Not Easily Forgotten : Welch’s Resignation Elicits Memories of Coach Who Engendered Fierce Loyalties and Enemies

Brent Parkinson already had heard the news. While it came as no real surprise, it was still hard to swallow.

Harry Welch had quit.

Parkinson, a former football standout at Canyon High, could accept the announcement only on his own terms.

“Don’t say quit ,” Parkinson said. “Say resigned. Harry’s not a quitter.”

Welch, whose 12-year coaching career at Canyon catapulted the program into national prominence, announced his resignation Monday, citing concerns that his intense style might threaten his health.

It was hardly unexpected.

Welch’s announcement followed a tumultuous season in which separate car accidents left one of his players dead and an assistant coach paralyzed. In addition, Welch was involved in a postgame altercation with the parent of a player.

That wasn’t everything, by any means. Four players and three assistant coaches from Thousand Oaks High defected to Canyon during the off-season, creating bad feelings among Thousand Oaks supporters.

Welch also won a financial settlement from the Southern Section, ending a two-year battle that stemmed from charges that Canyon conducted an off-season practice in violation of section rules. Few area coaches celebrated his victory, however, with some arguing that Welch had simply beat the system to avoid punishment.

Headlines that once trumpeted Welch’s successes--he entered the 1993 season with the third-best winning percentage among state coaches with at least 100 victories--instead addressed off-the-field controversies.

“Maybe it’s the best thing for him,” Parkinson said. “Maybe he needs to take care of himself for once.”

When it came to football, Welch took care of business with uncanny efficiency. Canyon advanced to the Southern Section semifinals or beyond eight consecutive seasons. If the 48-year-old coach never returns to the coaching ranks--he hasn’t discounted the possibility--he will be remembered as a man who did it his way. Was it the right way?

“In a world chock full of vacillation and democracy, it’s refreshing to me that he did it his way,” said John Becker, the Rams’ director of player personnel, who coached with Welch at Crespi High and Valley College. “He insists it be done his way. He’s got no bigger fan than me.”

Despite the resentment that Welch’s success and notoriety fostered in some quarters, he will be missed, even by many of his biggest rivals.

“I always enjoyed coaching against him,” Antelope Valley Coach Brent Newcomb said. “Boy, he was tough to beat. I’ll miss him.”

Welch’s ability to motivate players, many of ordinary size and talent, was unmatched.

“He taught me never to give up,” said Scott Blade, a junior linebacker at San Diego State. “He taught me that size doesn’t matter, to never say die.”

Blade personified the typical Canyon player. As a senior, Blade was all of 6 feet, 185 pounds. Hardly the prototype NCAA Division I player, Blade characterized himself as one of Welch’s legion of “overachievers.”

“We were little scrappy guys,” Blade said. “He gets the most out of his players. . . . I would have done anything for him.”

Welch could chide or charm, depending on the time of day and the task at hand. In fact, his demeanor on the sideline was almost the alter ego of his personality elsewhere. Welch is an English teacher at Canyon, an erudite man conversant in more than the world of sport.

On Friday nights, though, Welch was often a man possessed. At practice, he wore wraparound sunglasses and didn’t seem to mind the nickname, “Dirty Harry.” His high-octane style long ago damaged his vocal chords, so he carried a bullhorn to help get his points across.

“He sprinted out of the womb an overachiever,” Becker said. “He’s been that way as long as I’ve known him.”

While an assistant with the Buffalo Bills in the mid-1980s, Becker said he gave “very serious consideration” to sending his son to California play for Welch. His son, also named John, vetoed the idea--which the father still regrets.

“He needed that kick in the ass,” Becker said. “It would have been good for him.”

Coaches smirked at Welch’s intensity during passing-league games they considered trivial, but when the regular season rolled around, Welch usually accumulated the biggest pile of victories.

“If he was on ‘What’s My Line?’ you never would have guessed he was a football coach,” said Reseda Coach Joel Schaeffer, who coached with Welch at Crespi in the late 1960s. “He was Jekyll and Hyde, Rommel on the football field.”

Chaminade Coach Rich Lawson recalls a moment last summer before a passing-league game against Canyon at Saugus High. Chaminade huddled moments before their game was set to begin when Welch asked to address Lawson’s players.

“We thought he was going to go over the rules or something,” Lawson said.

Instead, Lawson says Welch asked Chaminade to knock his players down, to play as physically as possible, to rough up his boys. In short, to help toughen the Cowboys.

“It kind of helped perpetuate his image,” Lawson said.

Few coaches had more head-to-head experience battling Welch than Newcomb, whose Antelope Valley team ended Canyon’s 46-game winning streak in 1986. Antelope Valley defeated Canyon in the Cowboys’ last Southern Section championship game appearance in 1988, and Antelope Valley fans serenaded Welch with sing-song jeers of “Haaaar-ree, Haaaar-ree.”

Welch’s track record by then was well-established. In the Antelope and Santa Clarita valleys, if the subject is high school football and somebody mentions Harry , no surname is necessary. Such is Welch’s marquee recognition.

Ask a random sampling of coaches what made Welch stand apart and the answer is predictable: Welch went the extra yard. Of course, when the Canyon program was accused of breaking Southern Section rules in the spring of 1991, it earned Welch a reputation as a coach who took, well, shortcuts.

“Obviously he was a fine football coach,” said Stan Thomas, the section commissioner who resigned last year after a review of his expense accounts. “All I wanted was for him to work within the framework of the rules.

“He’s a credit to football. If we could just keep him on the straight and narrow, he’d be fine.”

Welch put the pedestrian Canyon program on the map with section titles in 1983, 1984 and 1985, and the Cowboys’ 46-game win streak is the second-longest in state history. Thereafter, all Welch had to do was duplicate that success--no mean feat. Coaches have speculated that unreasonably high expectations may have contributed to Welch’s resignation.

Canyon finished 6-4 last fall, marking its third consecutive season of four losses or more, and fourth in five years. Welch never had a losing season--his career record is 86 games over .500--but what have the Cowboys done lately?

Canyon is 1-3 in postseason play since 1991.

“Eaten by the monster he created probably sums it up,” Lawson said.

Even in the budding stages of Welch’s coaching career, when he was the Crespi junior varsity coach, he had begun to establish a reputation as a tireless worker.

“There aren’t a lot of coaches I look up to, but he’s one of them,” said Schaeffer, who at the time was defensive coordinator for the Crespi varsity.

Others respect Welch’s work ethic, but questioned his sense of perspective.

“Sometimes, you lose track of the fact that it’s a game played by 17-year-old kids,” Newbury Park Coach George Hurley said. “Sometimes there’s as much to be learned by losing as by winning at all cost.”

Parkinson, a 1985 Canyon graduate who played in three Rose Bowls at USC and played for the Denver Broncos, was a sophomore on Welch’s first varsity team.

“Canyon football was nothing (before Welch),” Parkinson said. “He is a motivator. He expects nothing less than the best anybody has to give.

“Maybe it was tough, but we all learned a lot from him.”

A few players, of course, didn’t see eye to eye with the volatile coach. Players occasionally quit, including standouts such as Justin Fix and Chris Peery, though Peery eventually rejoined the team. While the sacrifice was too great for some, there were many more true believers.

Van Nuys Coach George Engbrecht lives in Canyon Country, has had two sons play for Welch and is a member of the Canyon booster club. Engbrecht said his son Chad, Canyon’s starting quarterback in 1991, idolized Welch.

“He worshiped him,” Engbrecht said. “I always have to live up to what Harry does.”

Before taking over at Van Nuys two years ago, Engbrecht spent time observing the Canyon program. He borrowed a few tactics from Welch while discounting others as being too extreme.

Engbrecht doubts Welch will return to coaching: “How can anyone leave that program (and attempt to rebuild elsewhere)? It has everything.”

Others aren’t so sure. St. Francis Coach Bill Redell, who took a four-year sabbatical from coaching only to return last fall, believes Welch will return.

“I think he’ll be back when he catches his second wind,” said Redell, who is Welch’s insurance agent. “It’s hard to get football out of your system, especially when you’re as competitive as he is.”