Story by Darren Cooper /NorthJersey.com
In Lodi, they didn’t just lose a coach, they lost a member of the family when Robert Terhune died.
“You’d want your son or daughter to have Rob as your coach,” current Lodi softball coach Bill Schroen said. “He related to all the kids so well. Today’s athletes have a lot going on in their lives, and Rob was always able to relate to that kind of stuff.”
“He didn’t win tons of championships,” former Lodi athletic director Pat Tirico said. “But what matters the most is he had the kids, they had him and that’s all they needed.”
After a yearlong battle with a rare form of cancer, Terhune, 58, died in March, leaving the Lodi community grieving the sudden void.
Terhune was Lodi’s longtime softball and boys basketball coach. Schroen, also his brother-in-law, was his assistant with the softball team the past six seasons. Tirico’s first football team at Lodi featured Terhune as a senior.
Remember, it’s all family.
On April 10, the Rams will hold a special pregame ceremony to honor Terhune before their softball game against Becton at Kennedy Park. The ceremony was scheduled for April 3, but was moved a week because of the weather forecast.
Multiple alumni and former players want to speak and remember their beloved mentor. There is already some talk of renaming the softball field for Terhune.
“I would be behind that 100 percent,” Tirico said.
“He really embodied the essence of coaching,” current Lodi athletic director Alyson Gorski said. “He not only helped to build two programs for the last 20 years, but he mentored so many other coaches and students. That’s why so many of his athletes have come back to coach and help.”
According to Schroen, Terhune had hip replacement surgery last June and the procedure was a success, but shortly thereafter he began experiencing pain in his stomach. He was eventually diagnosed with T-cell lymphoma.
Terhune was undergoing treatment and making progress against the disease when he got pneumonia due to a weakened immune system. Complications set in, leading to his sudden passing in March.
Schroen had already planned to be the head coach of the softball program this season with the idea that Terhune would return in 2025. He has had to empathize with the girls who lost their coach.
“I would say the senior girls who were with Rob for four years have taken it pretty hard,” Schroen said. “There has been a lot of crying and a lot of talking and consoling them, and it’s been an adjustment. This is something I have never experienced.”
During the school’s spring pep rally, when each coach talks about their team and expectations for the seniors, Schroen talked about losing Terhune.
“You could hear a pin drop, and I’ve never been able to hear a pin drop in that gym,” Schroen said with a small laugh. “I just had to get through it. It was a really emotional time.”
Terhune was an English teacher in the middle school and his wife works in the high school. Remember, family.
“Rob was so knowledgeable,” Schroen said. “He came up through the system in both sports, starting out with the freshman team and JV team and worked his way up to varsity. Everyone keeps saying he was a good guy, and he was a real good coach. He always worked well with the talent level that he had each year.”
Even when ailing, Tehune stayed in touch with the Lodi sports community. Gorski said she remembers him calling from the hospital to make sure his summer ball coach had lined up umpires for the day’s game.
“He was so much more than a coach,” Gorski said. “He was like a friend and a confidant to the people in the faculty in the middle school and the high school. His legend will live on because all his former players are going to instill those same values in their athletics. He will always be part of our program.”
