dstruck Posted August 25, 2009 Share Posted August 25, 2009 Today?s story in ?The Evening News? local Jeffersonville newspaper, about Coach Rhinehart http://www.news-tribune.net/localsports/local_story_236233401.html?keyword=topstory A coach remembered By MIKE HUTSELL Mike.Hutsell@newsandtribune.com Jeffersonville wrestling coach Danny Struck spends weeks on the road, taking kids from his program to faraway locals and promoting his team and sport seemingly 12 months a year. This past weekend, Struck was on a road trip he would rather have missed. Struck was present on Sunday as his friend and longtime assistant coach Robert Rhinehart was laid to rest in Charleston, W. Va. after his sudden death last week. ?The hardest thing in my life I have ever done as a coach was tell ?the kids? about Coach Rhinehart?s passing. When you saw the look in their eyes, and the hugs going through the room, you knew that this man?s life, and lives of all teachers and coaches are truly meaningful.? Rhinehart, known to his friends simply as Robby, died unexpectedly last Wednesday at age 34 at Floyd Memorial Hospital. A teacher at River Valley Middle School, Rhinehart was the boys? head cross country coach at Jeff High but was perhaps best known for his role in helping Struck build the Red Devil wrestling program and traveling with JHS grapplers overseas. An accomplished high school and collegiate wrestler, Rhinehart began coaching the sport at the middle school level in Middletown, Mary. in 1997. After four years served coaching there, he began a wrestling program at Brunswick Middle School in Brunswick, Mary. while also taking over a program at a local high school that was in its third season. After going 3-23 in its first two years, Brunswick High went 12-6 in dual matches in Rhinehart?s first season. Rhinehart moved from Maryland to begin coach at Nile C. Kinnick High School in Yokosuka, Japan ? winning the Far East Championship in his second year there. After two years overseas, Rhinehart returned back to Maryland before moving to Jeffersonville and eventually taking over as coach of the Indiana High School Wrestling Association?s Women?s National team, leading the group to a seventh-place finish in nationals and coaching four All-Americans during his tenure with the squad. As an assistant at JHS, Rhinehart helped a program that has won back-to-back sectional championships ? ending a 15-year sectional drought in the process ? and in 2009 the Red Devils won the Hoosier Hills Conference title in 25 years. Rhinehart also served as a leader in the Jeff High FCA and was a spiritual advisor of sorts to the wrestling program. ?Coach Rhinehart accomplished more, and lived more fully everyday in 34 years then most people do in 64. I will miss my assistant, my morning workout partner, and my friend,? said Struck. ?But in his death I have truly now gained a spiritual leader, as he taught me to, and left me feeling god?s presence more than any other person could have.? Just as he spent most of his life as a Red Devil, Rhinehart was laid to rest on Sunday wearing a Jeff wrestling hat and jacket. ?That was the biggest honor me or my athletes have ever received by any man,? said Struck. ?Even in his death, he keeps teaching us.? Scholarship Fund A scholarship will be set up in the name of Robby Rhinehart with the Team Jeff Wrestling Club. For more information, contact Danny Struck at dstruck@gcs.k12.in.us or mail contributions to: Jeffersonville High School Wrestling 2315 Allison Lane Jeffersonville, IN 47130 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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