A beloved coach, mentor, teacher, friend, Robert Burgess had his albatross: he was raised by his mother along with his four sisters after his father died; his teachers told him he would not make anything of himself; he worked during the Depression before deciding he wanted to be a coach. In college when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, he eventually served in the Pacific Theatre with the Navy. He married his college sweetheart and started his coaching career at a tiny high school in northern Vermont.
Robert Burgess moved to Walla Walla, Washington and joined Whitman College as basketball and tennis coach (and jack of all trades) when the school's athletic program was on the brink of being shut down. He and a few other coaches resurrected the dignity of athletics at a liberal arts school, leading successful basketball teams and tennis teams in the Pacific Northwest Division III schools. Coach Burgess became Director of Athletics, helped design the college's then state-of-the art Sherwood Center and lobbied strongly for the integration of athletics and a liberal arts education.
Bob Burgess and his wife, Eleanor, raised five children to whom the Whitman College campus was like a second home. The coach was humble and inspiring, teaching the true spirit of athletics and sportsmanship to hundreds of young scholar-athletes. He was revered for his summer tennis programs, always free, for the community (kids and adults alike), almost as much for his teaching of life's lessons as his ability to take even the most awkward child and teach her to hold a tennis racquet.
This book is a compilation of my memories of my father, stories from his family, colleagues, students, Navy shipmates and friends, as I strived to learn how one young man made his way to becoming a highly-respected and loved coach and mentor.
Robert Burgess moved to Walla Walla, Washington and joined Whitman College as basketball and tennis coach (and jack of all trades) when the school's athletic program was on the brink of being shut down. He and a few other coaches resurrected the dignity of athletics at a liberal arts school, leading successful basketball teams and tennis teams in the Pacific Northwest Division III schools. Coach Burgess became Director of Athletics, helped design the college's then state-of-the art Sherwood Center and lobbied strongly for the integration of athletics and a liberal arts education.
Bob Burgess and his wife, Eleanor, raised five children to whom the Whitman College campus was like a second home. The coach was humble and inspiring, teaching the true spirit of athletics and sportsmanship to hundreds of young scholar-athletes. He was revered for his summer tennis programs, always free, for the community (kids and adults alike), almost as much for his teaching of life's lessons as his ability to take even the most awkward child and teach her to hold a tennis racquet.
This book is a compilation of my memories of my father, stories from his family, colleagues, students, Navy shipmates and friends, as I strived to learn how one young man made his way to becoming a highly-respected and loved coach and mentor.
