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Class of 1977
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Karl "Dick" Esleeck
Dick Esleeck holds one of the finest coaching records in the history of the Virginia High School League. Perhaps his greatest achievement before cancer claimed his life in 1952 was coaching state championship football teams at three different high schools. In 1936, he brought Hampton its first Virginia crown in football. Esleeck’s John Marshall teams of 1940 and 1941 won back to back state titles. In 1947, he led Woodrow Wilson High School to its first championship in 20 years.
Most of Esleeck’s 49 years of coaching were devoted to football. A native of Portsmouth, he began a career in athletics at Wilson in the early 1920’s. Esleeck was the star fullback on Wilson’s eastern championship team in 1922. One of the school’s most versatile performers, he played nearly every position on a state championship baseball team and was a varsity basketball player. Esleeck continued his athletic success at Virginia Tech, where, in addition to playing football, he became one of the outstanding middleweight boxers in the south. After graduation from Virginia Tech, Esleeck remained as a head boxing coach and assistant football coach.
In 1933, he left Tech to launch a brilliant high school coaching career. Esleeck never had a losing season in 13 years, becoming the first man to produce state championship teams at three different schools. His two title-winners at John Marshall were undefeated teams, and the Justices held the opposition scoreless in 17 consecutive games. Esleeck left John Marshall with a coaching record of 26 consecutive games without a defeat.
After two years as a bowling center manager in Newport News, Esleeck returned home in 1944 to coach at Wilson. The Presidents immediately became one of the state’s gridiron powers. The 1945 team missed a championship by losing only to eventual winner Granby High School. In 1947, he directed a Wilson team that many regard as the finest in the school’s history. The Presidents won 10 in a row and allowed only one touchdown. At the close of the 1947 season, Esleeck accepted a position as head football coach at the University of Richmond.
(To Sports Inductees List) |
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