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Rupe retiring after 32-year career as Maplewood cross country coach
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Maplewood cross country coach Ted Rupe, right, will coach the Rockets for the last time at this weekend’s state track meet in Columbus. Ted Rupe is retiring after 32 years during which time he took an already-successful program and turned it into one of the best in Ohio’s history. The only program that can compete with that run of success is the one at McDonald, which is coached by his younger brother, Chris Rupe, at left.
By Joe Scalzo
Years ago, Maple- wood cross country coach Ted Rupe was running the Marine Corps marathon and after leading at one point, he steadily fell back.
Only he didn’t realize it.
“So this race official is trying to pull me off the course and I thought I was in the lead and he said, ‘Sir, you’re not leading, you’re in 100th place,’” Rupe recalled. “And I was like, ‘No, let go of me, I’m going to win this race,’ And they said, ‘Sir, look at your hands and knees.’”
They were bloody. Rupe had been falling, then getting up and continuing.
“That’s the thing about me,” he said. “I’ve had a lot of failures. But I learn from them and get back out and do it again.”
That drive is what led him to win a state cross country title as a senior in 1972 and it’s what led to him return to his alma mater, taking over an already-successful program and turning it into one of the best in Ohio’s history.
This weekend, he will coach Maplewood for the last time as the Rockets compete at the state track meet in Columbus. After 32 years, Rupe is retiring.
“It’s just time,” said Rupe, 56. “I’ve just been doing this for so darn long and there are a lot of things I want to do.
“I’m sure not getting any younger.”
For all his talent as a runner, Rupe never planned to become a coach. He grew up on a family farm that started in 1883 — still lives there, in fact — and said he “was one of those confused high school kids who had no clue what he wanted to do.” His high school track coach, the legendary Oscar Grant, pitched him the idea of coaching, saying he should get a degree in physics and chemistry and take over the job when Grant retired.
“That was the first real strong direction I had,” Rupe said. “Nobody in my family had gone to college and I wouldn’t have gone if it wasn’t for that.”
A few months after graduating, Cleveland State stepped in with a scholarship offer for cross country, Rupe got his degree and returned home.
“I tell my high school kids, one decision like that can completely change the direction of your life,” he said.
Rupe succeeded Grant in 1986 and in 1990, he twice led the Rockets to the state cross country meet in his first four years. Then, in 1990, Maplewood began one of the most impressive streaks in state history, qualifying for the state meet every season until the streak ended last fall.
The Rockets won the Division III title in 1997 — their first since Rupe’s senior year — and added crowns in 2002, 2003 and 2005. They also finished second in 1990, 1998 and 2001. The only program that can compete with that run of success is the one at McDonald, which is coached by Rupe’s younger brother, Chris.
His last title team was also his best, as then-juniors Andy Arnio and Andy Morgan finished 1-2 to help the Rockets finish first by a staggering 75 points. That title also put to rest the myth that Maplewood’s program couldn’t produce an individual champion.
Rupe’s magic touch extended to track, particularly in the distance events, as he led the Rockets to the 2000 title.
“I said once that he didn’t understand there was anything under the 1600,” joked longtime Lordstown coach Frank Rahde. “He’d call it the 100-meter run instead of the 100-meter dash. ‘How many hurdles are there? Whatever, just let them run over them.’”
The foundation of the program’s success was Rupe’s training techniques, his personal touch and his uncanny ability to turn average runners into good ones and good ones into great ones. He routinely ran with his kids until injuries forced him to stop a few years ago and often put pictures and notes on his runners’ lockers.
“He was a rah-rah guy but he also made it clear that you better perform,” said Rahde. “It was expected.
“I mean, some of the things he would say to my kids to get them pumped up before a meet — wow. He expected you to give what you had.”
When asked what it was like to compete against him for more than 20 years, Rahde smiled and said, “Uh, demoralizing?”
Longtime South Range coach Jack Nemergut said Rupe’s teams stood out for their consistency.
“They always had good teams and good runners,” he said. “You could pretty much count on him time and time again.”
Rupe coached all four of his kids — Craig, Ro and Eric have all graduated and Scott is a freshman at Maplewood.
Of the four, Eric is the most like Ted, which is good and bad.
Like his father, Eric will run until he collapses. Eric famously dropped 16 seconds off his previous-best mile time to qualify for the state track meet as a sophomore, then began vomiting in the infield and yelling, “My hair is on fire!” (Ted laughs when he tells that story.)
And, like his father, Eric is stubborn. If Rupe told his team to head north to start a workout, Eric would lead them south. If Rupe gave the team an unconventional workout, Eric would say it was dumb.
“Then I’d do it anyway and he’d be right as always,” Eric said, laughing. “He deserves all the credit for my success.
“I think he is the greatest coach to ever come through the state.”
Maplewood sophomore Wyatt Hartman, who took Rupe’s decision hard, said he feels honored to be part of Ted’s final class.
“I feel so blessed to have had a coach like that,” Hartman said. “His knowledge and the little tips he gives you help so much.
“We’re running this last season for him.”
Even in retirement, Rupe will stay around the sport. He and his wife Michelle (who coaches girls track at Warren Harding) will devote more time to their business, Gopher Running, where their timing system is used for races throughout the region. And while he no longer runs competitively, he still runs. In fact, 30 minutes before last week’s Division III regional meet at Fairless High School, you could see a shirtless Rupe doing an 81/2-mile workout along the road in 85-degree heat.
“It’s going to be weird without him coaching,” said Eric Rupe, who now runs at YSU. “When he said he wasn’t coming back, the guys were pretty devastated because everyone kind of waits their turn to run for him.
“I still hear from guys who come back 10 years later and said, ‘Oh, it was the best time of my life.’ That’s what Maplewood cross country means to people and he’s the biggest reason why.”