Carson coach Jim Frank remembered

Even 16 years after his death, there remains evidence of how Jim Frank is remembered by his former athletes and colleagues for the special way he touched their lives, not only in Carson City but around northern Nevada.

At Carson High School, where Frank taught and coached 16 years before he lost his fight with cancer at age 40 in 1987, the Carson City Lions Club erected a stone monument located on the northwest corner of the football stadium to dedicate the track and field complex that bears his name.

Later this year, on Sept. 5, the Jim Frank Classic cross country meet will be held for elementary, middle school, high school and open division runners at Spooner Lake. The event is sponsored by Fleet Feet Sports of Carson City, a business for which he was one of three original investors in 1980. The meet director is Tim Tetz, one of Frank's former students.

And on Saturday, Frank will be included in the inaugural class of inductees into the Northern Nevada Cross Country/Track and Field Coaches Association Hall of Fame during the Northern 4A Regional Championships at Reno High School. The ceremony is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. at Reno's Stadium 2000.

Frank will be inducted along with three other northern Nevada coaching legends: Phil Persons, who coached 13 zone championship teams at Yerington and Wooster; Jack Cook, whose Fernley teams won six straight 1A state titles between 1973 and '78; and George Smith, who coached three state title teams at Hug and Reno.

The reason for Frank's induction is not because of his victories or championships. There were some noteworthy successes, but Frank is best remembered for his passion and devotion not only to his athletes and to his profession.

Hall of Fame credentials? Tim Tetz merely smiled when asked for a reaction to the induction of his former coach.

"It's about time ... probably 20 years too late," said Tetz, a 1990 Carson High graduate. "Unfortunately, there aren't many students and coaches still around who remember him. You can't put into words well enough who Jim Frank was, no matter how hard you try."

Here are just a few brief facts:

Frank, a third generation Nevadan, was born on Jan. 12, 1947 in Fallon. He grew up and attended school in Tonopah and then went to the University of Nevada, where he graduated in 1970 with a degree in education. He taught for two years in Tonopah and then moved to Carson City, where he lived until he passed away on June 3, 1987 -- leaving wife, Daria, and daughters Terra, 7, and Rachel, 3.

Frank taught physical science, biology and health at Carson in addition to coaching cross country and track. He took over a boys cross country team that was in its infant stages and developed a program that became a perennial force in Northern Nevada. He coached the girls team to a state championship in 1983 and while the Senators won another in 1986, he was unable to continue on a full-time basis due to his health. He also coached Carson's boys to back-to-back zone championships in 1978-79. Among the individual state champions he coached were Cindy Rockwood (1984 and '86) and Lauretta Miller (1982). All the while, a foundation was laid for Carson cross country teams that swept the boys and girls state championships three years in a row between 1989 and '91.

Impact? Gov. Richard Bryan declared March 27, 1987 as "Jim Frank Day." The day of his funeral, classes at all schools in Carson City were dismissed early so students could attend the service.

John Hunter, a friend and fellow teacher said of Frank in the June 7, 1987 edition of the Nevada Appeal: "He taught children, not the subject. His philosophy was to teach one key idea a day to his students. He would build on this, showing the students how each idea taught related to them and to life in a practical way."

Kelly Dodge, a 1988 Carson graduate who now lives in Carson City and works as a computer programmer, remembered remembers many of those lessons from Frank's practices.

"We used to run relays on the V&T trail. We would start at the Children's Home and run up to the top of the hill," Dodge said. "He'd stand up on top of the hill, but he wouldn't let us stop at the top of the hill. We'd have to run 50 yards or something the top. We always had to run over the top of the hill."

That run-over-the-top toughness paid off for Dodge at the end of his senior track season with two gold medals at the 3A state meet in Las Vegas -- winning the 3,200 by beating nationally-regarded Pat Hubbard of Basic with a 58-second kick on the last lap on a 96-degree day. It was an effort Frank would have been proud of.

"He always knew what to say," said Dodge, who later ran at Fresno State. "One day there was a big discussion on natural talent and who's got it, so I asked him, 'How much natural talent do I have?' His answer was, 'You know, the more you run, the more natural talent I think you have.' I just went, 'Oh, OK.'"

His athletes ran for Frank on what Tetz described as blind faith.

"He just had a way of pushing you to new levels, no matter who you were," Tetz said. "He always had an objective when he sent us out on a workout, but he never told us what it was, and just through blind faith, we always did what he asked us to do.

"He focused on the individual, not the athlete. He wasn't known for turning out fantastic athletes, but for turning out fantastic individuals who weren't necessarily the fastest runners."

Dodge echoed that.

"For a high school coach, one of the best things he did was his ability to include every level," Dodge said. "He was able to include someone who was going to be a 12-minute two-miler or someone who was going to go for a state championship. He'd say, 'You're part of the team and I'm going to work with you.'"

Cindy (Rockwood) Amster, who won two state cross country titles and went on to run four years at Fresno State. She later returned to Carson City as a first grade teacher at Mark Twain Elementary and is now married to Rob Amster, a former running teammate at Carson. The couple have a 13-month-old son, William.

"I don't know if I have a favorite story, but I do know that if it weren't for coach Frank, I wouldn't be where I am right now. There's no doubt in my mind," she said. "I wouldn't have gone to college. I probably wouldn't have met Rob. I would not have been the person that I am or never realized there was anything I could be special at."

Frank is also remembered as the ultimate optimist.

"He looked to the bright side of everything," Tetz said. "If you had a bad race or workout, he would never tell you that. He would always find something positive about what you had done. He didn't focus on the run, he focused on the spirit of the run."

Tetz remembers that optimism being evident during a 1986 meeting with the cross country team when Frank announced he would have to turn over the day-to-day duties to other coaches.

"That's when he knew he was going to lose his arm and he joked that he was going to be just like all the other one-armed bandits in Nevada and that he would be back running in no time," Tetz said. "There wasn't a dry eye in the room, but we all believed him."

Frank expressed that passion for life when he wrote a column for the Nevada Appeal's Men of the '80s special section in March 1984: "So how does a man become successful? It is first important to ask what success means. Does it mean being wealthy, being poor, being happy or being sad? No, it means sticking to your priorities and the Lord's priorities for life. Not an easy job, to say the least."