Just a week before the start of the 2009 high school golf season, Bob Simons sat down with TWI Sports to preview his team.
Wallenpaupack Area’s Hall of Fame mentor has been at the helm for nearly four decades. He is the Dean of Lackawanna League coaches and the winningest golf guru in Pennsylvania history.
In fact, midway through this season, Coach Simons recorded the 500th win of his illustrious scholastic career. He’s the first PA skipper ever to reach that number...as was the case six years ago when he hit 400.
Not So Fast, My Friend
Still, with all of these credentials and the accumulated wisdom of a lifetime on the links, Bob Simons can still be fooled.
“This will definitely be a re-building year for us,” he said in August. “We’re very young and inexperienced. I don’t know if we’ll win more than five or six matches this season.”
Now, if you know Coach Simons, those are the kind of predictions you take with a grain of salt. Paupack has never experienced a losing season in the Bob Simons Era. The numbers just don’t lie.
Over the course of 39 years, Coach Simons has accumulated a mind-boggling 507-173-18 record. That translates into a .726 winning percentage.
Paupack finishing below .500 is unthinkable...and, despite all the gloomy pre-season predictions, the Bucks came through once again.
The local lads closed out an-other winning campaign. Paupack went 10-5-1 this year and qualified for the Lackawanna League play-offs. Although the Bucks were bounced in the opening round, Coach Simons was still pleasantly surprised.
“I guess I was a little bit off with my prediction,” he said with a chuckle. “We had an excellent year. This was really a pleasant surprise. The kids worked hard and improved every week. As a coach, that’s all you can ask.”
One Last Match
Even after all the other local teams were done for the season, Paupack was still out there on the links.
The Bucks traveled to Skyline Golf Course in Carbondale to take on St. Rose Academy in a non-league match. The result was a clean sweep for the Bucks, 6-0, and their 10th win of the fall.
Eric Miller led the charge in this one. Still just a freshman, Miller fired a round of 40, good for medalist honors and a 4&3 win over St. Rose’s Andy Ford.
