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Paul B. Phinney Jr., 82 Mashpee, Falmouth High cross country, track coach WAQUOIT - Paul B. Phinney Jr., 82, died Sept. 30 as a result of a motor vehicle crash on Route 28 in East Falmouth.He was the husband of Nancy L. (Bull) Phinney, who died in 2001.Mr. Phinney was born in Westport and raised in Springfield. He graduated from Springfield Technical High School, where he was the state half-mile champion in 1939, then earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Illinois and a master's degree from the University of Hartford. He won five consecutive Big 10 championships at the University of Illinois and later finished third in the 5,000-meter regional trial for the 1948 Olympic Games.An Army veteran of World War II, he served in the battles of Sicily, Normand the Rhineland. He was awarded the Silver Star, Bronze Star with two Oak Leaf Clusters, Purple Heart and Combat Infantry Badge.Mr. Phinney was a science teacher at Manchester High School from 1955 to 1972 and coached the school's track team for more than two decades. Upon his retirement in 1972, he and his wife moved to Waquoit. He continued as a cross countr track coach at Falmouth and Mashpee high schools, and coached several teams in the Connecticut and Cape Cod areas to state and regional championships over the years.He was an officer and member of VFW and the American Legion and a member of the Elks. He also volunteered with several local organizations, including the Mashpee High School football team. He remained an active runner, recently running the Main Street Mile in Falmouth.Survivors include two sons, Paul B. Phinney III of Blauvelt, N.Y., and Eric L. Phinney of Waterbury, Conn. a daughter, Caryl Mason of Old Saybrook, Conn. six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.Funeral services are at — p.m. Oct. 23 at Chapman, Cole Gleason Funeral Home, 74 Algonquin Ave. at Route 151, Mashpee, preceded by visitation from 11 a.m. to — p.m. at the funeral home.Memorial donations may be made to Disabled American Veterans Falmouth Memorial Chapter 81, P.O. Box 2319, Teaticket, MA 02536-2319 to Coach Phinney Fund for Junior Olympics, NEAAU-Track Field, 301 Daniel Webster Highway, Merrimack, NH 03054 or to BPOE - Coach Phinney Fund, 140 Palmer Ave., Falmouth, MA 02540 Attention• Kathleen Cahoon
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Kathy Lewis (Williams)
Background on Mr. Phinney. Article published the day he died.
STAFF WRITERASHPEE - Paul Phinney proudly wears No. 88 whenever he runs a race.
It adorns the hat that was presented to him by the first cross country team he coached at Mashpee High. He calls it his lucky number. In truth, it's more a measure of his persistence and courage, and a statement of defiance.
At 82, Phinney is still coaching track, still running the occasional race, still working every August as a volunteer for the Falmouth Road Race, still drawing immense satisfaction from teaching youngsters about life.
His contributions to Mashpee High athletics will be recognized at tonight's homecoming football game when he is named honorary captain. When Phinney was first told of the ceremony, he arched his eyebrows and asked athletic director Mike Horne why him.
"Because you've hung in there," Horne said.
It's an accurate description of Phinney's life.
Sixty years ago he was crawling in a field in Normandy, France, as a member of the U.S. Army when the calf muscles in his left leg were blown apart by an 88-caliber shell fired from a German tank, for which he was awarded the Purple Heart.
After three surgeries, countless hours of rehab and a diagnosis from doctors who said his athletic career was over, Phinney was an integral part of a University of Illinois indoor/outdoor track team that won five straight Big 10 championships, and later he was the third-place finisher in the 5,000 meters at a regional trial for the 1948 Olympics.
'The kids just love him'And for the past 52 years he has coached track.
"I like to work with the kids," Phinney said, explaining why he still drives from his home in Waquoit to Mashpee to serve as a volunteer assistant with the cross country team. "I've told them that I won't give them a wrong thing to do. To me, this is the answer to the future. They learn more than the skill of a sport. I teach them a whole range of related things that are very important in life."
He calls the boys his "chipmunks" and the girls his "jellybeans," and his infectious enthusiasm rubs off on everyone.
"Having someone like him around is an unbelievable asset," Mashpee track coach Brian Hyde said. "I'm the luckiest coach in the world. He's always so positive. His message is always. 'Don't quit.' And the kids just love him."
Phinney's journey began at Springfield Technical High School, where he was the state half-mile champion in his senior year of 1939. At Illinois, he ran a 49-second quarter-mile and appeared destined for stardom. But World War II intervened, and he was wearing an Army uniform after completing his freshman year.
The 88 shell ended Phinney's military duty in 1944. Initially, doctors wanted to amputate his leg, but he talked them out of it. Ever since, Phinney has requested No. 88 each time he enters a race.
"It's my lucky number because the Germans didn't get me," he said.
But his return to the track was hardly encouraging. While convalescing at an England hospital, he decided to test his leg by jogging an easy 150 yards. The next morning, he couldn't walk.
"Things weren't hitched up right," he said. "So they sent me home."
Phinney still becomes emotional when recalling his arrival in New York Harbor. "You never saw such a bunch of grizzled guys, all with tears in their eyes. It was something to come back and see the Statue of Liberty."
Determined to return to the Illinois track team after the war, he took a job in a surplus factory handling steel, looking to rebuild his strength. He also drew inspiration from legendary miler Glenn Cunningham, who was told he would never walk again after suffering severe leg burns in a gasoline explosion at age 8. Cunningham went on to become the world's fastest miler and competed in the 1932 and 1936 Olympics.
"Cunningham was my idol," Phinney said. "I thought if he could do it, well, maybe I could, too."
He excelled in track at Illinois while earning his bachelor's degree in education, and in 1951 he received a master's degree in education and physical education. His teaching and coaching career began the next year at Manchester (Conn.) High.
Over the next 20 years, Phinney's track and cross country teams captured 12 league titles, three state crowns and one New England championship.
He retired to the Cape in 1972, but couldn't quit coaching.
"I was sitting around listening to my arteries hardening, so one day I went to the track," he said.
'He's had tremendous impact on the success of our program'The Falmouth High boys team was training and Phinney commented on a runner's form. Falmouth coach Bruce Mogardo asked if Phinney knew something about track.
"A little," he said.
Mogardo said he needed an assistant, and Phinney took the job. Not long after, the Clippers won the Class B title.
Phinney remained at Falmouth until the mid-1980s when he retired for a second time. But before long he was coaching at Bourne High and the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, and when Mashpee High opened in 1997 and needed a coach for winter track, Phinney came on board.
"I guess I can't hold a job," he says, jokingly.
Four years ago, he became a volunteer assistant under Hyde. He admits he's mellowed, but he takes his role as seriously as ever.
"I used to be more demanding. I'm softening with age," Phinney said. "But I still know what they should do and I urge them to do it, although maybe with more gentle words."
Says Hyde: "He always has little tips that help. He picks something up about the course, about hitting corners or charging up hills. He's had tremendous impact on the success of our program."
Phinney's impact has been felt in other ways. Each Memorial Day, he wears his military uniform and speaks to students about his war experiences, providing inspiration and perspective on what he endured at age 21.
"He's a grandfather figure to all the kids, and a father figure to the coaches and teachers at this school," Hyde said.
And Phinney has never stopped running. Included on his r'sum? are 20 Falmouth Road Races. He has also worked for the race as a volunteer for nearly 30 years.
"Anything you want, he'll do," said Rich Sherman, race director. "Even at his age, he's very enthusiastic. He loves the atmosphere."
Phinney competed in last month's Falmouth Main Street Mile, running with his grandson, who is a U.S. Secret Service agent currently guarding Sen. John Kerry. He has three children, four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. His wife, Nancy, died in 2001.
"I never expected to get through D-Day," he says. "But I was determined to make it back as far as I could, and with the love of my family, that carried me through."
(Published: October 1, 2004)
Kathy Lewis (Williams)
2nd article on Mr. Phinney published the day after he died. Thanks to Linda Johnson Bass for the links and information.
By Eric Williams
October 02, 2004
82-year-old Paul Phinney was to be honorary captain at last night's Mashpee homecoming game.
K.C. MYERSMASHPEE - Paul Phinney never got to see the bleachers filled with fans as he was named honorary coach last night at Mashpee High School's homecoming football game.
Paul Phinney"Epitomizes what coaches should be."A tragedy yesterday morning turned what would have been a joyous occasion into a moment of silence.
"Tonight our honorary captain was to be Coach 88, Mr. Paul B. Phinney," public address announcer and fellow Mashpee coach Brian Hyde told the crowd before the game. "Sadly, Coach Phinney was killed in a car accident this morning."
You could feel some of the air go out of the stadium.
Phinney, 82, died shortly after midnight yesterday when his minivan struck a sweeper truck at Fresh Pond Road and Route 28 in East Falmouth. Police said his minivan was enveloped in flames when they arrived.
A profile of Phinney was published yesterday morning in the Cape Cod Times.
Phinney was a "total fixture" at the Mashpee High School track and Falmouth High School before that, said Elizabeth Sherman, a 2001 Falmouth High School graduate and former cross country runner.
Among other volunteer activities, Phinney worked with Hyde, the Mashpee High School cross country coach.
"I told the team this afternoon and they just gasped," said Hyde. "Some of the kids couldn't breathe. Because they loved him so much."
The last day of his life, he met the Mashpee cross country team as it boarded the bus to go to a meet at Hull. He used his customary positive attitude, knowledge of the sport and generosity to encourage them. He brought four bags of apples for the runners.
He talked to the kids: 'You plan your race and race your plan,' he told them.
"It was so cool. He's so inspiring," Hyde said. "We're undefeated and it had nothing to do with me. Coach Phinney has been a total mentor to me."
Phinney didn't let age stop him from running - just three weeks ago everyone cheered 'Here comes Coach Phinney' as he ran the Main Street Mile in Falmouth, said Rich Sherman, who heads up the Falmouth Road Race.
Always there to help and age didn't stop him from helping others.
On Friday nights, Phinney worked the gates at the Mashpee football games, Hyde said. Then, at halftime, he'd drive to Falmouth to help with the gate there. And after that, he'd wash the Falmouth football uniforms.
"He was always doing something for someone," Hyde said.
Most of all, age didn't stop him from being a great coach.
"He epitomizes what coaches should be," Rich Sherman said. "He was just so positive."
Paul Phinney was a track star at Springfield Technical High School, where he was the state half-mile champion in 1939. At the University of Illinois, he won five straight Big 10 championships and later was the third-place finisher in the 5,000 meters at a regional trial for the 1948 Olympics.
He could still run fast, even though in 1944 military doctors considered amputating his left leg after it was hit by shrapnel from an 88mm shell fired from a German tank. He received a Purple Heart.
Ever since, 88 has been his lucky number. Phinney requested it in every race he ran. Sometimes, friends even called him "Coach 88."
It's just like Phinney to turn something horrible into something inspirational.
"He was very positive," Rich Sherman said. "The glass was half full, and you could do it. He exuded the positiveness to the kids especially."
After the war, he devoted his life to teaching and coaching. During two decades as high school track coach in Manchester, Conn., his teams captured 12 league titles, three state crowns and one New England championship.
Staying on track retiring to the Cape in 1972 didn't stop the Waquoit resident from finding the nearest high school track.
Phinney bought the runners extra socks. When Mashpee High couldn't afford buses to send runners to an invitational meet, Phinney offered to pay the $400 bus fee.
"He just loved the kids so much," Hyde said.
That's why Mashpee High's football team was set to honor him last night. Mashpee names an honorary coach each football game. The homecoming game is special.
"I picked that game for Paul to thank him for all he's done," said athletic director Michael Horne. "What can you do for Paul? You cannot do enough."
Instead of the cheers that had been planned, Horne decided there had to be a moment of silence, at the very least.
"It would have been a wonderful night for him," Rich Sherman said. "He didn't get a lot of recognition. He wasn't the head coach. When they won a meet, he didn't get the ink."
Staff writer contributed to this report.
(Published: October 2, 2004)