Saturday, April 22, 2017
Administrator, ex-coach spent life involved in sports
By Greg Gulas
BOARDMAN
If Webster’s were ever to include photos in their famous dictionary, right next to the definition of gentleman you’d probably find a picture of longtime area coach and athletics administrator, Ed Strauss.
Come to think of it, that same photo might also be apropos appearing next to multiple words.
Strauss died Wednesday at age 89, leaving behind a legacy of kindness devoid of duplication and a caring demeanor rarely matched.
He was loyal to fault a to his former employers — Youngstown State University and the Boardman Schools — yet every player, coach and team from the Mahoning Valley had him as their fan, especially at tournament time.
One of his very best friends, former Spartans and current Columbiana Clippers girls basketball coach Ron Moschella, called Strauss the most selfless person he has ever known.
“He kept my scorebook for 33 years and we had a really great relationship. I feel like I lost a father and brother at the same time,” Moschella said. “Any other person I could get mad at, but not Ed. I took his advice and cherished his thoughts. He was very religious and just a wonderful human being because he was always there for you.”
By Moschella’s own admission, it was Strauss who often ran interference for the fiery coach.
“We were playing at Fitch this one particular night and a Boardman parent came after me because I had benched his daughter,” Moschella said. “Ed asked me to step aside and then proceeded to get between us. He took care of the parent pretty good, yet in his own subtle way.”
Strauss filmed Boardman and YSU football and basketball games, as well as other teams that needed help over a five-decade career.
He could also be seen courtside while keeping the scorebook for the Spartans and later Columbiana High School when Moschella assumed the reins of the Clippers.
Spartans trainer Mike Kenneally proved to be a “not so capable” replacement on the book.
“One time coach Strauss couldn’t make a game and I was his fill-in,” Kenneally said. “The thing you have to remember is that Ed was as meticulous as they come, using colored pens and pencils in ‘his’ book in order to differentiate halves, three-point buckets from a regular field goal and even two-shot fouls from one-and-one situations. I used just one color and he demanded to know who messed up his book. I had hell to pay.
“Also, one year we were playing at Canfield and he got booted from the scoring table by one of the officials. As he got up to leave, he received a standing ovation from the entire crowd.”
Former Boardman boys basketball coach Alan Burns, who also served as the school’s athletic director, credits Strauss for helping to get their golf tournament off the ground.
“Ed filmed our games and when everything was developed, he’d deliver the canisters to me at my house and then proceed to sit and watch the game with me,” Burns said. “He helped in so many ways, first when I was coach and then as athletic director. I credit him with helping to get our boosters golf tournament organized and off the ground.”
Strauss also assisted Burns with his concrete business in the summer.
“There was Alan, Chuck Holden, Ed and me working concrete when school was out,” said friend Bill Murphy, who assisted Strauss with filming during YSU football games. “He was a true gentleman who would do anything for you. Ralph Cannon’s house was our meeting place so Ed would join us for coffee at breakfast, by mid-afternoon there were eight cars in the drive and hearts was the game being played at the kitchen table.
“By late afternoon there was a friendly game of quarter-half poker taking place in the basement. Ed drank Budweiser and we now know why. It was because he was the King. He always said spend the extra quarter and get the best.”
Former Spartans basketball coach Dan Gorski recalled his painting days with Strauss.
“He was a mentor to Paul Rice and me. We respected him like you do your favorite uncle,” Gorski said. “He guided us and applauded us when we did well, but wasn’t afraid to scold us if we did something wrong. He knew how to clean a paint brush and his 10 year-old brush looked brand new. If yours didn’t look like that, then he made you clean it all over again.”
Strauss is a member of the YSU Hall of Fame, Shepherd College Athletics Hall of Fame and will be inducted into the Woodrow Wilson High School (his alma mater) Hall of Fame on May 28.
He refused multiple nomination attempts for the Boardman Athletics Hall of Fame.
“Jack Hay and I met him for breakfast once and proceeded to inform him that we wanted to nominate him for the BHS Athletics Hall of Fame,” said former Spartans AD Jim Fox said. “He told us not to start that because there are so many others more deserving than he was, standing firm on that conviction. For me, he was that once-in-a-lifetime person that comes into your life.”
Hay had a bevy of stories, but said what Strauss did for him when his father died is something that he will never forget.
“Coach Strauss was my ninth-grade football coach and he knew that my father graduated from Struthers,” Hay said. “His older sister was in my father’s class so when my dad passed away, he came to calling hours and even stayed for the services. What he did that was so special was that he also came to the mercy luncheon and presented me with my father’s 1940 yearbook. It’s something that I still have and absolutely cherish his graciousness to this day.”
When Joe Malmisur took over as YSU athletic director in 1984, it was Strauss that he asked to join him, first as head women’s softball coach and then to oversee the transition and ultimately head a new and multi-purpose video department.
“Ed was probably the kindest person in our profession, a guy without an enemy,” Malmisur said. “Most of us cannot make that claim. He resurrected our filming area and if he was paid by the hour, I guarantee you we wouldn’t have been able to afford him.”
According to former Penguin athletic trainer Dan Wathen, Strauss’s word was gospel.
“Ed was old school in that his word was his bond and you could always rely on him,” Wathen said. “He was a true hall of fame athlete, coach and person.”