbone to a pro-set offense in between weeks.” I moved the quarterback to wide receiver, got a new quarterback with a strong arm and we went 9-1,” Starkey said. “We were willing to change.” Tom Winkhart’s Perry teams handed Starkey three of the bitterest losses of his career, including a 28-27 game in 1974 that ruined a perfect season and likely kept Louisville out of the state playoffs. It is a defeat Starkey thinks about even today, and for the right reason. Trailing by 21 points in the fourth quarter, Louisville scored three touchdowns and got within 1 point. Starkey decided to go for the win, but the Leopards failed to convert the 2-point attempt. This was before overtime, when only two teams from each region made the state playoffs.” That 1974 team was one of my favorites,” Starkey said. “If we were going to the playoffs, we had to go 10-0. We faked an option on the extra point, and it didn’t go. If I could do it over, I’d give the ball to Crislip. That game still haunts me today.” Team first. Players first. Loyalty first. That’s the way it was under Starkey. That hasn’t changed. Starkey still lives in Louisville, with his wife of 44 years, Judy. And Louisville football?” He still comes to our games,” Paul Farrah said. “He’s one of our biggest fans. He bleeds blue and white.”

Paul Starkey Louisville High School football coach, 1965-84 High school: As a player, Starkey was first team Tri-County League and Louisville High School football MVP his senior year in 1953... At 5-foot-7, 135 pounds, he played halfback and defensive back. ... In 20 years as Louisville’s head football coach, Starkey had one losing season and captured eight league championships. ... His career record was 146-51-3, the winningest mark in school history. College: Starkey graduated from Heidelberg College in 1957. ... He played football for four years, including undefeated seasons in 1954 and 1955. ... He earned a bachelor’s degree from Heidelberg and a master’s in education from Kent State University. What you need to know: Born in 1936 in Paris, Ohio, one of six children to Harold and Venetia Starkey, both deceased. ... Married Judy in 1960. ... They have sons, Terry, 41, and Bob, 39, and daughter Cheryl, 40, as well as nine grandchildren. ... Elected to the Ohio High School Football Coaches Association’s Hall of Fame in 1989 ... Named Ohio Coach of the Year in 1966, 1971 and 1978 by the OHSFCA. ... Coached the North squad to a 15-7 victory in the 1974 North-South All-Star Game at Fawcett Stadium. ... Served as OHSFCA regional president for 10 years and state president in 1979. ... Was the first commissioner of the Northeastern Buckeye Conference. ... Taught mathematics at Louisville for 37 years until his retirement in 1995. ... Was the Leopards’ athletics director for 20 years.

Article Written By: Jim Thomas Repository Sports Writer Friday, January 30, 2004Reprinted With Permission From: The Canton Repository