By MIKE SAKAL, Morning Journal Writer
Raymond G. Verba of Avon Lake, a legendary former high school boys basketball coach and schoolteacher, has died. He was known for motivating his players, keeping his teams competitive against all odds and pushing his players to do well in their academics. Verba, who won 303 basketball games during a 26-year coaching career that included Midview and South Amherst high schools, died of kidney cancer at his home in Avon Lake on Saturday. He was 69. Verba won his 300th game while at Midview during the 1996-97 season, and he was inducted into the Lorain County Boys Basketball Association Hall of Fame in 1999, according to information from his family.
The diagnosis of kidney cancer came two days before Christmas, while he was living in Orlando, Fla., but he moved back to Lorain County in January to be closer to his family, according to his daughter, Julie Short of Avon. Verba, who had worked part-time at a golf course and as an usher at a movie theater while living in Orlando after his 1998 retirement, was receiving treatments for his illness at the Cleveland Clinic since he and his wife, Eileen, moved back to Ohio, Short said yesterday. ''He was my dad,'' an emotional Short said. ''What else can I say? One of the greatest things about him was that he was such a good motivator of his players and he did so much for the game. He always told his players how important it was to do well in school and to be good people. ''Every metaphor you hear of a coach is my dad,'' Short added. ''He did a lot to advance his players' skills and their dedication to sports. He was such a true coach, and he instilled a lot of good values in his players.''
One of those people was Anthony Stacey of the Midview Middies, just one of Verba's top players who graduated from Midview in 1995 before going on to play basketball at Bowling Green State University. Stacey is now playing in the European League, said Jeff Short, Verba's son-in-law.
Jeff, who met his wife, Julie, while working one of Verba's basketball camps, still marveled at how his father-in-law kept his teams ''in the ballgame'' even though some teams they faced might have had more talent. ''His teams were always competitive,'' said Jeff Short, who is a teacher at Parkside Intermediate School in Westlake and the head baseball coach at Westlake High School. ''His teams always found a way to stay in the game, or even come from behind and win.'' It was known in coaching circles that Verba was not in good health, and his death leaves a hole in high school basketball, a former adversary said late yesterday when he learned of Verba's death.
''It's a sad day for Greater Cleveland basketball,'' said Westlake coach and teacher Art Daniels, who coached basketball for Elyria High School from 1986 to 1993, during a time when Verba coached at Midview. ''He was a great ambassador and gentleman of the game,'' Daniels said. ''He was a great competitor, but he never took things to extremes. He never tried to run up the score on other teams when they were losing bad, and he was very compassionate about people.''
Verba earned his bachelor's degree in education from Kent State University and later earned a master's degree in education from Ashland University, according to information from his family. A 1954 graduate of Cathedral Latin High School in Cleveland, Verba began his teaching and coaching career at the former Our Lady of Lourdes High School in Cleveland in 1959, where he taught history and physical education until 1967. After leaving Our Lady of Lourdes, Verba taught and coached at Padua Franciscan High School in Parma from 1967 to 1982, but not all basketball. At Padua, he guided the Bruins to their first district championship in basketball in school history, and in 1970, he was named Cuyahoga County Coach of the Year. Verba took time off from teaching and coaching in the early 1980s when he opened MVP Sporting Goods in Strongsville, a business that later was moved to Brunswick. During the early 1980s, Verba also was the editor, writer and advertising manager for Buckeye Basketball Magazine. However, Verba decided to return to coaching in 1982 and took a job at South Amherst High School, where he led the team to a regional playoff berth in 1986 soon before the school closed.
Verba was founder of the Coliseum Classic in 1974 and the Cleveland Cage Classic in 1975. In 1976, he founded and directed the first basketball camp for boys and girls, the All-American Top 30 Basketball Camp, a camp that featured many of the state's top players. He also served as coach for the Lorain County Boys Basketball All-Star Game, the Gene Legeza All-Star Classic in 1993, '94 and '95, Julie Short said. In 1982, Verba was awarded the Golden Deeds Award, the highest honor in coaching from the Greater Cleveland Basketball Coaches Association. His other awards include Coach of the Year from the Ohio Basketball Coaches Association in 1970; and Coach of the Year, Northern Ohio Golf Coaches Association, in 1967 and '68. After leaving South Amherst, he accepted a coaching and teaching job at Midview, where he retired in 1998. ''He just couldn't stay away from coaching basketball,'' Julie Short said.
