NORMAL (WEEK) – Retired Normal Community High School Head Football Coach Dick Tharp has died less than a week after attending a ceremony in which the school renamed its football field in his honor.
The beloved coach and teacher died Tuesday, the Unit 5 School District announced in a social media post.
Tharp was on hand for the field’s renaming, and was reunited with many of his former players who attended the festivities.
Tharp guided the Ironmen from 1968 to 1988, becoming the school’s winningest coach with 158 victories.
He led Normal Community to eight playoff appearances, including a 1974 playoff run in which the Ironmen were runners-up in Class 4A.
Tharp was quoted as saying last Friday’s tribute was one of the “greatest moments of his life.”
Coach Dick Tharp was 90 years old.
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