Jim Hazlett loved coaching football so much, he really never retired.
After piloting the Springdale Dynamos to a 10-0 season in 1959, Hazlett entered the college coaching ranks, finally finishing his 56-year career at Fork Union Military Academy in Virginia.
Hazlett, a Tarentum native, died Wednesday near Richmond after being hospitalized in June with a lung infection.
He was 84.
Hazlett was on the sidelines at Fork Union as recently at 2008 and last year graded team films from his retirement home.
But his enduring legacy is how his players from Springdale kept in touch with him over the past half century.
"He set the stage for my life," said James Yanni, captain of the 1959 Springdale team. "You didn't have to be the best player, just have the commitment and dedication to be a winner."
For former Dynamos player Jim Devore, whose father died at an early age, Hazlett became a father figure.
"We wrote occasionally, but later corresponded pretty frequently," said Devore, of Charlotte N.C. "In fact, I was scheduled to see him next week."
Devore recalled how Hazlett at times spoke of growing up in Tarentum during the Great Depression, where his father never had a high-paying job and they had to scrape to get by.
"He and his wife never had any children, but he had such an impact on so many more people," Devore said.
Hazlett entered the Army Air Force after graduating from Tarentum High School in 1944. He planned on a career as a bombardier/navigator, but he was released after World War II when the military reduced its numbers.
It was on to Westminster College for Hazlett, but he soon transferred to Susquehanna University, where he played under legendary coach Amos Alonzo Stagg, who coached into his 90s.
Hazlett got the head coaching job at Springdale at the relatively young age of 27.
The Dynamos were in the highly competitive Allegheny Interscholastic Conference, and the progress toward building something special was slow in the estimation of some.
"I had a neck injury in the game at Freeport and I was taken to Allegheny Valley Hospital by ambulance," Joe Furko recalled. "A couple of the boosters stopped on the way home to check up on me and said they were thinking of getting a new football coach the next year. I told them you won't be able to field a team, that's how devoted we were to him."
The school district stuck with Hazlett, and Springdale responded with a 10-0 record and a season most schools could only dream about.
Several players got Division I scholarships, including Jim Conley (Michigan) and Ron Kubecka (Purdue).
After that memorable season, Hazlett left for coaching stints as Edinboro, Susquehanna and Kean universities. For more than 20 years, he coached at Fork Union, where he mentored 1995 Heisman Trophy winner Eddie George.
Former players like Furko followed Hazlett into the coaching ranks.
Furko coached Archbold High School to the Ohio state championship during his 37-year tenure.
"I was ready to stop at 30 years," Furko said. "But he told me if he could still do it, I could, too. I ended up staying another seven years."
Hazlett's wife, Kathleen, died in 2004.
Burial service is at 11 a.m. today at Greenwood Memorial Park, Lower Burrell.
Several former players indicated a memorial service could be planned for him locally in the near future.
