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Ron Hunerdosse honored by having track, cross-country races named after him
FAIRFIELD – The Fairfield Community School District honored coach and former teacher Ron Hunerdosse during Monday night’s track meet by naming a relay race and cross country meet after him.
At the Brookhart-Crew Relays at Fairfield’s Trojan Stadium, Hunerdosse accepted the honor of having his name attached to the Girls Distance Medley Relay and the Fairfield Cross Country Invitational. Hunerdosse said he appreciated the recognition and support, but that he initially resisted the idea of renaming races in his honor because he’s not even retired from coaching, as he leads the middle school girls’ track team.
“It was probably 1.5 years ago when our activities director, Jeff Courtright, approached me about it. I told him I’d like to finish my career first,” Hunerdosse said. “I put it off for a year, but then he brought it up again, and when Jeff decides you do something, you say, ‘OK.’”
Hunerdosse is a Fairfield native who has lived here his whole life. He was born in the former Jefferson County Hospital three blocks south of the FHS Victory Bell, and grew up in a house just half a block west of the high school.
“The school became part of my playground. I grew up with that high school being part of my life,” he said. “It has great meaning to me. That school and the ground it sits on mean a lot to me.”
Hunerdosse graduated from FHS and later from Parsons College in 1972. Hunerdosse began working for the Fairfield school district that fall, then left to pursue a career as a physical therapist before quickly realizing he belonged at FHS. Hunerdosse tried to work his way back into the district, working as a part-time study hall monitor at first and later as a physical education teacher and coach. He worked at the high school for 13 years and at the middle school for 22 years before retiring in 2008.
Hunerdosse coached high school girls’ track for 41 years and thought he was done. But when Courtright asked him to fill a void in the middle school girls’ track program, Hunerdosse couldn’t say no. He’s now coached middle school track for the past eight years, or 49 years of coaching in all. Will he get to 50? You better believe it.
“My plan is to go for one more year,” said Hunerdosse, who will turn 74 in a few weeks. “Friends tell me it’s just a number, but I say, ‘It’s my number.’ Steve Roth, the coach at Washington, is one year behind me, and I won’t let him forget it.”
Hunerdosse said he’s going to quit after 50 years of coaching so he can spend more time with his eight grandchildren.
“They’re starting to get into things, and it bothers me when I can’t be at one of their events because I’m doing my own events,” he said. “I’ve told my middle school kids each year, if someone young comes along willing to do this, I’m going to give it up. But it’s hard to find coaches nowadays.”
When he reflects on his nearly 50 years of coaching, Hunerdosse said a few moments and people stand out. He has enjoyed coaching alongside Nancy Diers, who was there near the tail end of his high school track coaching career and now for his tenure with middle school track. He is proud of having coached with Dan Breen and Bill Moore, and fondly remembers winning the very first event with a Fairfield team at the state meet in 1982.
He recalls the great cross-country team Fairfield had in 1990 when a group of sophomores finished third at state, when Fairfield had to run against the biggest schools in the state. He greatly admires the 2006 track team, which he said was the best track team he ever coached. That team’s distance medley relay team not only won three straight state titles, but Hunerdosse said the “cherry on top” was setting an Iowa record in the distance medley in 2006.
“It wasn’t just a 3A state record, it was better than even any of the big schools,” Hunerdosse said.
Hunerdosse is well known for his loud and “shrill” whistling to inspire the runners on his team, something that even the runners on opposing teams can remember years later.
“There was a girl on the cross-country team from Mt. Pleasant, and we became good friends,” Hunerdosse said. “She told me, ‘I hated when you whistled, because even if they didn’t see you, they would pick up the pace.’”
Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com
