'Coach' Lichtenwalter Dies After 7 Decades with BYC
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Jordan Fouts-
Lichtenwalter, who has been involved with BYC since joining in 1936, died at 10:27 p.m. Wednesday at Hospice Home of Fort Wayne. He was 10 years old when he joined, the same age as the after-school activity club itself.
He became a BYC staff member 12 years after joining, under then-director Pete Thorn; was named the club’s second part-time director in 1963; and even after retiring from that position in 1992, continued to serve as a staff member and familiar face to the kids – and the kids of those kids – who participated.
“He had a huge impact on my life – a lot of people’s lives – it’s going to be a tough few days,” said current Director Tracy Furnivall. Lichtenwalter was director when he joined the club himself. “This is a huge loss for the community, all the lives he touched not only through the community but also his days as a teacher and coach. It’s a sad day.”
Lichtenwalter grew up in Warsaw on South High Street and was the starting quarterback of his high school football team his freshmen year. After high school and a tour in the armed services, Lichtenwalter earned a degree at Manchester College and started teaching at Warsaw Community Schools in 1947. He was involved with the school corporation for 39 years, teaching history for 10 years and then physical education.
Jared Shaw, a former Warsaw Tigers basketball player and member of BYC since first grade, recalled the time he first met Coach.
“As we walked into the Pete Thorn Youth Center, there sat Coach. He was ready to sign up new members, and I was going to be his first. So after a firm handshake and an introduction, I was handed my membership card,” Shaw wrote a year ago in a column recalling Lichtenwalter. “That membership card had more history and more meaning then I could comprehend at the time. Kids had been handed those cards every year since club had opened in 1926. Back then, they would pay a $1 membership fee in order to enjoy the facilities, but that dollar bought more than that. It gave you a pass to be involved with people that wanted to be there and be a part of your life. It allowed you to be around role models and guys to look up to throughout your years of developing into a man. I, for one, owe Coach and Baker’s Boys Club a ton for what it’s given me.”
BYC’s current location, in the former Kosciusko YMCA, was named the Lichtenwalter Center in recognition of the former director. The club plans to do something to honor him soon, Furnivall said.
“He saved a lot of kids from trouble. He was a great man, a great man,” Furnivall said. “Anyone who gives 70-plus years to an organization has got a big heart.”[[In-content Ad]]
Lichtenwalter, who has been involved with BYC since joining in 1936, died at 10:27 p.m. Wednesday at Hospice Home of Fort Wayne. He was 10 years old when he joined, the same age as the after-school activity club itself.
He became a BYC staff member 12 years after joining, under then-director Pete Thorn; was named the club’s second part-time director in 1963; and even after retiring from that position in 1992, continued to serve as a staff member and familiar face to the kids – and the kids of those kids – who participated.
“He had a huge impact on my life – a lot of people’s lives – it’s going to be a tough few days,” said current Director Tracy Furnivall. Lichtenwalter was director when he joined the club himself. “This is a huge loss for the community, all the lives he touched not only through the community but also his days as a teacher and coach. It’s a sad day.”
Lichtenwalter grew up in Warsaw on South High Street and was the starting quarterback of his high school football team his freshmen year. After high school and a tour in the armed services, Lichtenwalter earned a degree at Manchester College and started teaching at Warsaw Community Schools in 1947. He was involved with the school corporation for 39 years, teaching history for 10 years and then physical education.
Jared Shaw, a former Warsaw Tigers basketball player and member of BYC since first grade, recalled the time he first met Coach.
“As we walked into the Pete Thorn Youth Center, there sat Coach. He was ready to sign up new members, and I was going to be his first. So after a firm handshake and an introduction, I was handed my membership card,” Shaw wrote a year ago in a column recalling Lichtenwalter. “That membership card had more history and more meaning then I could comprehend at the time. Kids had been handed those cards every year since club had opened in 1926. Back then, they would pay a $1 membership fee in order to enjoy the facilities, but that dollar bought more than that. It gave you a pass to be involved with people that wanted to be there and be a part of your life. It allowed you to be around role models and guys to look up to throughout your years of developing into a man. I, for one, owe Coach and Baker’s Boys Club a ton for what it’s given me.”
BYC’s current location, in the former Kosciusko YMCA, was named the Lichtenwalter Center in recognition of the former director. The club plans to do something to honor him soon, Furnivall said.
“He saved a lot of kids from trouble. He was a great man, a great man,” Furnivall said. “Anyone who gives 70-plus years to an organization has got a big heart.”[[In-content Ad]]
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