To understand why a group of baby boomer men will be honoring the late, great Joe Hibbard, it’s best to hear his players talk about the former Grice Junior High football coach.
“I have been ill for a few years with cancer, and when I got sick, coach’s favorite saying was, ‘When the going gets tough the tough get going,’” said Jim Willliams, who played tight end for Hibbard’s 8-0 team in 1969. “I have thought of that saying many times and it has helped me greatly to navigate through this illness.
“He had a personality that you could never forget. He had a sixth sense on how to handle people and knew just how far to push you and bring out the best in you. He knew if you would respond to being pushed hard or you had to be treated a little softer. He was a great judge of personalities and athletic abilities.”
When it came to Bob Dill, who played offensive/defensive back for the 1975 Gladiators, Hibbard took the “push hard” approach.
“In our game against Junior One and Five, I sandwiched my elbow between the helmet of a guy tackling me and the football,” Dill recalled. “The fingers on my left hand were numb. I came off the field and coach said, ‘Dill, what the heck are you doing?’ I told him about my numb fingers. He said, ‘OK. Now, get your butt back in the game.’ And I did.”
Charles Tiggett, who is spearheading the celebration of Hibbard’s career, said the coach never allowed players to get satisfied.
“We would come in at halftime winning and he would take a helmet and throw it across the room and scream and holler,” Tiggett said. “I’d look at (teammate) Tom Alexander and say, “We are winning aren’t we?’”
Ernest Brewer had never played football, but when he tried out for Grice in 1975, Hibbard saw toughness, ability and more academic potential than Brewer realized he had.
“As a starter coach designated me a blocking back; the rest of the backfield was bigger, stronger and faster,” Brewer said. “One day, out of the blue, he said to me ‘I heard you were smart: let me see your report card.’ My card read 3.5 GPA. Coach says, ‘l thought you were smarter than that.’”
From then on, Brewer made sure to be smarter.
“When he shipped me off to Hamilton West, I had a desire to earn straight A grades and become a feature back,” he said. “The seed he planted got me into three Ivy League schools and I was able to choose Dartmouth. So I have loved coach for life. What more can kids gain on earth than choices?”
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Actually, they can gain respect for their fellow man, no matter the race or creed. One thing Hibbard would not tolerate on his team was segregation.
“Mr. Hibbard knew no color, all he saw were ballplayers,” Tiggett said. “We had a team meeting and the first day, all the Black kids were sitting on one side. We hung together, we lived in the same neighborhoods. All the White kids were on the other side. We were all friends, but when you hang with somebody, that’s who you sit with.
“Mr. Hibbard walked in, he turned beet red. He said, ‘I’ll be back in 10 minutes, and when I come back, it better be a checkerboard in here.’ We were looking at each other like, ‘What the heck is he talking about?’ We started looking at how we sat, and when he came back it was a checkerboard. That’s a fact.”
And that’s how it stayed, as Hibbard produced close-knit units that didn’t care about Black or White; just wins and losses. And wow, were there wins.
From 1967-75, when junior high football drew large crowds and received big-time attention in the Trenton newspapers, no school was better or more renowned than Grice.
Under Hibbard — who passed away at age 64 in 1996 — the Gladiators went 70-2-2, enjoyed seven undefeated seasons and sent numerous future All-County and college players to Hamilton West. That all stopped in 1976, when Hamilton Township switched to the middle school system and Grice dropped athletics.
But the legend lives on, even the minds of opponents who felt the punishment Gladiator players dished out on both sides of the ball.
“I remember getting hit by a guy, I think it was Gene Hagan, on my left thigh and the force radiated from inside my leg through the rest of my body,” said Bob DeStefano, the Nottingham quarterback in 1972. “On defense, I played defensive back. Their quarterback, Ken Zegarski, faked a handoff and kept the ball sweeping the right end. I was the only one standing between this galloping Goliath and the goal line. He had a full head of steam and basically ran over me into the end zone. Technically, I tackled him. In reality, he tripped over me.”
DeStefano recalled one player in particular, who was the scourge of Mercer in the early 1970s.
“Watching the game films afterward, everyone on the field looked as if they were in slow motion except Freddie Harris,” DeStefano said. “He was a beautiful runner; as elusive as he was fast.”
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Five decades after those glory days, a retired Tiggett was sitting around thinking about who was the most important person in his life besides his dad. Tiggett lived a productive life after high school as a U.S. Marine and police officer.
As he pored through his memory banks, it clicked.
“I started to think who gave me the most joy in my life, and it was Mr. Hibbard,” said Tiggett, who played receiver and defensive back for a 1968 team that allowed just six points.
Tiggett began to think of who he could contact to help honor what Hibbard had done for so many young men in Hamilton that went on to be role models themselves.
A name that immediately jumped out was current Nottingham High assistant Bob Harris, who is in his 46th year of coaching and played for Temple. Harris, the aforementioned Freddie’s older brother, is one of the greatest football players to go through Grice and Hamilton. He credits Hibbard as a major reason.
“He was a phenomenal person,” Harris said. “He was one of the first to enlighten me about the importance of good grades. Being a great motivator and supporter he would have the team down on his (Jobstown) farm and consistently talk to us about life.
“I remember him being at my football games at Temple. He was like a family member, he knew myself, my brother Fred, my sister Doris and my parents. We all hold Joe Hibbard in the utmost regard. He was stern, but fair. He taught you right from wrong, how to treat people as people. Joe Hibbard was one of the most influential people in my life.”
Others who went on to play in college were Brewer, Doug Burnett (Penn), Keith Brown (C.W. Post) and Micheal Griffith (Delaware). They were just a handful of Hibbard’s success stories.
After giving his idea some thought, Tiggett asked Principal Dwayne Walker if they could do something special for his former coach in Grice’s “C Hall” – the science wing where Hibbard taught. Walker gave his OK, and former player Len Gadsby produced a plaque that features a photo of Hibbard raising his arms in triumph (a familiar sight) along with his teams’ year-to-year records.
The committee is asking for any former Hibbard players to attend a Friday evening dedication reception at Grice from 6 to 9 p.m. on May 31. Players can have their photos taken with the plaque in C Hall and then adjourn for light refreshments in the cafeteria, where war stories will be swapped.
Former principal Angela Belmont, a Tiggett classmate, will narrate highlights of Hibbard’s career, and the plaque will eventually be hung in C Hall to memorialize their coach.
No reservations are necessary. Players can show up unannounced and if anyone has questions they can text Gadsby at (609) 731-1123.
Tiggett’s committeemen are Jimmy Williams, Mike Williams, David Aust, Harris, Shawn McRae, Keith Brown, Joe Howarth, Gadsby, Dill, Belmont and Ike Livingston. Also helping out has been Grice secretary Judy Keegan, who Tiggett called “my go-to person.
“She got me all the pictures from the library, got all the yearbooks for me. You couldn’t find a better person,” he said.
Keegan felt that Tiggett exaggerated her importance, but as a Grice student in the 1970s she was also affected by Hibbard. Not on the field but in the classroom.
“Not being a strong science student, I quickly realized what a great teacher Mr. Hibbard was,” Keegan said. “He made science fun. I never knew what was out there. I married a ‘science guy’ so that love of science has gone on.”
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That was a huge key to Hibbard’s personality. He was able to make students and players desire to get better and enjoy doing so.
“Coach made you want to be the best player possible,” Dill said. “It felt like an honor and privilege to play for the dynasty he created. Coach was a great man. He left a strong imprint in my mind, both on and off the field with his life lessons on hard work, dedication and loyalty. He made a promise to our team as we left Grice that he would never coach against us at another high school.”
Nor would he move to Hamilton as an assistant, as Tiggett noted he would not want to go from being the main man to serving as an assistant under legendary Hornet coach Bill McEvoy.
He was already aiding the program by providing West a feeder system second-to-none.
“Mr. Hibbard was like that mechanic who tuned you up, so when you got to the next step, you were ready to play,” Tiggett said. “If you had Mr. Hibbard-coached kids, all you had to do was say, “Go out there and play the game.’ Mr. Hibbard sent us to Hamilton to represent him, and we did.”
And 50 years later, they want him represented and remembered in the C Hall where he influenced so many young minds in a positive way.
The original caption from this newspaper clip reads: “Grice Junior High football coach Joe hibbard discusses strategy with his high-scoring offensive backs (left to right) Ken Zegarski, Fred Harris, Rich Ashley, Tim Ashton and Jay Dempster. They helped Grice to an 8-0 season this year and its sixth Junior High School Crown.”,
