DATE: 8/15/2017
A sudden battle with cancer took the life of “Coach” Larry Hetzel on the morning of August 15, 2017. The Kutcher Foundation established a scholarship award to honor the leadership of Coach Hetzel who impacted many lives at John Carroll. Coach Hetzel had a true passion for volleyball, and as the coach at John Carroll he developed leaders both on and off of the court. The scholarship will be awarded to a graduating senior on the men’s volleyball team whose leadership skills were greatly influenced by their experience with the volleyball program. The inaugural award will be presented at this year’s awards assembly for a 2017 graduating senior.
Coach Hetzel was a huge role model for his players and bettered the lives of every athlete he coached. He challenged his players to be leaders both on and off of the court. He went above and beyond as a coach, putting in the extra time to work with his players and ensure their success in everything that they did. He was the true definition of a leader in his selfless determination to better everyone else around him. He was an incredible coach, and an even better person. He will be missed greatly by all of his former players, but his legacy lives on through the leadership he instilled in his players. Coach Hetzel, always a patriot.
Player Testimonial – Tim Kutcher (JC 2015)
Coach Hetzel was a true leader who had an incredible impact on my life. He came in as a coach for a volleyball team that wasn’t particularly good, and he made it an incredible experience for me and all of my teammates.
I mainly want to focus on the team my senior season, in the Fall of 2014. The team was a really quiet group, and for some of the guys, volleyball was their only sport. It wasn’t a group of top-notch athletes who were there because they loved competing, but Coach Hetzel completely changed the dynamic of the team. Like I mentioned, everyone on the team was a pretty quiet person – if it weren’t for being on the same team as them I might only know what one or two other person’s voices even sounded like. Coach Hetzel challenged us all to become not only better volleyball players, but better leaders. He would make the entire team do a wall-sit for minutes at a time, then walk up and down and when he pointed at you, you had to scream “BALL” as loud as you possibly could. If you didn’t scream as loud as you could then time would be added to the wall-sit.
That’s the type of coach he was – he changed us not only as competitors, but as people. He took a bunch of kids who were relatively shy and had them screaming at the top of their lungs with the cheerleaders practicing on the other side of the gym. It made a difference, and the team became a bunch of competitors who all wanted to win. I look back at the videos from that season, and see myself having the time of my life celebrating points with guys I probably would never have been friends with outside of volleyball. I see myself becoming a leader and learning to make others around me better instead of just myself.
I think Coach Hetzel’s definition of a leader would have been a person who makes those around them better. That is what he was for me, and that is what he helped me become. I remember him coming up to me one time after a practice my junior year, and I still remember the dialogue. “Tim, listen to me – you know how to lead by example and that is what you do for these guys. Everyone on this team looks up to you and respects you. You have the respect of those senior clowns, even if you don’t realize it. I want to see you taking charge with your voice and rallying everyone up, keeping even the guys who are older than you in check. I know it’s not easy, I mean just listen to me and my monotoned voice. I challenge you to step up with your voice and keep everyone focused on winning.” After that season, I became much more of a vocal leader both in volleyball and baseball. I attribute so much of that quality to Coach Hetzel.
Before Coach Hetzel was my coach, volleyball was just a fun activity, and that was it. Yes, I would get competitive and I would want to win, but I wouldn’t particularly work hard to do so. I think most kids on the team would say the same. I remember the shock for everyone the first time we had to run for volleyball. We were all like, “what is this? We have to do drills, run, and do wall-sits for volleyball? Last year we just played games and did hitting lines for all of practice.” I remember one day when practice was over and he wanted to work a little extra on my setting. It was just me and him in the gym, up against the net, setting back and forth to each other for literally nearly an hour. We also had to yell “BALL” before each time we touched the ball. It was the little extra dedication like this that turned me in to a real competitor in volleyball. He honestly perfected my setting, and he made me want to be the best setter I could be. He was also being an incredible leader for me. Here was this guy who had an incredibly busy schedule with work, was newly engaged, and found the time to coach a high school volleyball team, taking extra hours out of his day just to work with me and mentor me.
Men’s Volleyball was the perfect sport for him to mentor people and develop leaders. It is a sport almost everyone doesn’t pick up until high school, and for a lot of kids it is their first time playing a sport more competitively. I am positive Coach Hetzel made the high school experience of all my teammates much better through volleyball. I witnessed him create friends, competitors, and leaders out of a huge dynamic group of people. I am sure all of my teammates feel the same way.
I talked with Coach Hetzel about more than just volleyball – we talked about baseball, school, fantasy football, and more. He was a coach who was truly concerned with all of his player’s success in everything that they did. He had a great sense of humor and he made volleyball fun while keeping it serious. He was an incredible leader for me, and for everyone on the teams that he coached. He will be greatly missed, but the leadership he instilled in everyone will live on. He was a true patriot and made John Carroll extremely proud.
Player Testimonial – Rawlison Zhang (JC 2015)
Given a team of quiet misfits with relatively little volleyball experience that has been shuttled between numerous coaches, Coach Hetzel had his work cut out for him. For many of us, volleyball was just about swinging our arms to keep the ball from hitting the ground and hope that we did not lose too badly. In the end, Coach turned the inept little John Carroll team around, introducing us to the true nature of the sport, tapping into our individual potentials, and making us appreciate the experiences we had as a team along all the while getting us a few wins along the way.
He solidified foundations for our success both on and off the court, teaching us about timing, communication, and perseverance, encompassed by the drills we did in practice: extended wall-sits and spit-fire diving drills screaming ‘BALL’ at the top of our lungs. If we forgot to yell ‘BALL’ during a practice match, back to the wall we went. If we did not dive for the ball (while yelling ‘BALL’), back the wall we went. The torturous brown walls of the John Carroll gyms, covered with our sweat and blood, became our common enemy. Nonetheless, it was those minutes on the wall that our team bonded, and as Helen Keller once said “Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trail and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.” Each day we came back to practice, vowing to get better, louder, and bolder – and to never return to that bloody wall again.
To be perfectly honest, I questioned his decision to make me co-captain. I was not the best on the team nor the second best; athletically, I was unqualified. Yet, he was keen on it. He pulled me aside one day and look me ferociously, “You may not be the best on the team, but that’s not why I chose to make you co-captain with Tim. I love the hustle and drive you put into this sport. Each person on this team is an extension of your leadership. Show them how to hustle and go for every ball.” Coach understood that leadership was about the being the best nor was it glorious acts of showmanship, rather it was about keeping a team focused and motivated on a goal. We can’t all be good at everything – that’s the whole point about having a team.
Working for Lockheed Martin and newly engaged, Coach was as self-less as they came, dedicating his time and energy into each individual member of the team, making us better athletes, leaders, and people. In drills, he would often times do it with us – most of the time to prove that he was still a fit young stud – but also to show solidarity and maintain moral. Most nights, he stayed late to play an extra match or to help someone serve or set. He invited us to tournaments outside of school and to play club. Even outside the sport, he was keen on our success, asking about our lives and academics. With his advice, I decided to major in Chemical and Biological Engineering at Princeton – possibly one of the hardest, but sometimes you just have to go dive for the ball even if it means getting a bruised knee and burned palm. We are going to miss you Coach.
