[Stardust]

Eighth-grader Markie Duffy, the next great girls’ swimmer in a long line of them at Scott, ponders what school life will be like without her coach, Jerry Mohr, who is retiring Nov. 1 after 27 years of teaching and coaching in the district.

“I haven’t lost many coaches so I’m really going to miss him after he leaves,” said Duffy, the top seed and winner in Thursday’s regional preliminary 200-yard freestyle race at Scott. “It’s not just swimming. He’s in just about everything and he means a lot to our school.”

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Mohr, 50, is in his final season as Scott boys’ and girls’ swimming coach. This is his last Region 4 meet. He presided over his final Eagle Classic, an event that Mohr built into a cornerstone of the annual schedule, in December.

“It’s really sad,” Scott diver and relay swimmer Bridget Fallis said. “I’ve been with him for six years and now he’s going to go.”

Mohr will preside over his last boys’ track team in the spring. Because he needs 70 additional work days following the completion of this school year, he will coach his final Scott boys’ and girls’ cross country teams in the fall.

Sophomore Franny Kaelin, who has participated in cross country, track and swimming for coach Mohr, said the school will be losing an invaluable role model and one of its funniest people when the coach packs up his belongings in the aquatics office and leaves Scott after the first trimester of the 2012-13 school year.

“It’s going to be a shock,” Kaelin said. “It’s not going to be the same without him keeping us loose. When you’re down, he knows how to cheer you up with a joke. I’ll never forget him running with us in his short shorts up to here. It was priceless.”

For more than two decades, Mohr coached six sports teams each year.

“They’ve kept me pretty busy and there’s never been a dull moment,” said Mohr, who’s been the Kenton County Aquatics Director since 2000. “With pool duties, I usually work six days a week.”

He used to coach the girls’ track team. Since he was hired as Scott’s sports everyman in 1984, the Highlands and Eastern Kentucky University graduate has coached over 140 teams at the school.

“He’s irreplaceable. And besides, he can’t leave now. It’ll take him three years to clean out his office,” Scott athletic director Ken Mueller said. “You can’t replace a guy who is that organized in all those sports. He definitely makes my job a lot easier and I can’t imagine life without him.”

Mohr has crowned 42 state champions and sent over 60 athletes to college. His colorfully appointed aquatics office just inside the main entrance to the school has been a sanctuary for many athletes and remains a common touchstone for Scott graduates years after they leave. His athletes like to call themselves “Jerry’s Kids.”

“I have a lot of memories in that office,” Fallis said. “I love to go in there and look at old pictures of swimmers. We’ll always be Jerry’s kids and part of his extended family.”

Mohr said it will be tough to leave behind such an extensive legacy.

“I’ve worked with a lot of great kids and wonderful families. But, at some point, I need to be with my family,” said Mohr, who is married to wife Vanetta and has three grown children and six grandchildren. “My wife will finally be able to take my picture down from the refrigerator because she’ll know what I look like.”

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[Stardust]

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[Stardust]

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[nky]

If you've ever been in Scott's gym you sure see his name up on alot of banners for coach of the year