Don Gregg, the most successful boys soccer coach in Anne Arundel County history, died Tuesday in Tallahassee, Florida, following a brief illness. The longtime Pasadena resident was 80 years old.
Gregg set the standard among high school boys soccer coaches in this county by compiling a career record of 316-110-16 (.744 winning percentage) in three decades at Severna Park. He coached the Falcons from 1974 through 2003, leading them to 12 county championships, 13 region crowns and two state titles.
“I never anticipated the program would achieve such great success when I first took over,” Gregg told The Capital prior to his induction into the Anne Arundel County Sports Hall of Fame in October 2013. “I was fortunate to have a lot of great players come through and we were able to develop a winning culture that sort of fed itself.”
Soccer was one of three sports that Gregg starred in at Glen Burnie. After graduating in 1961, he went to Penn State on a track and field scholarship. There, he set the school record in the 220-yard dash.
After graduating from Penn State, Gregg enlisted in the Air Force and was stationed at Tyndall Air Force Base in Panama City, Florida, which is where he met the love of his life. Gregg and the former Barbara Mitchell were married on August 16, 1967 and shortly thereafter moved to Maryland as Gregg pursued a master’s degree from Morgan State.
Gregg was hired at Severna Park as a physical education instructor and assigned to coach soccer and track and field. He led the Severna Park girls team to an outdoor state championship in 1978.
However, Gregg chose to focus on soccer and attended dozens of coaching clinics to become more knowledgeable. Severna Park captured its first state championship in 1983 with a team led by the likes of Rob Eckels, Chris Delpi, Rodney Long, Brad Murray, Scott Steele and Ed Wojchiechowski.
“That team had tremendous chemistry and all the parts worked extremely well as a whole,” Gregg said of a squad that compiled a 14-0-2 record.
Severna Park did not suffer a single losing season from 1976 through Gregg’s retirement in 2003. Along the way, Gregg espoused three foundations for success — fitness, techniques and tactics — while emphasizing the importance of restarts and set plays.
Gregg is the only boys soccer coach in the Anne Arundel County Sports Hall of Fame and received the Terry Colaw Award for career accomplishments from the Maryland Association of Soccer Coaches. He was named United States Coach of the Year by the National Federation of State High Schools Association in 2002 and was presented with Bob Pascal Award for exemplary service by the Anne Arundel County Coaches’ Association.
Severna Park garnered its second state championship in 2001 as a club anchored by J.P. Murphy, Sheehan Murphy, Kevin Camponeschi, Simon Groseclose, Scott McGuire, Greg Fenton and Blake Best beat Dulaney, 1-0, in the Class 4A final.
“I never once saw Don raise his voice or yell at a player,” said Sam Tanner, who served as an assistant under Gregg in the late 1970s and early 80s. “Don knew the game and was very dedicated to building the Severna Park program. He had a low-key demeanor, didn’t display his emotions and wasn’t a rah-rah type of coach.”
Gregg estimates he coached more than 600 players while at Severna Park with many great ones included. Ray Leone was among the most skilled, starring at UNC-Charlotte then going on to a successful career as a collegiate coach. Warren Westcoat was an outstanding goalkeeper who enjoyed a lengthy professional career with Kansas City of the Major Indoor Soccer League.
“I always looked at it like the coach was the hub of the wheel and the players were the spokes,” Gregg said. “Truthfully, the success of Severna Park boys soccer is a credit to all the players. I was just there to provide organization and direction.”
Leone first met Gregg as a ninth grader when he came to scout the Severn River Junior High team for talent. Leone would become a three-year starter for the Falcons including staring on the first Falcons team to reach the state finals in 1979.
“Coach Gregg was gruff, he was tough, he was sometimes bitingly sarcastic, but he loved every one of us,” Leone said. “We were a circus of a team and Coach Gregg was the ringleader. Every member of that team was an absolute character and I think we drove Don nuts. Looking back, I realized that one of Don’s greatest strengths as a coach was that he understood athletes and knew how to manage personalities.”
Many mentioned the same element of Gregg’s coaching approach: He treated every single player on the roster equally and fairly.
“Don didn’t care if you were a sophom*ore or senior, starter or reserve. Every player was coached in exactly the same manner,” Leone said. “If anything, Don was a bit harder on the better players.”
Leone spent 38 years as a Division I college coach at schools such as Arizona State, Clemson, Creighton, Harvard and Maryland. He compiled 309 career wins along with 24 winning seasons and always sought advice from Gregg at every stop along the way.
“It became a lifetime relationship and Don was always encouraging of my coaching career,” Leone said. “I remember when I was at Arizona State we played at Florida State and Don drove over to watch the game and give me some advice afterward. It meant the world that my high school coach came to watch me coach.”
Tradition of excellence
Gregg readily acknowledged benefiting from the strong Severna Park Green Hornets recreation soccer program, which was led by Dr. Gali Sanchez and Dr. Richard Cheskis, among others. “I’m very thankful for having a great feeder system that consistently provided well-trained players,” he said.
Soccer was so big in the neighborhood and the desire to be part of such a successful high school program routinely resulted in Severna Park drawing as many as 90 players for tryouts. Tanner recalls a couple seasons when Gregg was forced to cut players that had made varsity the previous season.
“Don was a good man and an outstanding soccer coach. He laid the groundwork for a very successful boys soccer program and did a tremendous job of maintaining a very high standard for a long time,” former Severna Park High athletic director Andy Borland said.
Dick Keck was another longtime physical education teacher at Severna Park High and shared an office with Gregg for 21 years. Keck described his friend as “one of a kind” and fondly remembers their daily conversations while eating lunch in the office.
“We talked about a lot of things over the years, some trivial and some quite serious,” Keck said. “We didn’t always agree, but we had a strong friendship based on mutual respect.”
Keck remembers Gregg being somewhat depressed after suffering a major heart attack at the age of 41. Gregg would suggest that he should have died, while Keck would counter that he’d been giving a second chance at life.
Gregg lived in the Chelsea Beach community of Pasadena throughout his tenure at Severna Park High. He and Barbara moved to Crawfordville, Florida, in December 2003. Gregg played a lot of golf and got back into coaching as an assistant at Wakulla High. He also enjoyed woodworking and rooting for Penn State football.
Gregg was recently hospitalized for an intestinal blockage and subsequent abdominal surgery revealed cancer. However, the cause of death was heart failure. Leone called his former coach last week without realizing how dire the situation was.
Gregg answered the phone without saying hello, which was typical of him. “All I can tell you is that you have to score more goals than the other team,” deadpanned Gregg, who was accustomed to Leone calling for coaching advice.
In addition to his wife of nearly 57 years, Gregg is survived by his daughter, Leslie Christine Gregg-Barker (John) of Pelham, North Carolina, and son, Bryan Donald Gregg of Pasadena. He is also survived by three grandchildren — Madison, Aidan and Bayly — and brother Duncan Michael Gregg of Brainerd, Minnesota.
Gregg was predeceased by his parents, beloved grandson Zachary Boyd Gregg and sister-in-law Brenda Mitchell Nolte.
A memorial service will be held at 3 p.m. Saturday, March 16 at Crawfordville United Methodist Church. Gregg would want as many people as possible to remember and live by his favorite verse: And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love (1 Corinthians 13:13).
