Former coach meets with his players

Loving friendships never die.

That is the bond that has tied the first Gar-Field Senior High School coach and athletic director John Suren with his initial players over the past six decades.

Periodically, Suren and a group of a dozen players from his early coaching years get together to reminisce about their early days on the gridiron.

On Wednesday they met again for lunch at the Applebee’s in Woodbridge where good times were remembered.

Suren thanked his former players for being there, telling them that “the memories you created for me have lasted a lifetime.”

He added “I’m really proud of all you.”

Suren, 87, started his sporting career in the old Occoquan High School where he was athletic director, football, baseball and basketball coach and teacher from 1950 to 1953. He moved to the new Gar-Field Senior High School on U.S. 1 when it opened in 1953 and he remained until 1963. He then moved back to his hometown of Shelton, Conn., where he lived until 1971.

“While I was one of the highest-paying coaches in the country, I really missed Virginia … but also not coaching high school sports, so I came back to accept the position of coaching and athletic director at Stonewall Middle School in Manassas.” He remained there until retiring in 1985.

Suren still enjoys getting out and walking, and working in his yard. He is also writing a book, “For A Better U.S.A.,” which he describes as being about “what is good in the country but how it could be better.”

He and his wife, Patricia, were married for 59 years before she died in 2006. They have four daughters.

“One of the highlights of my retirement was making two car trips across the United States over a six-week period. The highlight was seeing Mount Rushmore.”

Suren, a resident of Manassas, said the highlight of his coaching career was seeing the wonderful way many of his students turned out … and have adapted to adult life. “I think I set an example for them, as I never smoked, drank or swore. And I expected them to do the same,” he said.

During his 38 years of coaching, Suren estimates his teams won more than 60 percent of baseball games and more than 65 percent of his football games.

Some of the teams they played from the early 1950s no longer exist or have changed names. They include the former Manassas High School, Warrenton, Herndon, Marshall, Leesburg, Aldie and George Mason.

Two of his former players, Bob Lloyd of Triangle and Orville Pennington of Woodbridge, who were at the luncheon, recall the greatest game played under Suren was when they were juniors in 1954.

“We had enrollment of maybe 300 students to Wakefield High School that had more than 1,100 and were ranked as one of the top teams in the Washington area. When we took the field, some of their players called us country bumpkins, snubbed us and kidded us about being with the Salvation Army with our red, white and blue uniforms,” said Pennington with a broad smile. The two and the rest of the team got the last laugh on Wakefield as Lloyd and Pennington teamed up for a 12-9 victory in the last minutes of play.

“They were leading us 9-6 when Lloyd hit me for three consecutive passes of 44, 29 and 10 yards for the winning touchdown,” said Pennington with a broad grin.

Lloyd said his lasting memory of the game was the Alexandria Gazette giving Mack Radcliff credit for throwing the winning touchdown “when I did it and as a kid then I was really upset.” He recalls that Suren used to “run us to death to get us in shape.”

Pennington said he ran into Suren nearly 40 years later and he put his hand over mine and said “that game was the highlight of my career.”

Marvin Dent of Triangle who played full back on the teams from 1952-57 said he remembers Suren as being a real disciplinarian.

“He loved to make us run laps to make sure we were in top condition,” said Dent.

“He called us his adopted sons since he had four daughters,” Dent said, who has been in charge of setting up the gatherings with his former coach.

Willie Weston of Stafford, who played for Suren at Occoquan, recalls that Suren was sort of like Tom Landry, former coach of the Dallas Cowboys.

“He was calm and quiet on the sidelines … but he could really get riled up and scream at us at halftime if we were losing. His favorite saying was ‘not the size of the dog in the fight but the size of the fight in the dog.’ He always stressed dignity and sportsmanship in whatever we did. I really enjoyed playing for him and still knowing him to this day.”

Jack Pennington of Vint Hill said, “I wasn’t a very good player but Suren instilled in me a sense of honesty, integrity and patience and I have a bunch of good memories still today. He was a very special person both at Gar-Field and Stonewall where he was respected by everyone, both by students and athletes. He was able to relate to everyone and students admired him. He didn’t demand respect… people just respected him.”

Dent summed up his friendship with Suren by saying “we all loved coach Suren as much as he loved us.”

He presented a Gar-Field T-shirt, student alumni directory from 1953-2003 along with an old scrapbook of newspaper clippings to Suren and concluded by saying “it’s great to meet like this and bring back old memories to remind us about our fortunes … and misfortunes.”

Suren later became a scout for the Cleveland Indians and saw two of his former players get signed by major league teams. “Gene Maddox was the first Prince William County resident to sign on with a major league team and Dent wasn’t too far behind. Both saw their careers end after two seasons — Maddox with a hurt arm with the Washington Senators and Dent with a hurt back with the Pittsburgh Pirates,” he said.