Jackson girls track coach Rick Neitzelt retires after 47 years
MASSILLON, Ohio. — If timing is everything in life, Rick Neitzelt is living proof that bad timing can lead to good fortune. Neitzlet will go down as one of the most successful Jackson High School coaches in history–even if he coached a sport he never envisioned as his ‘dream job.’
“I never wanted to be a track coach. I wanted to coach basketball, but the girls’ track job opened up, and I thought this would be the perfect way to get into the school system. It was a foot in the door,” recalled Neitzelt, 76, who retired following the 2022 spring season after leading Jackson girls’ track teams to 320 career wins, 99 losses, and two ties. His Federal League mark of 227-74-2 including 18 league championships across 47 years dating to 1975, is unequaled in Stark County.
A native of Bridgeport, OH, Neitzelt grew up in a baseball hotbed that saw hometown stars Phil, and Joe Niekro reach major league stardom as pitchers. He preferred baseball and basketball over track, but his timing was bad, as neither the baseball nor the basketball coaching jobs ever opened up at Jackson. So, Neitzelt found himself coaching the girls’ track team to a 1-6 record in 1975. He had just 25 girls to coach out of a total enrollment of less than 700.
“We weren’t very good at sports back then,” Neitzelt noted. “We were seen as a bunch of ‘farm kids.’ Neitzelt, who never ran track himself in high school at Bridgeport, one day found out from the girls he first coached just how miscast he was in his new role. “They asked me what event I ran in high school,” he said. “I said: ‘Second base!”
That maiden season was the first year that girls’ track was accepted as a recognized sport, shortly after the time Title IX was passed. Neitzelt recalls when the 1600 and 3200 meter events for girls were not run because the prevailing opinion at the time was that girls lacked the stamina required to run those distances. There was also no shot put and no softball throw.
Fast forward 47 years and girls are not only running those events, but excelling in them and winning college scholarships in the process. That’s in addition to girls’ lacrosse, volleyball, basketball and soccer, all sports that Jackson has been a pacesetter in locally for years. Neitzlet appreciates the success story as it has unfolded given his memory of such humble beginnings.
“When I got the track job, I called the school and asked them for directions,” Neitzelt said. “It was all cornfields then. They said to come down Fulton to Mudbrook where there was a two-way stop sign. Then turn left and the school sat behind Whitey’s Gas Station. That first year, we had to borrow volleyball uniforms to wear, but there was never a time when we weren’t supported by the school administration. We won the All Sports Trophy here for 11 years in a row. This has always been a great community to work for and to be a part of.”
It took Neitzelt six years before he started to etch his name and Jackson track names on the tablets of greatness. One of the first stars in the early years was Pam Dingler who became a four-time state qualifier in the long jump in 1982-83. Jenny Woodward became a high jump state champion, Lindsay Hazen in the high jump in 2000 along with 1600 state champ Emily Halm, Courtney Armsey as a hurdler and state qualifier in 2008 who would become a track star at Malone University and returned to coach at Jackson, and most recently, high jumper and discus state runner-up Leena Patibandla, a junior at the school, and ’22 graduate Sofia Istnick, who placed fourth in the 1600 and sixth in the 3200. Istnick will continue running at William & Mary.
In addition to his coaching legacy, Neitzelt taught special needs at Jackson for 35 years. Just like the nation and world, much has changed at Jackson over the last 47 years. Today, the Polar Bears’ school enrollment tops 2,000 with 500 students per class. The cornfields have given way to shopping plazas, a library, a community park, walking path, and an amphitheater. In 2009, Jackson named its track facility in Neitzelt’s honor with his name adorning the scoreboard. Neitzelt’s son David has been coaching track for six years at North Canton Hoover. However, the days of someone devoting nearly a half century to high school coaching in any sport seems to be passing with time.
“Part of it is economics,” Neitzelt said. “Younger coaches have families to raise and need more income. But part of it is also passion. You just don’t see coaches sticking with it as long now. Scott Ferrell has 20 years at GlenOak as cross country and track coach, so I think he has the longest coaching tenure, at least in the Federal League.”
Aside from patience and perseverance which Neitzelt needed plenty of in the late 1970’s, what advice does this coaching legend have for those thinking of donning a whistle? At present, Neitzelt’s coaching position has still not been filled by the district. “I think it’s much harder to coach now than it was when I started in 1975,” Neitzelt added. “My Dad always told me: ‘If you find a job you wouldn’t mind working for free, make it yours’. I found that. The sport just sort of grew on me.”
Even if it took 47 years, Rick Neitzelt’s timing turned out to be just perfect!
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