Ron Lehman receives NFHS Volleyball Coach-of-Year Award

By GARY HENERY

News Man­ag­ing Editor

Big Wal­nut head vol­ley­ball coach Ron Lehman has been selected by the NFHS Coaches Asso­ci­a­tion to receive the 2012 Coach of the Year award in the sport of girls vol­ley­ball in the state of Ohio.

The award is given to coaches who demon­strated excel­lence both on and off the court.

In his 23 sea­sons serv­ing as head coach of the Golden Eagles, Lehman has com­piled a 439–149, record a .747 win­ning per­cent­age. Under his lead­er­ship, Big Wal­nut was a OHSAA State run­nerup in 1991 and 2010 while cap­tur­ing 6 Regional titles, 15 Dis­trict titles and 17 con­fer­ence championships.

“It has been an excit­ing 23 sea­sons at Big Wal­nut,” Lehman said. “But a lot of the credit goes to the great play­ers and assis­tant coaches I have had the oppor­tu­nity to work with over the years … that’s what it takes to get an honor like that.” Lehman, who has a 533–284 (.652) career record, lists the Golden Eagles’ two state run­nerup sea­sons as the high­lights of his career.

“We have had a lot of fun times, but our two state run­nerup fin­ishes rank at the top of my career,” he said. ”And I can’t for­get the play­ers I have had the oppor­tu­nity to coach.

I have been for­tu­nate to have coached a great group of play­ers the past 23 years.”

Big Wal­nut High School Ath­letic Direc­tor Steve Gle­senkamp, Prin­ci­pal Steve Fujii and Golden Eagle girls head track coach Joe Evener offered their con­grat­u­la­tions to Lehman.

“This cer­tainly is a well-deserved honor for coach Lehman.” Gle­senkamp said. “He has always been a first-class act ever since I have known him. He has rep­re­sented the Big Wal­nut vol­ley­ball pro­gram, the school and the com­mu­nity in a very out­stand­ing manner.”

Fujii said Lehman has a great impact on the student-athletes that went through the vol­ley­ball program.

“Con­grat­u­la­tions Ron. Your excel­lence is cer­tainly well-documented and well-deserved. I know that your humil­ity keeps you focused and ori­ented, but I also believe that the lives you impact are reflected in your accom­plish­ments,” Fujii said. “Again, con­grat­u­la­tions on this won­der­ful recognition.”

Evener echoed Fujii’s words. “Con­grat­u­la­tions, Ron! This is a well deserved award,” Evener said. “You have proven your­self over the span of your career to be one of the most respected vol­ley­ball coaches, and coaches in gen­eral, in Cen­tral Ohio and in the state with your impres­sive record. What took them so long? Con­grat­u­la­tions, again!!”

Lehman will be rec­og­nized at Big Walnut’s first home game of the 2013 sea­son on August 29 when the Golden Eagles host OCC Cap­i­tal Divi­sion rival Delaware Hayes. A recep­tion will be held fol­low­ing the game.

Posted by Gary Henery on Feb 12 2013. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.