In Memory

Harold "Hal" Lynn VIEW PROFILE

Jan 18, 1927 - Sep 6, 2015


Teacher, coach, loving father 

Harold L. Lynn, a longtime teacher and coach with the Claremont Unified School District, died at his home in Claremont on September 5, 2015. He was 88. 

He was born on January 18, 1927 in Brookings, South Dakota to Minnie and W.H. Lynn. As a boy, he would travel three miles each morning to drop off his father's lunch at work, then head to school. In the winter, when the snow was piled deep, he jogged the entire way to keep warm. While he would later relate his childhood routine to his kids as a "you think you had it tough" story, he fell in love with running. 

He attended Brookings High School where he was on the basketball, football and track teams. He was particularly gifted in the latter sport, and this past August was one of five Brookings alumni inducted to the school's Athletic Hall of Fame. After graduating in 1945, he earned a bachelor's degree from South Dakota State University where he was three-time state champion on the Jackrabbits track team. In 1947, he broke the South Dakota State record for the mile run with a time of 4:34.4. 

Mr. Lynn next enlisted in the US Army, serving as second lieutenant before being honorably discharged in 1952. After earning a Master of Education from USC, he embarked on a long career with the Claremont Unified School District where he was known as "Happy Hal" for his jovial and positive spirit. Beginning in 1959, he taught history, government, driver's ed and PE at Claremont High School as well as at San Antonio High. He also coached track, football and cross-country at CHS. 

Coach Lynn taught an old-fashioned sense of teamwork and sportsmanship, and was thoroughly excited when kids would give 100 percent and improve their personal best. He taught all that sport was just sport, even as it taught life lessons of self-discipline, hard work and perseverance. He emphasized that his athletes should handle winning with gratitude and with respect for the other team, and handle losing with hopeful determination. Most of all he wanted kids to enjoy themselves and have fun. At his retirement celebration in 1993, someone figured that Hal had taught or coached 60,000 kids in Claremont. 

Several of his student athletes, including Class of '60 graduate David Kriezel, have posted tributes to Coach Lynn on the Claremont High School Alumni Society website. Mr. Kriezel shared that, having just moved to California from Nebraska, he was shy and very quiet when he started as a freshman at Claremont High School. 

As his PE teacher, Mr. Lynn recognized athletic potential in young David, recruiting him to join the CHS track and basketball teams. He ended up winning MVP awards in track and basketball that year, and managed to set school and league records in the pole vault and shot put. He spent the next three years active in a variety of sports. Whenever David broke his record, Coach Lynn would give him an Archie's Little Black Book, an annual collection of trivia and inspiration aimed at track athletes. 

"After I got at least six of them, Coach Lynn told me his supply was depleted," Mr. Kriezel wrote. "He spent many hours working with me, even weekends. I have many memories of CHS, and knowing Coach Lynn is at the top of my list. Rest in peace, Coach, and maybe we'll meet again in that pole vault pit in the sky." 

Life was also busy for Mr. Lynn off campus. He met his future wife Marjorie at a dance and in 1962 the couple was married. Mr. Lynn welcomed Marjorie's four children from a previous marriage, Gail, Doug, Vicki and Sonya, with open arms and even coached Doug and Sonya in track. In 1963, the Lynns added a son named Max to their growing family, followed by their daughter Sherry. Hal was an active dad and delighted in taking his brood on excursions to places like Mt. Baldy, Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm and on an annual sojourn to the Rose Parade. 

Above all, Hal loved teaching, kids and sports. For many years he helped run the Boys Club, and he was known as the dad who took all the neighborhood kids everywhere. He loved coaching all ages, and for the little kids around the neighborhood set up miniature hurdles and a mattress for high jump and pole vault, and went to the hills of Claremont to cut bamboo for vaulting poles. 

Faith was a big part of Mr. Lynn's life. He was a longtime member of Claremont Presbyterian Church, serving in many areas of church leadership over the years. After retirement, he and Marjorie moved to Phoenix where Hal split his pro-football loyalty between the old LA Rams and the Arizona Cardinals. He sent letters of advice to the coaches, particularly on line play. Five years ago, after it appeared he would die following a heart attack, one of the Cardinals coaches came by to pay his respects. 

Mr. Lynn was a very active member of the Mission committee of Sun Lakes United Methodist Church. He spent hours most days driving older members to doctor appointments and shopping trips. He was instrumental in the support of a health clinic in a Quiche Mayan village in Guatemala and in the organization of a large veterans fair offering health care, mental health support, food, clothing and employment and housing resources. 

Mr. Lynn loved dancing and traveling with his wife Marjorie. They traveled and danced their way around much of the world. After his wife died five years ago, Hal moved back to Claremont where he enjoyed attending church and virtually every Claremont High sporting event he could get to. He may have been Claremont High sports' best fan. 

"When the Saints Come Marching in, Hal and Marge will instead be dancing, grateful for a great and blessed life," his family expressed. "We would expect a football game to follow soon behind." 

Mr. Lynn was preceded in death by his wife Marjorie Lynn, his daughter Gail Bowe and his sister Irene Lynn. He is survived by his sister Janet Wibben; by his children, Max Lynn, Sherry Lynn, Doug Bowe, Vicki Bowe and Sonya Wrisley; his grandchildren, Janine Nielson, Wayne Bowe, Nick Lynn, Kevin Lynn, Amy Anderson, Sara Lynn, John Lynn, LaShawna Powers, Chris Wrisley, Elizabeth Wilson and Alexandra Blanset; and his great-grandchildren, Hanna Nielson, Jordan, Brook, Ryan and Josh Bowe Mcloud. 

A memorial service was held on September 11 at Claremont Presbyterian Church. 
 

September 16, 2012 - "coaching" again!

 

 

 



 
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09/10/15 07:13 PM #8    

David William Kriezel (1960)

Everybody has that one person that greatly influenced their life..Coach Lynn was that person in my life. My family moved to Claremont in 1956 from Nebraska..As a incoming freshman I knew nobody and was  very quiet and didn't get involved in any activities until I met Hal Lynn.  Coach Lynn was my PE teacher and saw that I was a pretty good athlete.  He recruited me to join the track team and basketball team. I was small for my age so I was put into the C weight teams.  I had  a very good year and won MVP awards in track and basketball. In track I set school records in the pole vault and shot put. For the next three years I was active in all sports and lettered in  Football and Track.  In addition to my school track records I also held Tri-County league records in  pole vault and shot put.  Coach Lynn would give me a Archie's Little Black book ever time I broke my records, but after getting a least 6 of them he told me his supply was depleted.  Coach Lynn spent many hours working with me.(even weekends).  I have seen Hal many times since 1960 and I told him he was that very important person in my life.  I have many memories of CHS and knowing Coach Lynn is at the top of my list..Rest in peace Coach and maybe we will meet again in that pole vault pit in the sky.

 

 

Dave Kriezel 

Class of 1960


09/10/15 08:01 PM #9    

Craig Thomas Bashore (1966)

I will always remember Coach Lynn for getting to know me so personally and truly caring about me. He was so sincere. I can remember a track meet at Chino in 1966 when in a high hurdle race I slipped coming out of the starting blocks and found myself behind everyone. Then a yell came out , "Bashore , RUN". It made me refocus as well as gave me a scare.

Then a few years later when I was off at college in N. California , the college went on a two week strike when  San Francisco State and President Hiakawa turmoil surrounding Viet Nam and the nation was burning draft cards , I came back to Claremont to  get away from the turmoil and went with my father to a  Claremont football game at Citrus College and I saw Coach lynn sitting in the stands and I went and talked with him for about a half hour. It was like I had never left .He still cared about me and where I was headed. Great person.


09/11/15 07:59 AM #10    

Ted Cobb (1965)

A good man and a great cross-country coach. He will be missed.

09/11/15 11:07 AM #11    

Ronald Owen "Ron" Angle (1960)

Two things that I remember most about Coach Lynn was that he was always very calm.  Some coaches are shouters and some are motivators.  Coach Lynn was a great motivator. And he understood the love of running that motivates distance runners. At the end of my senior year, just before graduation, I completed a half-marathon race, fourteen miles, which I personally dedicated to Coach Lynn.

After high school, I entered military service. In 1964 I returned to Claremont and worked for several years as a sports writer for the Pomona Progress-Bulletin. What I noticed immediately was that Coach Lynn had evolved his distance running coaching techniques and was producing more and more very successful runners. Change can be difficult for coaches but Hal Lynn stayed on top of the best methodologies of the moment.

It was also a pleasure to watch Hal Lynn, the batchelor, evolve into Hal Lynn, the family man.

RIP, Coach.

Ron Angle, Class of '60

Chico CA


09/11/15 12:25 PM #12    

Patrick Shaner (1967)

You have an new team to coach now. God speed, we loved you before, we love you now and we will always love you coach.

Thank you for being Coach Lynn


09/11/15 01:30 PM #13    

Don Kieselhorst (1959)

I was fortunate to get to know Hal Lynn when he served as football and track coach at CHS.Those were formative years for all of us, and Coach Lynn helped us lay the foundation for the development of both our athletic and adult lives.He stressed the importance of developing a sound mind and body as the cornerstone for our endeavors, athletic or otherwise.. Hal Lynn was more than a coach, he was a teacher of life's lessons. Although some of us have done better than others over the years with his teachings, I know we all respected his message.

We were perennial champions when I played football, and Hal assisted Coach Len Cohn as his offensive and defensive line coach. For those of you who played football, you know that games are won or lost in the trenches; we didn't lose many games, because our guys ruled the trenches.. During practice as a running back, working on pass patterns and running handoffs, I would sneak an occassional glance over in the linemen's direction to see what all that crunching and cracking of pads was about. It would have been a typical, Coach Lynn,full contact practice session. My linemen buddies said the games were easy compared to Coach Lynn's practices.I was mildly embarassed to have sported an almost spotlessly white practice uniform at the end of a week's practice while the linemen were covered with dirt, grass stains and dried blood. I'll add, jokingly, that these practices would probably not be allowed today.

We'll miss you coach. You lived a life that touched many of us in ways that each of us will carry forward, and for that you should be proud and fulfilled.,

Thank you,

Don Kieselhorst

League Champions, 1957, 1958

CIF Finals 1957

CIF Champions 1958

 

 

 


09/12/15 10:01 AM #14    

Stephen Duane "Steve" Hargrove (1967)

Hal was a Happy, Intense​, Loving Man. Above all else He was a RELEVANT MAN! Some say that He talked too much. Some said that He was always reading. Some have said that  He lived His Christian Life and didn't just talk about it. Some would say that He was always Happy. All would say that they never heard a curse word from Him. Many would say that He taught them something, perhaps sports, perhaps love, perhaps intelligence. I would add that Coach Friend Father Grandfather Hal Lynn was RELEVANT! He was always trying to insure that His time here was RELEVANT. Isn't that what We all really want to do here is leave with some RELEVANCY?

WELL DONE COACH LYNN, WELL DONE!

 


09/12/15 11:36 AM #15    

Marc M. Savage (1963)

Since hearing of Mr. Lynn's passing a few days ago, I have thought a lot about him and many memories of him have surfaced. My family moved to Claremont in 1960 and I began my sophomore year at Claremont High that fall. I already had big ambitions as a pole vaulter, though my actual accomplishments at that time were negligible. But I knew that Claremont's school record holder in the pole vault had just graduated, so I rather over-boldly introduced myself to Mr. Lynn, who was head track coach, and announced to him that I was his new pole vaulter. He looked down at all 5'4" and 109 lbs. of me and said, "Oh yeah? Well, I expect my pole vaulter to place first in the school physical fitness tests."

 

The physical fitness tests were administered to all the boys in all the P.E. classes, and consisted of a whole battery of exercises which were scored. I made a very serious effort to do my best on all the tests to try to fulfill Mr. Lynn's requirement. When I did manage to place first in the school, my bond with Mr. Lynn was cemented and we had a very close, mutually respectful, relationship from then on.

 

I hope no one will be offended by my mentioning this, but Mr. Lynn, while very well-versed about all sports, did not himself have the physical characteristics of an athlete. In fact, he looked rather dorky to our adolescent eyes. I remember one day in P.E. class during my sophomore year Mr. Lynn was demonstrating a series of warm-up exercises that he wanted the class to do. He did look rather funny doing these exercises, and while he was demonstrating "running in place", Alan Thum leaned over to me and said, "...and who, disguised as Hal Lynn..." We totally cracked up!

 

During my junior year I started having some significant success in the pole vault, and this lasted through my senior year. Because of this, a circumstance developed where I had a lot of one-on-one contact with Mr. Lynn. I was often competing in track meets where I was the only athlete from Claremont High involved. So Mr. Lynn and I would travel together to these meets all over Southern California. This gave us a lot of time together in the car. Mostly he would drive and I would talk. I was an avid student of the pole vault and Mr. Lynn was very eager to learn more about the technical aspects of the event. He would ask me a lot of questions and I would talk at length about my favorite subject, pole vaulting. Over time I began to realize that besides an intense interest in the subject, he had a remarkable memory, recalling minute details of things I had said in previous conversations.

 

On one such occasion we went to a big track meet in Bellflower. I had an especially good result, winning the meet with a nation-leading mark and setting a lot of records. I was deeply into track and field statistics and was aware of all the records, which I rattled off to Mr. Lynn in mind-numbing detail on our drive back to Claremont. Much to my surprise, on the morning of the next school day, when the daily bulletin was read to all the classrooms over the school P.A. system, Mr. Lynn had included a long message describing in detail everything about my performance in Bellflower, with every statistic accurate to the tiny fraction of in inch. Besides thrilling me and making me very proud, this was a remarkable feat of memory by Mr. Lynn! The occasion was one of the big highlights of my time at Claremont High.

 

It would take many pages here to describe how much support Mr. Lynn gave me in all my endeavors at Claremont High, especially in my pole vaulting. He opened a lot of doors for me, and gave me the opportunity to fulfill my ambitions beyond my most hopeful dreams. It was something that we enjoyed together, and Mr. Lynn was always very sensitive to what would serve me best and accommodated me in ways that were often outside of normal protocols. It was a unique relationship, and it worked.

 

Regrettably, I did not have contact with Mr. Lynn after high school. But just a couple years ago I had an email exchange with Boyd Bentley during which he told me that he had recently seen Mr. Lynn. Boyd said that Mr. Lynn talked enthusiastically about my pole vaulting career at Claremont High, remembering many details, and that he was very proud of what I had accomplished, which was really what we accomplished together. Hearing this from Boyd gave me a very warm feeling, and many fond memories of Mr. Lynn.

 

It has been a pleasure for me to read the comments of others on this page which give so much evidence of the very positive and beneficial effect Mr. Lynn had on the lives of so many of his students. I am grateful to have been one of them.

 

 

 


09/12/15 12:15 PM #16    

Don Davis (1962)

I came to Claremont High School in 1961 and granduated with the class of the chosen few of `62.  I had gone to military school most of my life and this was the first public school since the 8th grade.  Mr. Lynn was my PE teacher and I would have to say it is because of him and Dr. Swinson of Weber State Collage I became a PE teacher for 21 years and enjoyed every minuite of it.

I remember in the Spring of 62 after a PE class Mr. Lynn came up to me and asked me if I had thought about joining the track team.  He need someone to be the 3rd leg in the 440.  In my first meet at Bonita High School that had the old cinder track I was coming in to pass the paton and I reached out and got it to the runner but I reached out so far that I fell flat on my face.  I got off to the infield and sat picking out the cinders in my knees, arms and face and feeling so stupid doing that in front of my girlfrind Sharyn.  Coach Lynn came over to me and said something to the effect that I did not give up and got the paton handed off so I should not feel down and that if I did the for the rest of my life I will be a success in what ever I did.

God Bless you Coach Lynn and to your family.  You have touched so many lives and we thank you for that.

Don Davis, Class of 62. 


09/16/15 11:22 AM #17    

John Gill (1968)

Whenever I think of high school track, the mental image of Coach lynn, is always there, and it makes me smile. While several anecdotal, incidents come to mind, they all end with a recollective fondness for him.

Throughout my life and travels, I've come to judge people, by their attitudes towards others, and in Coach Lynn's case, I hold him in high regards. The entire 4 years of school, I never once, heard him say a negative thing of anyone. Praise was not held back, and when it wasn't due, enthusiastic support was given.

Back then, dyslexia's effects were not as understood, as they are today, and the low self-esteem, it left me with, was a bit tough to deal with. The main thing, that helped me cope, was running track, and having a guy like Coach Lynn, always giving positive re-inforcement.

I disagree, with the bumper sticker, that says "The one that dies with the most toys wins." I believe the person that touches the most lives, in a positive way, wins.

Coach Lynn was as definite WINNER.

 

 


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