Abington High School graduate Jim Frisby recently offered a nostalgic tribute to the late Joseph “Doc” Jurich, longtime teacher and coach, via the Facebook group You know you grew up in Abington PA if you remember …
In addition to serving as a teacher and coach at Abington, Mr. Jurich was a decorated World War II Browning Automatic Rifle infantryman, a professional football player, and the husband of Joanne E. (Pannepaker) and the late Kitty.
“I know all the Pannepackers growing up. A lot of people were mentioning Doc Jurich, so I dug up my yearbook,” Jim said. “Everyone knew Doc. From the post, I found out that he was a former NFL lineman for the Giants and a WWII veteran. He was also a swim coach and the trainer for the football team, which I had almost forgotten. In the picture where he’s sitting, he’s in his trainer role.”
Mr. Jurich was a three-time PSLA Coach of the Year and a 2000 inductee of the Eastern Pennsylvania Chapter of the US Lacrosse Hall of Fame. The Doc Jurich Humble Hero Award is given each year in his honor.
Members of the group have contributed various stories, anecdotes, and photos of past sketches hand-drawn by “Doc”:
“He had an infectious personality and he touched a lot of lives,” Jim said.
In 2013, PhillyLacrosse.com paid tribute to Jurich’s passing with an article titled Lacrosse world mourns loss of Joseph “Doc” Jurich, 87, pioneer of Abington, Philly lacrosse.
From the article:
“He meant everything to Abington lax,” said Ron Forster, who played at Abington under Jurich from 1973-76 and later helped build Abington youth lacrosse. “He started the program without knowing a thing about the sport in the early ’60’s.
From Jim’s Facebook post:
A few days ago I posted something about Penny’s Flowers in Glenside. As it turns out, a lot of people asked about Doc Jurich because he married Joanne, one of the Pannepacker sisters and daughter to “Mr. Penny”. This beloved gentleman was a gym teacher, swim coach and a lacrosse coach at Abington High School as well as an athletic trainer there. He was a talented artist that did illustrations for the various Abington H.S Oricle yearbooks over many years. One thing that was pointed out to me by one of my classmates Abington ‘79, he was also a hero in WW II!! Gotta love Doc!
Jim added a throwback photo of Miss Haggerty, longtime hall monitor at Abington High School’s South Campus, to the group as well.
“She was a hall monitor and had a way of snagging people. The guys in the background were egging me on. The feedback I’ve gotten since I’ve posted that picture have been great. I knew it’d stir the pot,” he said.
From the post:
Miss Haggerty and I in 1979! She was “the” hall monitor extraordinaire at AHS South Campus. Can’t recall what I said to get her to smile. This was the first and last time I ever experienced this occurrence and was very rare indeed. Please note the smirk of one of my buddies faces in the background as we posed together for this photo opp.
Think she had eyes behind her head and if you misbehaved in any way in the hollowed halls of South Campus, she would snag you in a heartbeat. Miss Haggerty was tough yet fair, that is as long as you somehow eluded her and didn’t get caught during your offensive action. It was very simple, don’t get caught by Miss Haggerty! God Bless her and may she rest in peace!!
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