Lifetime award, trip of a lifetime

The Patriots have won a total of 420 games, under 12 head coaches, since that season.

Needham’s soccer teams have been victorious 625 times in Brock’s 44 seasons at the helm (he left in 1962 to teach in Newton, was back the next year, and coached junior varsity until he was back on the varsity sideline in 1967). He has had five undefeated squads, two state titles (1968 and 1995), three Eastern Massachusetts championships, and a slew of individual accolades. He was National Secondary Coach of the Year when his unbeaten 1977 squad didn’t allow a goal in 18 contests.

Though he is a fan of the Patriots, and especially admires the coaching of Bill Belichick, Brock has never attended a game. He figured that was going to change with Super Bowl XLV. The Patriots were riding high early last month when he received a lifetime coach of the year award from Middlesex Savings Bank, with a five-day trip to Dallas and tonight’s Super Bowl the grand prize. But then the New York Jets put a quick end to the Patriots’ postseason, and Brock’s dream game.

Still, it’s the Super Bowl, and so Brock and one of his former assistant coaches at Needham, Arnie Almquist, headed to Texas with a contingent from CBS Radio in Boston, which reviewed a dozen essays nominating area high school coaches who had lasting influence on their athletes. The bank also made a donation to the Needham Soccer Club’s campaign for a new scoreboard at Brock Field.

Reflecting on New England’s fall, and the absence of a rooting interest in tonight’s game, the 74-year-old Brock said, “Being a coach, I’ve been in situations like that. You sometimes have the better team and don’t win the ball game.

“So that changes the experience for us. But it’s going to be a real eye-opener. We’ll be seeing something that’s a very important part of America. We’re just going to go and enjoy the moment.’’

Other finalists for the coaching honor included Franklin High wrestling coach Carmine Colace; Judy Katalina, volleyball coach at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High; Holliston football coach Todd Kiley; and Bob Torasian, field hockey and softball coach at Ashland. Former players who submitted nominations invariably focused less on winning records and more on life lessons, such as the value of hard work, the importance of team play, taking personal responsibility, and overcoming defeat.

Carl Tarabelli, a midfielder on the unscored-upon 1977 team and now the varsity girls’ soccer coach at Needham High, said Brock has the ability to relate to students, to empower them, to teach them to be responsible.

“He knows X’s and O’s and systems of play, but any coach can do that. But how do you get the most out of your kids, year in and year out? He molds character. He looks you in the eye and lets you know that as a student-athlete at Needham High, you represent the soccer program and the community. You have to take that responsibility, and he holds you accountable,’’ he said.

Todd White, who went on to play collegiate soccer for Columbia, called Brock “the best coach I ever had at recognizing what you do well and putting you in a position to do it. Sometimes coaches complicate things and make it too hard on players. Don’s tactics were simple and subtle. He’d say, ‘This is what you do well. Keep doing it, and we’ll get other people to feed off it.’ ’’

Brock was captain of the soccer, tennis, and basketball teams at Duxbury High. He did his student teaching at Needham, taught and coached for a year there, then spent a year in the Newton system before returning to Needham for good. Early in his career he turned down an offer to work for IBM. He left the classroom five years ago but is still the soccer coach.

In addition to directing the junior varsity squad for 20 years, Almquist would leave the practice fields with Brock and hustle to one of the satellite campuses for Northeastern University. There, the two taught evening classes in algebra and calculus to engineering students.

“Don has an uncanny sense for reading other teams,’’ said Almquist. “In five minutes, he can sense the weaknesses of the opponent and figure a way to attack it. As a classroom teacher he was the same way. He’d see a problem, present it to the kids, and show three or four different ways to solve it.’’

Brock said, “I love teaching math. I love coaching. If you’re a subject teacher, you’ve got to know your subject if you’re going to get it across to the kids. If you don’t, you’ll do more harm than good. Sports is no different.’’

He said he has used almost every soccer formation and style over the years, depending on the talent. He stresses conditioning and fundamentals. “You want to have the good athletes, but they’ve also got to have the right attitude about playing on a team. That’s especially important in soccer,’’ said Brock.

“It’s so much fun watching young people develop. There’s nothing better than being out there on the practice field, in the afternoon, with a bunch of kids.’’

Thomas Burke can be reached at tomburke99@aol.com.