A hero's legacy

Coach Eddie Harelson was known for turning aro und Jennings High School’s football program in the 1960s It and according to several of his former players, he turned their lives around, too.

Buttherewas another part of Harelson he never at length with his students, something some wonder if he ever discussed at all — his time as a paratrooper with the 187th Airborne Infantry Regiment in World War II.

Now former student John Semmes and some of his classmates are on a mission to share Harelson’s story with the communities the late coach impacted, as well as learn more about the life the man lived.

Semmes considered him a role model but did not spend much time with Harelson. How the coach carried himself and treated others caught Semmes’ attention though and, knowing Harelson had mentioned being a WWII paratrooper, this influenced Semmes to eventually become a paratrooper himself, serving in the Vietnam War.

“He was an extraordinary man who did extraordinary things,” Semmes said. “After learning about his wartime experiences, he became more than a soldier to me; he was a warrior.”

Semmes’ book, “Eddie Harelson: His WWII Story and Legacy at Jennings High,” is compiled with accounts of the coach’s unit, the 2nd Battalion of the 187th Airborne Infantry Regiment in the 11th Airborne Division. By the time he turned 21, Harelson had already earned the rank of technical sergeant. He fought in significant battles on the Philippine islands of Leyte and I won. At the war’s end, he was one of the first American troops to land in Japan for occupation duty. After the war, he returned to Louisiana Tech as a star football player and track athlete.

But for all his accomplishments and experiences, those who knew him say he was incredibly humble and a man who truly cared about individuals.

Many times, he was also a man who saw more potential in people than they saw in themselves.

When his peewee football days were over, Nick Pizzolatto was ready to leave the gridiron behind. There was a rumor Harelson wanted him on the Jennings High team, however, so Pizzolatto made sure he avoided the coach at all costs — at least until the day coaches Harelson and Barousse came calling at his family home in 1962.

“We lived across the street from First Baptist Church and I remember seeing the coaches pull up on the street and park,” he recalled. “I prayed to God they were Baptist and were going to church. Instead, they showed up at my house so I hid in my sister’s bedroom”

Eventually Pizzolatto came out of hiding and met with Harelson, who told him he wanted him on the team. The boy relented.

After his freshman year, Pizzolatto planned to quit football but Harelson found him once again and convinced him otherwise. In fact, the coach wanted to make him the tailback.

“It was in playing that position when I started to get a little attention from colleges,” Pizzolatto said. “I asked coach which school I should attend and he said, `Nicky, go where you can get the best education.’ So I got a free ride to Tulane and a free ride mostly during law school all because coach saw something in me that I didn’t know was there. I really don’t know where my life would have gone if coach hadn’t tracked me down not once but twice.”

Pizzolatto has contributed to the book by contacting former Bulldogs for their Harelson stories, as well as gathering contact information to begin distributing the book once it is completed.

Dan Donald, who has written the book’s foreword, is another Bulldog who went to college on a football scholarship. Even at college, though, the practices were not nearly as organized as Harelson’s were. While the coach was dedicated to football, he was more dedicated to who his players were in their everyday lives.

“He was careful to be sure people were going to class and doing their work,” he said. “He pushed us to be more than just athletes and I always thought if I had a problem, I could talk to him about it”

While many students knew Harelson had been in the military, it was not a subject the man discussed. Sometimes, though, his life as a coach and his time as a paratrooper crossed his mind at the same time.

"A lot of times at practice, airplanes, like crop-dusters, would fly over,” Donald recalled. “Coach would stop whatever he was doing and just watch the planes. After reading (Semmes’) history of him, I can understand why”

Like many, Donald saw his coach as a unique human being. After Donald left for college then law school, he eventually returned home and stayed in touch with the coach.

“You always wonder if those figures you admire as a child are really the type of person you think they are,” he said. “As an adult, I learned coach really was the person we all thought him to be.”

Even Harelson’s peers thought highly of him. Marilyn Neely Lewing is editing Semmes’ book as well as authoring the introduction and early years portion of the piece. She is also the daughter of the late Superintendent of Schools Jake Neely and said her father greatly respected Harelson. In fact, in a 2003 interview about the coach with Jennings Daily News, Neely was quoted as saying, “Harelson was a dedicated school person and was a recipient of a number of awards from the Louisiana High School Athletic Association. He’s well thought of in this parish and in the State Department of Education.”

Harelson’s attitude toward his students was another reason he was admired.

“You spend a lot more time with coaches than most role models you might have as a football player,” said David Marcantel, another former Bulldog. “For me, thinking of Coach Harelson, it was more of seeing a person as an honorable human being who showed you how to conduct yourself, and how you can whip a team into shape and inspire your players without raising your voice or cussing. He never did any of that He seemed to be a very humble person but when he said something, it went, nobody talked back”

What every person interviewed for this article recalled about Harelson aside from his character was his tradition of reciting a specific poem to his players prior to every game. Many of them could still recite the Walter D. Wintle poem that includes these dosing lines:

“Life’s battles don’t always go

To the stronger or faster man,

But sooner or later the man who wins

Is the fellow who thinks he can”

None of Harelson’s players knew where the coach learned the poem or why it was special enough to be recited before every game. But a chance discussion on this article with Daily News Sports Editor Kevin Bruchhaus might have held the key.

He was a sophomore at Jennings High in 1996, the same year the baseball team was heading to the quarterfinals of the playoffs to face Evangel, the number one team in the state.

“Coach Harelson was retired by then but he came in before we left and read a poem to us,” Bruchhaus said, referring to the Wmtle piece. “Before he recited the poem, he explained that when he was stuck in the war, when he was by himself or avoiding capture, he would read the poem over and over to himself to keep his spirit alive.”

His team consisted of a bunch of “goofballs,” Bruchhaus said, who were seldom serious about anything.

“But there were tears everywhere when he finished reading that poem,” he said. “We actually ended up winning that game and advancing to the semifinals. That day stuck with me forever.”

It’s those stories and more Semmes and his classmates hope to tell with this book, intertwining stories from Harelson’s coaching career as well as his military career.

Speaking of Harelson’s time at war, Semmes said, “He had to fight a ferocious enemy and do it in the most brutal of ways. He saw 212 days of constant combat It’s a story that needs to be told.”

No matter what he accomplished on the football field or on the battlefield, Semmes believes Harelson was a leader when he had yet to become a man.

“The Army simply refined his leadership,” Semmes said.

Semmes is hoping more members of the Jennings High School community have information or stories about Harelson they would like to share. He said that while the book began as a way to write about the coach’s war experience and touch the surface of other aspects of his life, the project grew to include input from key Jennings High alumni and others impacted by Harelson. Once the book is finished, Semmes and his collaborators hope to share it locally through libraries and email.

To contact Semmes, email johntsemmes@gmail.com or call 910-308-9346.