While the praise and thanks were heaped on Bob Lutz and Mike Burcham at Saturday night’s appreciation dinner, there were plenty of light moments at Tanks Memorial Stadium.

Monday, July 03, 2000

While the praise and thanks were heaped on Bob Lutz and Mike Burcham at Saturday night’s appreciation dinner, there were plenty of light moments at Tanks Memorial Stadium.

Most of the evening devoted to the careers of Lutz and Burcham were serious testimonials of the impact the duo had on the lives of their players. But with that many players on hand, it was only a matter of time before the stories started to fly.

For instance:

Merril Triplett, former Ironton star and Oak Hill head football coach, recalled how teammate and current Ironton assistant Terry Parker helped him make lineman weight at physicals.

Lutz told Triplett he had to weigh at least 165 to be a lineman. As Triplett got on the scales, Parker slipped him a 10-pound weight. The scales read "168."

"Coach Lutz told me I had worked hard all summer and that I was going in the program at 170, and I’ve got the program to prove it. I probably only weighed 158," Triplett said.

Ken Fritz, former Ironton AP Lineman of the Year and Ohio State two-time All-American, recalled his first day of practice in college.

"I was from Ironton and I expected to start. When I wasn’t on the first team, I called coach Burcham and coach Lutz and told them I was coming home. They told me that was fine, but they were going to kick my tail all the way back to Columbus," Fritz said.

"When I heard that, I said, ‘Well, that plan is out. I guess I’m going out for the second day.’"

And, obviously, he did. Thanks to Lutz and Burcham, and that got Fritz to turn serious.

"I am a product of Ironton, Ohio," Fritz said. "I wear it on my chest and I’m proud of it. I’ve had a wonderful career and I owe it to you guys."

A couple of former Ironton All-Ohio standouts who went on to play college football traded good-natured jabs.

Delandual Conwell, a two-way star on the 1989 state championship team, pointed out a couple of facts.

"We’re the only squad to go 14-0 and we’re the only team to win a state championship in the ’80s," Conwell said.

Minnesota assistant coach Mark Snyder, who led Ironton to the state finals in 1982 and went on to become an All-American at Marshall, responded to Conwell’s boast.

"We went 10-0 (in 1981) and if we had made the playoffs, we’d have been state champions," Snyder said.

Ironton just missed making the playoffs by four-hundreths of a percentage point. Only two teams qualified in each region that season.

Portsmouth head basketball coach Jimmy Rhea, a friend of Burcham and Lutz, attended the dinner and removed a shirt with Trojan red/white/blue colors to unveil an Ironton T-shirt with pictures of the honorees on the front.

Rhea said that when it was announced Lutz and Burcham would not be coming back next fall, "we threw one heck of a party."

But a week later, Lutz and Burcham were rehired in their athletic positions.

"When they hired Bob and Mike, it was like when Christ came out of the tomb. I know how Pontius Pilate felt," Rhea said.

A few moments later, Rhea noted that the Portsmouth staff has great respect for Ironton and he paraphrased comic Jeff Foxworthy to emphasize his point.

"If you don’t want Bob Lutz and Mike Burcham on your sidelines, you must be brain dead," Rhea said.