Mike Copper's cover story in today's Varsity section of the Erie Times-News reminded a lot of readers of their old coaches. In his interesting piece, Copper wrote about the role of inspirational speeches by coaches in modern athletics. He quoted everyone from Vince Lombardi to George Gipp, while providing an insightful look into how today's coaches fare when it comes to delivering a motivating message to their students or players.

I'm sure this played well in Erie, Pa., a city in which high school and college sports have long held a special place in the hearts and minds of the local citizenry. Through the years, coaches were so respected here they vwent on to become school principals, city councilmen and even mayors.

To a person, they all knew how to use words and emotions to stir their listeners. At special moments, they could inspire them to step up and deliver the performance of a lifetime.

I never played for him, but I always loved listening to the late Billy Brabender, longtime head football and wrestling coach at East High School, who later went on to become a member of the Erie School Board. Brabender was a gifted orator who would use any opportunity to motivate his team.

When East, an inner-city school of students who came from modest backgrounds, would play McDowell, a modern high school in an upscale suburban neighborhood, Brabender would ask the team's bus driver to cruise through the ritziest residential sections near the school. Billy would say, "Take a close look at those palaces. That's where your mothers slave every day, washing the floors on their hands and knees for these rich people who know nothing at all about what it's like to work for a living!"

Eddie Woodard, a highly-skilled East running back who went on to become a high school principal in Ohio, said the players would be seething with rage by the time the bus left the swanky neighborhoods. "I don't know that any of our mothers actually worked as domestics at those houses, and I'm sure the people who lived there were typical suburbanites, but Coach Brabender know how to push our buttons," Woodard said.

At my own high school, Cathedral Prep, a beloved coach and English teacher named Len Cyterski used to tear off his shirt at pep rallies, sending kids into delirous states that alternated between rage and joy. Cyterski, though extremely bright and well read, used few words in his motivational antics, but what he did say would make your heart soar. In short, he knew how to inspire people -- and especially kids, which I believe is becoming something of a lost art.

That's why I was pleased to read Copper's story in today's Varsity. His reporting showed there are still some aspiring Brabenders and Cyterskis out there. Our newspaper has reported at length through the years about Erie's best coaching motivators, and I'm sure we'll keep doing it. This is one of the most enjoyable parts of the job.

Now, drop and give me ten! Hit it!

-- Kevin Cuneo