By FRED KRONER
There is an ongoing coaching and teaching tenure at Oakwood High School that may not be duplicated. Ever.
That is such a long time that most of us can’t even visualize it, but those who make such predictions speak with confidence.
The references are to Lynn Anderson, a teacher and coach who is an institution at the Vermilion County school with fewer than 300 high school students.
Consider the perspective of Tim Lee.
He first became acquainted with Anderson when he was a student at Oakwood.
“She was my health teacher,” Lee said.
Lee graduated from Oakwood, went to college, earned a degree and returned to his alma mater as a teacher. Anderson became his colleague.
Years later, Lee was hired as the Comets’ athletic director. He oversaw the entirety of the sports programs and the coaches, which included Anderson. She was coaching three sports.
Lee left that role to accept the job as Oakwood High School’s principal.
“In all those roles, she has always treated me with respect and professionalism,” Lee said.
At the end of the school year, Lee will retire.
Anderson, meanwhile, is still teaching and coaching in a district where she was first hired in 1975.
For the past 37 years – that is no typo, 37 years is accurate – Anderson has been a three-sport coach at Oakwood High School.
Overall at Oakwood, she has worked with girls’ basketball and track athletes for 44 years each and with volleyball for 33 years. For those without a calculator handy, that’s a cumulative total of 121 seasons where Anderson has coached athletes at Oakwood.
Lee marvels at the length of Anderson’s commitment and said, she “is synonymous with Oakwood High School. She seems like she is everywhere – during school, after school, at the ballgames, in the summer – and it is all for the benefit of Oakwood High School, its students and staff, the community.”
***
Perhaps more than other teachers and coaches working in the 21st century, Anderson knows what it’s like without an assortment of sports available for girls.
Throughout her years as a student at downstate Marshall High School, “there were no girls’ sports at the time,” Anderson said.
With two brothers who played sports, their interests rubbed off on Anderson, she said, and “helped me become very competitive.”
In the 1960s, when Anderson was a teen-ager, high schools had the Girls Athletic Association, commonly referred to as the GAA. The competition was not between schools, but was intramural within individual districts.
“I stayed (after school) every day for the four years,” said Anderson, “and was President of the organization my senior year.”
She liked the camaraderie and the chance to participate – even on a limited basis – so much that it influenced her decision as she chose a college major.
“My mom wanted me to be a nurse,” Anderson said. “I didn’t think I could handle some of the situations, so I chose to go to SIU-Carbondale and major in physical education.
“During high school, my PE teacher encouraged me to major in physical education because of my ability and love of sports.”
After graduating from SIU, Anderson returned to her hometown for 3 ½ years to fill a maternity leave and teach elementary physical education. For two years, she was also in charge of the junior high cheerleaders.
“The second semester of the half year, I attended ISU to get my elementary classroom certificate,” Anderson said. “I then got married and moved to Fithian.”
That started a love affair that still burns brightly. Since the 1975-76 school year, Anderson has been a fixture in the classroom or on the sidelines at Oakwood.
She wasn’t exceptionally busy when she began in the district.
“I signed up for substitute teaching, and a week later (principal) Glenn Keever called me for an interview,” Anderson recalled. “My first several years I taught health, had a study hall, and worked first-hour attendance in the office.”
Her eclectic mix also included working with the school’s dance team, the Comettes, which she did for nine years. Anderson never considered using Oakwood as a steppingstone to something bigger and better.
“Oakwood was a destination,” she said. “It never crossed my mind to go anywhere else.
“I lived in the community, which at that time was encouraged, so as an educator you could invest in the community.”
***
It’s very possible that some of the newer teachers at Oakwood – and that could count hires made even a decade ago – have no idea that Anderson’s first name is Lynn.
“No one knows her as Lynn around OHS,” Lee said. “She is ‘Juice.’
“That has been her name – not her nickname – that’s what her name is,” Lee continued. “I always laugh at the new teachers when I introduce them to this veteran teacher and tell them her name is ‘Juice’ and not Coach Anderson or Mrs. Anderson.”
Lee said the story is a long one behind how the nickname bestowed upon Anderson came into existence. He offered a condensed version.
“It originated from the ‘70s for, 1) driving too fast and being called A.J. (a reference to auto racing champion A.J. Foyt); 2) then for some reason that switched to O.J., maybe because of a Hertz commercial (where former football star O.J. Simpson was the spokesman) 3) and then that got shortened to Juice.”
The moniker, Lee contends, is appropriate.
“It always seems awkward for the new people, but after a while it just seems like it fits,” he said. “She really is the juice that keeps Oakwood going.”
Former Oakwood coach Mike Waters, now the athletic director at Westville, remembers when the nickname was first applied.
“She was taking the Comettes to competition and they started saying she drove like A.J. Foyt,” Waters recalled. “Hence A.J. Rick Gross was a teacher’s aide then and he and I always kidded her about everything.
“At the same time, O.J. Simpson was dropping out of the sky in a commercial of a car driving fast. So, the name moved to O.J.
“In the process, we just started calling her The Juice and it got shortened to Juice. I know of no other coach with a moniker like that.”
It didn’t end with the nickname that was applied to Anderson.
“She has twin daughters that literally grew up at the high school and they were always referred to as ‘The Juices,’” Waters added.
During Anderson’s tenure in the district, she has taught P.E. and health.
At one time or another, Anderson has served as the head coach in three sports, including the past 33 in volleyball.
Equally impressive, according to Lee, are the myriad of things Anderson does behind the scenes.
“She has filled so many different roles in her tenure,” Lee said. “You would be amazed at all the other jobs that she does. She has been the junior class sponsor for a long time, which means she is in charge of Prom and all its ceremonies, dramas, laughs and headaches.
“In that role, she is also the school’s most excited cheerleader at pep assemblies, energizing the juniors to a frenzy most Friday mornings. The junior sponsor also builds floats at Homecoming. At OHS, we are very proud of our float history and no one has been involved in more float construction than Juice. She is always proud of her juniors’ efforts, but also makes sure that she congratulates the other classes’ too.”
It doesn’t end there, Lee said. Anderson also demonstrates her culinary skills.
“She cooks food for the staff frequently during the year and for the custodial staff in the summer,” Lee said. “Nothing brings a group of people together like a great meal.
“For the last couple of years she has also mowed all of the district’s property. She works hard to make the grounds look terrific and takes great pride in that role. She is vital to our school culture.”
Most importantly, Lee said, Anderson doesn’t seek recognition for her efforts.
“She loves to celebrate the students and staff any way that we can,” he said. “If we have an assembly, announcements, parade, recognition, retirement, whatever, Juice is there to provide food, support, friendship to all of us.
“She was the most instrumental person behind the ‘Tim Lee Day’ in Oakwood earlier in the (school) year. I can’t prove it, but it has her fingerprints all over it. She put in a lot of work to celebrate my last year in education. It was an amazing day and greatly appreciated, but she wouldn’t take any credit for it.”
Lee also has a feeling – but not the proof – that Anderson has been the ringleader of another project that has marked his final year in the school district.
“I’ve also been receiving supportive cards, letters, notes, and photos from former students and athletes all year long,” Lee said. “Again, I can’t prove it, but I’m sure that Juice is the one behind this.
“She is selfless in promoting the school and its people while deflecting all attention away from herself.”
***
Anderson didn’t originally seek out the varsity head coaching positions.
“I was asked to be head (girls’) basketball coach,” Anderson said. “I was not interested, but back then not many were, so I took it on for a couple of years until Mike Waters thankfully took it over and I became his assistant.
“He was the best ever. So, I continued to be his assistant and then multiple coaches after him.”
Including Waters, Anderson has served as an assistant under seven different girls’ basketball coaches, including the current head coach, one of her former players, Stephanie Denius Marsh.
Anderson’s first year with the girls’ basketball program was in its third year of existence, the 1976-77 school year. The Comets played 13 games and won eight of them.
Waters started his 15-year tenure as the coach for the 1978-79 season and went on to win a school-record 268 games and the school’s only three sectional championships in the sport.
Waters said Anderson’s role should not be minimized.
“Lynn ‘Juice’ Anderson was my assistant coach during possibly the most successful run of girls’ basketball at Oakwood (1979-92),” Waters said. “We could not have achieved the success that we had without her.
“She was the buffer between me and the girls. She could handle most any type of situation. The girls loved her and obviously still do. Her longevity at Oakwood is unsurpassed and will never be duplicated again. Anywhere. That type of commitment speaks to her personality and dedication to both Oakwood and her athletes.”
To put Anderson’s remarkable tenure in perspective, Oakwood has played 1,212 games since forming its girls’ basketball program. Anderson has been on staff for 1,155 of those games, or 95.2 percent.
“All you have to say is ‘Juice’ in Oakwood and everyone knows who you are talking about,” Waters said. “She is by far and away the most committed and hard-working person that I know. She made me both a better person and coach by her friendship and coaching.
“Besides coaching three sports for years, she also coached the Comettes (pompons, dance team) and made them a very successful team. She has managed to coordinate most likely the highest-rated hospitality room in the area during the run of the girls’ basketball Comet Classic.”
Anderson’s first stint as girls’ track head coach at Oakwood was during the 1977-78 school year, the program’s third year of existence. She handled head coaching duties in track for two years.
“Then, thank goodness, Marty McFarland got hired and took it over,” Anderson said. “He was another phenomenal coach to learn from. I was his assistant until he resigned (after the 1992 season) and I have been the head coach ever since.”
If track takes place later this spring, it will be Anderson’s 29th year back with the girls’ track program as the head coach. Overall, she has coached track athletes at Oakwood for 44 of the 46 years the program has been in existence.
Her tenure, Lee said, is not only long, but also distinguished.
“She is an exceptional head coach as shown by her successes in track and volleyball, but she also has the humility to be an assistant coach,” Lee said. “She has been a loyal aide to so many Oakwood coaches and they would probably all say the same thing. She is great to work with.
“She never takes a day off. She always does what’s best for her students and her team. She is sympathetic, but tough with her athletes and she loves to win. Because she is so nice and polite, that desire to succeed is covered up, and I think she is sometimes taken lightly by her opponents.”
Anderson is always prepared. That is a positive, but Lee said it comes with a downside.
“She is a saver,” Lee said. “She has five or so closets stuffed around the building filled with whatever you might need for a skit, a production, an assembly, a dance, or just a good joke.
“I’ve tried to downsize her, but I think she just finds somewhere else to store her goodies.”
***
After a leave of absence from the classroom when her twins – Candy and Carrie – were born, Anderson returned to teach P.E. at a time when the volleyball head coaching position was open.
She was hired for that job in time for the 1988-89 school year. She is now in her 33rd year as head coach. Her 382 volleyball victories, entering the upcoming season, are the most at Oakwood by one coach in any girls’ sport.
When Anderson’s daughters were in high school, the Comets had their three best years in volleyball, going 77-14 between 1999-2001, including a Class 1A state tournament appearance in 2000.
“No one can take away the memory of going to state in volleyball,” Anderson said. “We were fortunate to have that opportunity because many of the better and greater coaches don’t get that experience.
“Plus, they don’t get the opportunity to coach their own daughters or a set of triplets (the Rosenblatts) that make up over half the team, and five of my starters were valedictorians. Very special circumstance.”
Anderson brought stability to the volleyball program, which had different head coaches each of the three seasons prior to her hiring.
As for changes during a coaching tenure that now spans a part of six decades at Oakwood, Anderson pinpointed one thing.
“It is not all about team anymore, but about entitlement or playing time,” she said.
In recent years, Anderson’s classroom workload has been reduced somewhat. She only teaches health now.
“My rewards are many from teaching,” Anderson said. “The top reward is the relationships with former and current students and athletes. The memories are phenomenal.
“To know that maybe I have made a positive impact on some lives is my reward. I have always tried to be a positive person, one who cares and yet has high expectations of individuals.
“Some of my fondest memories are with the Comettes. I still have stayed in contact with some. I was a very strict director, and they abided by my rules.”
Despite her years of experience, the COVID-19 pandemic presented new circumstances to navigate in the spring of 2020.
“The fourth nine weeks last year wasn’t so much of a drain as a strain, and that is because of the technology,” she said. “I did the planning and Candy helped tremendously with the technology.
“This year has been a challenge because Oakwood is hybrid and also virtual. I have co-workers who have been my salvation. The plus side, I have learned a lot, of which I am grateful.”
And, she’s not done yet.
“I do need to step up my game this semester (starting this month),” Anderson said. “Having virtual and two different sets of in-person was another challenge. I know there will still be frustration, but I am willing to take on the challenge.
“My keys to getting through this are the students. It is about them. They not only need the education, but they also need, now more than ever, the physical, social, person-to-person, eye-to-eye communication.
“The cell phone cannot be their answer to everything. They are the future and that is a concern if we don’t get the pandemic under control. It is looking up right now.”
***
None of her teams were able to compete during the fall, but Anderson was still involved.
“As far as the coaching, we had weight room and open gym in the fall (for volleyball),” she said. “The girls were good about social distancing and the masks.
“I only had the girls who didn’t run cross-country or play basketball, so it went well. The players just want to play and be involved. I do hope for all athletes’ sake we have our seasons because otherwise I am afraid some will just lose interest.
“That may be because they have channeled their interests elsewhere.”
Anderson hasn’t set a timetable on how many more years she will teach and coach.
“I have no long-term goals right now except to enjoy what I choose to do,” she said. “I know I can go day-by-day, week-by-week, year-by-year.
“My health is still good and being that both daughters work also, I might as well. Not sure when I will officially retire. The girls want me to move back down home, where I bought the homeplace. (Carrie and her husband live there now.) I am not ready, even though that is where my brothers live.
“I have been fortunate to have good health because I just love to work and make a difference in whatever I do. I know working keeps me in better physical and mental condition.
“Oakwood High School and the community have been very good to me. I have been blessed to have been surrounded by great mentors from the past along with all other co-workers and the people in the community. I am very grateful for the opportunities and the experiences I have had. Nothing has been taken for granted, so many great memories.”
Waters doesn’t believe anyone will duplicate Anderson’s longevity feats.
“She has meant so much to so many over the years and it would be impossible to imagine the number of lives that she has touched over the years,” Waters added. “It has always been an honor to call her my friend and colleague.
“You can wait around and hope, but there will never be another Lynn Anderson.”
