A well-deserved honor: Ron Cohen may have retired from Washington in February as a football coach and physical education teacher, but this mural ensures that he will always have a presence inside Washington High School. ED MORRONE / TIMES PHOTO
In order to keep the surprise intact, Gene Jones did something he never had done to Ron Cohen before.
He lied.
In the end, the lie was worth the pangs of guilt.
Last Friday, Jones, the principal of George Washington High School, surprised Cohen — the school’s longtime football coach, who retired in February after 30 seasons on the sideline — with a painted mural covering an entire wall in the hallway right outside the main office. For his part, Cohen thought he was showing up to meet with Jones about fundraising efforts.
When he walked into Jones’ office, he was greeted by his wife, Mimi, the couple’s two children, Jamie and Elyssa, and two grandchildren, Matthew and Mia. Also in attendance was Cohen’s sister, Rebecca, her husband, Mike, and Cohen’s grand-nephew, Jaxon; non-family members included state Rep. Kevin Boyle, some Washington faculty members and Vlad Basarab, the recently-graduated Washington senior who painted the entire mural on his own.
Basarab, who will attend the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, began work on the mural back in March when Jones got the idea, wanting to give Cohen something more special, memorable and personal than another plaque, which the old coach has dozens of at this juncture.
“I thought, what better way to honor him for who he was while he was here and who he is,” Jones said. “Ron is so humble, that he probably would have told me, ‘Gene, don’t do it.’ I contacted Vlad and asked him if he could do it, and he said that he could. Personally for me, it means a lot, because Coach means so much to all of us here at George Washington.”
Jones has been the Washington principal for two years after spending more than 30 years as an educator in Virginia. He didn’t know anybody here in Philadelphia, and one of the first people to reach out to Jones, take him out to lunch and just talk to him on a human level was Cohen.
“I’m an ex-coach myself, so the two of us just connected immediately,” Jones said. “Coach is so genuine, so it was just the neatest thing for me. He knew that I was by myself and that I could use someone to hang out with, and he just said, ‘Let’s go.’ That’s why I felt so guilty lying to the man to get him here. I never lied to him before, because I just have that much respect and admiration for Ron Cohen.”
Cohen stepped down in February from Washington as the school’s football coach, as well as a health and physical education teacher in the district for nearly 50 years. He won 261 games at Washington — second most for a high school football coach in area history — and 12 Public League championships, the last of which came in 2011. He helped four Washington grads reach the NFL, including current professional players Sharrif Floyd (Minnesota Vikings) and Jameel McClain (New York Giants).
Cohen has been spending retirement so far the same way those who had such a long and storied career are supposed to: spending time with his growing family (Elyssa has another baby on the way, due next month) and traveling. He’s already taken a cruise to Disney with his family, and spent some time driving through Georgia, Tennessee and North Carolina. He’s got trips to the Jersey Shore and Hawaii planned between now and September, and has accepted nearly every friend’s invitation possible to have lunch or play racquetball in an attempt to make up for all the lost time he spent on the football field the last four decades. At 71, Cohen’s still in good health, and wants to take full advantage of that while he still can.
“Usually, I have a lot to say, but I’m speechless,” Cohen said when he first saw the mural. “I spent more time here at Washington than I did with my family all those years, so it’s truly amazing that it will be here forever. It’s just wonderful. It’s unreal.”
His wife concurred.
“I found out a couple of months ago that they were planning it, but I didn’t see it myself for the first time until two days prior to this one,” Mimi Cohen said. “Oh my goodness, it’s just gorgeous. It’s beautiful. I’m very proud, and Ron deserves it, and this kid Vlad did an unbelievable job. It’s just a fantastic tribute.”
When summer football practice begins in August, the Washington Eagles will look a lot different without Cohen roaming the sidelines. He kept a cluttered office inside the school, but really, the sidelines of Mickey Young Stadium were Cohen’s real workplace. It’s where he taught thousands of kids, many of them disadvantaged youths from troubled backgrounds, the game of football, instructing them to use the sport and education as an outlet for their future. For every Floyd and McClain who reached the pinnacle of success in the NFL, there were hundreds of others whom Cohen helped get into a Division III school to play football or find a career by going to college, something many of them had never dreamed of.
Now, teachers, current students and alumni can stop by every day to say hello to Cohen at Washington; he may no longer be working or coaching there, but the mural ensures that he will always have a presence inside Washington.
“In my mind, it was always worth it, but the greatest feeling is that other people appreciated what I tried to do,” he said. “It wasn’t all me. Maybe I was the catalyst, but all these people around me helped along the way by donating money or just volunteering their time. It’s a dream, and I truly lived a dream. I never worked. I don’t know how many people can say that, but I never felt like I was going to work every day. I never regretted it.”
And neither did the plethora of people whom Cohen impacted along the way.
“As long as this school stands, he’ll be here,” Jones said. “What better way to pay tribute? He’s got enough plaques, so it’s my honor. It’s my way of saying thanks … it’s our way of saying thanks.” ••
