Tribute to Jack Loudenberg.
He was once the Head Football Coach of the Thomas S. Wootton High School Varsity Football Squad. He was also one of my biggest mentors in High School. He liked the work that I did at Wootton High as a Team Manager for Varsity Wrestling.. I was a person with disabilities who was mainstreamed by my parents among kids in regular classes. Many kids resented me because they felt I did not belong with them for many years. Things started out that way a little when I first attended TSW as a Junior in the Fall of 1972. Coach Loudenberg asked me if I wanted to be Team Manager for the Track Team in which he was the coach, after Wrestling Season ended. I accepted, and later he asked me to be Varsity Manager for Varsity Football. Again, I accepted. At the Spring Sports Banquet following Track Season, Coach Loudenberg announced that I was going to be the Manager for Varsity Football, and that following Football Season, I would be the first Team Manager in the History of Thomas S. Wootton High School to become a Varsity Three-Letterman (Wootton was only in its third year of existence then). Many Athletes who looked up to Coach Loudenberg, some of which didn't want me around, later befriended me, followed by Cheerleaders and Pom Pom Girls. My life was changed forever, and it has been uphill from there ever since.
I never saw Coach Loudenberg again after high school graduation. When I was able to return for the Class of 1974 Twenty Year Reunion in 1994, I ran into Mr. "Rip" Van Winkle, Math Teacher and Tennis Coach. I told him who I was and he recognized me right off. He told me that Jack Loudenberg had retired, so I didn't get to see him then. However, I later found out that Jack Loudenberg had a lot of Success as a Football Coach and a lot if winning seasons between the time I left and the time he retired. Years later, Coach Loudenberg was inducted into Thomas S. Wootton High School's Hall of Fame. During his later years, he lived in Selinsgrove, PA. He outlived just about everyone I knew at Thomas S. Wootton High. Coach Jack Loudenberg passed away on November 20, 2021. He left behind quite a legacy at Thomas S. Wootton High School. He will truly be missed by all Wootton High Alumni who knew him.
--Bill Baxter.
