As a basketball coach at both Irwin and Norwin high schools, Lyman W. Stough had a tradition of winning teams.
In Mr. Stough's six seasons at Irwin, his Black Knights were 122-34. His teams won four state championships and their WPIAL section title a number of times.
Mr. Stough, of Irwin, a longtime educator, coach and scholastic sports official, died Sunday, Dec. 16, 2001. He was 72.
After the merger that formed the Norwin School District in 1957, Mr. Stough became coach at the new high school.
''He was an asset in the classroom. He was an asset on the basketball court,''
said Ron Peduzzi, former Norwin High School principal, longtime friend and neighbor.
It was at Norwin that Mr. Stough's teams went on to even greater success, winning 12 or 13 section titles, Peduzzi said. The 1963 team went all the way to the state finals in Hershey, losing to Plymouth-Whitemarsh.
To say the 1963 team was long on talent would be an understatement. At center was 6-foot-9-inch ''Big John'' Naponic. Mr. Stough, who stood 6 feet, 4 inches tall and weighed between 225 and 235, took on the job of being Naponic's practice opponent.
''The other kids were too small,'' Peduzzi said. ''At his size, he could 'lean' on John.''
Warren Gardner was in the first class Mr. Stough taught in Irwin. ''It was eighth-grade math,'' he said.
Gardner, who would play for Stough during the '53, '54 and '55 seasons, would go on to become a biology teacher and a Stough assistant coach.
When Gardner and other students were talking about forming a tennis team, they approached Mr. Stough. ''He probably didn't know too much about the game,'' Gardner said, ''But we needed a coach ... that was the thing about Lyman, he volunteered to be our coach.''
When Mr. Stough married, the entire basketball team was invited to the wedding, Gardner said. And thanks to some loyal fans, Mr. and Mrs. Stough left the church riding a vintage fire truck owned by the Irwin Volunteer Fire Department.
''I don't know how they ever got Lyman and Bonnie into that thing because that wasn't Lyman's style,'' Gardner said.
Jim Shrump played for Mr. Stough in 1954 and 1955. ''He would practice right with us,'' Shrump said. ''He made the underneath guys what they were.''
In the days before school buses, the teams were taken to away games by automobile. ''Before Lyman got married, we would drive over to pick up Bonnie,'' Shrump said. ''There was always a fight to see who would sit next to her.''
A graduate of Norwin High School, class of 1946, Mr. Stough went on to Waynesburg College, where he graduated in 1950. He received his master's degree from the University of Pittsburgh. He played on the basketball and football teams in both high school and college.
A math teacher, Mr. Stough enjoyed teaching, Peduzzi said. But in 1967, he took on the job of guidance counselor at Norwin Junior High West.
''He enjoyed talking to the kids one-on-one,'' Peduzzi said. Mr. Stough became guidance counselor at the high school in 1969. He also liked to officiate high school football games and did so for many years.
Mr. Stough retired in 1985 after 35 years with the Norwin School District.
His first love was sports, said Bonnie Stough, his wife of 47 years.
''Sports was his life,'' she said, ''He still remained interested in high school sports. ... I was amazed that interest never faded. Lyman enjoyed his life and the men involved in sports.''
Born Dec. 19, 1928, in Irwin, Mr. Stough was a son of the late Oscar and Bertha (Kintigh) Stough.
He was a member of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church of Irwin and was a U.S. Army veteran of the Korean conflict.
In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by a brother, Glenn Stough. He is survived by his wife, Bonnie Lee (Smail) Stough, and nieces and nephews.
Friends will be received at the William Snyder Funeral Home, 521 Main St., Irwin, today from 2 to 9 p.m. A funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday in the funeral home. Interment will follow in Brush Creek Cemetery, Hempfield Township.
