In Memory

Mr. Leonard Cohn [Teacher: P. E. ]

Mr. Leonard Cohn [Teacher: P. E. ]

 

Leonard Cohn

Legendary Coach Leonard Cohn Dies

By Marjorie Cohn

Claremont Courier July 12, 2013


Legendary football coach Leonard Cohn died June 26 at the age of 93. Coach Cohn inspired hundreds of athletes and students during his 18 years at Claremont High School (CHS) in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Amassing a formidable football coaching record of 141 wins, 19 losses and one tie, Cohn led the Claremont Wolfpack to 10 league championships and two CIF championships - in 1956 and 1958. “Len Cohn leaves behind a football legend in Claremont,” wrote Fred Claire in the Progress-Bulletin, when Cohn resigned as head football coach at Claremont High in 1967. Claire, who later became general manger and executive vice president of The Dodgers, frequently chronicled Cohn’s accomplishments in his sports column.

Cohn started the CHS football program from scratch in 1949.  There was a total of 150 students at CHS.  Other area high schools had thousands of students from which to draw. With limited personnel and resources, Cohn single-handedly built the program – coaching, taping players, issuing and cleaning the equipment. He also served as Director of Athletics at Claremont High School, and first president of the Southern California High School Coaches Association, an organization with 1200 coaches.

“The distinguishing characteristic of Len Cohn,” said Dr. Robert Benson, who played on the 1958 championship team, “is that he was deeply interested in developing young men as well as football players.” Ed Wolfe, who went on to sign with the Pittsburgh Pirates, said, “Coach Cohn is a great, great man.  He was the father of football at Claremont High School.  He was a second father to all of us.” Bob Stephenson, who went on to play for University of Oklahoma and was selected outstanding player in the Cotton Bowl, wrote to Cohn, “You have done as much for me as my own father.  Besides teaching me football, you taught me pride, leadership and desire.” Martin Weinberger, former editor of the Claremont Courier, wrote in 1964, that Cohn’s “half-time orations, especially when Claremont is trailing, have been known to rank among the great motivational talks of all time.”  Weinberger characterized Cohn as “a practicing psychologist,” with signs “plastered to the dressing room walls, exhorting the players on to greater deeds.” It was not only athletes who were touched by Cohn. “Coach gave his heart to CHS and to all of us students,” observed Dail Ruthi Dworak-Crockett, class of 1961.

Cohn was born in Hartford, Connecticut in 1919. One of four children, he was a member of the “Clay Hill Gang,” 50 kids who hung together and made just a bit of mischief. From 1942 to 1946, Cohn fought with valor in the Army in World War II. Quickly promoted to Captain at age 21, he fought in the Battle of the Bulge. A graduate of Central Connecticut State University, where he starred as a tailback on an undefeated football team, Cohn married Florence Lichtenstein in 1947 and they relocated to California and had five children. After Cohn served one year as a high school teacher in San Bernardino, they moved to Claremont, where he became a high school teacher, and football and baseball coach.

Known to his players as “The Fox of the Foothills,” Cohn was noted for his college-like football program at Claremont High. Once offered the assistant head coaching job by head Michigan State football coach Duffy Daugherty, Cohn turned it down. With a wife and five children to support, Cohn opted for job security at Claremont High School over the vagaries of college coaching.

Former pro football star Billy Kilmer credited Cohn for setting up his football career. Cohn recognized Kilmer’s potential when Kilmer’s Citrus High squad played against Claremont High in the mid-1950’s. When Cohn later coached a high school all-star team, he installed a single wing offense to showcase Kilmer’s talents as a tailback. Cohn invited UCLA coach Red Sanders to take a look.  Kilmer achieved All American status, playing tailback at UCLA before becoming a first round NFL draft pick. 

In 1966, Cohn and his wife Florence divorced. The following year, he moved to Monterey, where he began a second career in the Monterey School District. After three years as Vice-Principal at Monterey High School, Cohn was promoted to Director of Child Welfare and Attendance in the District Office. He held that position until he retired in 1989. Cohn married Catherine Sullivan in 1972 and helped raise her sons. When Catherine died in 1995, Cohn moved to San Diego to be near two of his daughters. He returned to Claremont a few months before his death.

Cohn is survived by his children, Marjorie Cohn, Gary Cohn, Nancy Cohn Morgan, Susan McGeachy, and Terri Peters; stepsons John Sullivan and Joseph Sullivan; 15 grandchildren and 9 great-grandchildren.

 

Contributions can be sent to Claremont High School Hall of Fame. Make checks out to: CHS Hall of Fame

Send to:

Coach Mike Collins

Claremont High School

1601 N Indian Hill Blvd

Claremont, CA 91711

 

A celebration of Coach Cohn’s life was held on Saturday, August 3, at 3 p.m. in the gymnasium at El Roble Junior High School, 655 N. Mountain Ave. in Claremont.

Program

Leonard Lewis Cohn (1919 ~ 2013)
Published in The Monterey Herald on July 10, 2013

CLAREMONT, CA – Leonard Cohn, a prominent administrator in the Monterey School District, died on June 26, 2013 at the age of 93. Cohn moved to Monterey from Claremont in 1967. After three years as Vice-Principal of Pupil Services (Counseling and Guidance) at Monterey High School, Cohn was promoted to Director of Child Welfare and Attendance in the District Office. He held that position until he retired in 1989. Neil Fearn, Cohn's boss at Monterey High, said Cohn "was a great problem solver with troubled children and families. He did a super job." Dan Albert, who was head football coach at Monterey High when Cohn was an administrator, said of Cohn, "He was stern, strict, but fair." Albert later became mayor of Monterey.

Please post your memories of Coach Cohn below.