A major loss for the P'burg sports community

http://blogs.mcall.com/groller/ FROM KEITH GROLLER I was saddened to learn on Wednesday of the passing of former Phillipsburg High football coach Phil Rohm. He was 72. When I think of P'burg, I think of three people -- Bob Stem, Tom Fisher and Rohm. But Rohm was very different than the very fiery Stem and Fisher. Rohm was Mr. Mellow, by comparison, and yet very dedicated and committed to his school and program. He coached the Stateliners from 1982 to 1986 and then again from 1998 to 2004. I got to cover his teams a lot in the 1980s when they were members of the East Penn Conference and I can honestly say I never had a bad experience with Rohn. Win or lose, I found him to be a guy who exuded class and represented his school well. Frankly, I didn't get to know him well. Coaches tend to keep a guarded distance from media members and we never covered P'burg as extensively as we did the Allens, Dieruffs, Parklands, Whitehalls and Northamptons. But it is ironic that I really got to see what Rohm was all about when I stood in a long line with him entering Al Senavitis' memorial services at DeSales in November of 2010. I mean it was a long line and it took us more than an hour to get into the large room where the memorial service was held. Rohm and Senavitis taught together at P'burg and Phil told me some great stories about Al as we inched along through the line. It really helped to pass the time. Rohm talked about P'burg and we talked a lot about Lehigh Valley football and how we both wished the Stateliners were still playing more teams besides Easton on this side of the Delaware River. I told him how much respect I've always had for Stateliner football and he told me how much he respected the Lehigh Valley. He also asked me about The Morning Call and our coverage and it was just a nice conversation. I got to see a warmth and congenial side of Rohm that you never to get see when guys are coaching and when we parted company that day I was thinking: "Man, I wish that guy was still coaching around here." So, you can imagine my sadness when I heard the news. 72 is still way too young to go. I am sure he will be missed in the P'burg community, because as a teacher, coach, and family man, he was nothing but class. He was inducted into the Easton-Phillipsburg Hall of Fame at the Thanksgiving game in 2009. More than that, he was a Hall of Fame person.