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Young and full of talent, Floasin led 1951 team to the state football title
By Bill Lilley
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Sunday, Sep 07, 2008
NORTON: Isabelle Witner knows she's been blessed with a wonderful life.
That's the outlook that 82-year-old great-grandmothers with four healthy children living lives of their own around the country are eager to possess.
But there was one thing that gently gnawed on Witner over the past half-century.
It wasn't about her, mind you. It was about her first husband, former Copley High School football coach Eli Floasin, who died 561/2 years ago.
Then Witner got a call last month. It was a call she never dared to dream she would get.
In fact, Witner couldn't have dreamed of it because the source — the Copley Sports Hall of Fame — didn't exist until this summer.
Rollie Osborn, the starting quarterback on Floasin's undefeated and final team in 1951, informed Witner that Floasin was one of the 14 charter members of the hall of fame.
''I had just about given up, figuring that he was a forgotten man in time,'' Witner said. ''And I had accepted that.
''But that would have been too bad, because he probably was the most dynamic coach in Copley's history. He was truly an incredible man.''
Indeed, incredible is the best word to describe Floasin — a Garfield High graduate and first cousin of Garfield coaching legend Babe Flossie — as a man and coach.
Although he was only 32 when he died on Feb. 10, 1952, Floasin had built a program from the ground up at Copley.
He had amassed a record of 60-12-6 and won five Summit County League championships in eight seasons. Seven of the 12 losses were incurred in 1944, when Floasin was a 24-year-old first-time head coach, two years removed from his playing career as a lineman at Ohio University.
His most recent squad, which boasted a powerful backfield of Osborn, Ben Kimbrough and brothers Art and Kenny Bailey, had been his best. The 1951 Indians ran roughshod through opponents in a nine-game schedule, outscoring their foes 433-51 and capturing the mythical Ohio Class B state championship.
Floasin was named Summit County Coach of the Year by the Touchdown Club.
''It was an amazing season under an amazing coach,'' said Osborn. ''The most incredible thing, though, wasn't the record — it was the fact that 47 out of 112 boys in grades nine through 12 at Copley played on the football team.
''A lot of people were noticing the great things he was doing at little Copley.''
Especially attentive were officials from the athletic department at the University of Akron. The Zips were looking for a head coach to turn their football program around.
Floasin, despite his relatively young age, was on UA's short list. And he was excited.
''It was the greatest time of our life,'' Witner said. ''Eli was also the head basketball coach at the time and was the head track coach in the spring, but everything he did was focused on football.
''We were very excited about an opportunity for him to coach college football, which was a dream. He had talked to people at Akron and was hoping to be offered the job.
''And I was nine months' pregnant with our second child. Life couldn't have better.''
Life, however, quickly took a 180-degree turn after a victory over Hudson on the first Friday night of high school basketball in February.
''Eli came home with flulike symptoms after the game,'' Witner said. ''By Saturday night, he couldn't get out of bed and stand up.
''I had to pick him up, which wasn't easy because he was a big guy — 6 foot, 225 pounds.''
Floasin was forced to stay in bed at home until Tuesday, when a bed opened at Peoples Hospital (now Akron General Medical Center).
''The doctors said his immune system was down, probably because he worked so hard at everything he did, and they said he had a virus infection in his spine along with brain fever,'' Witner said.
''They also said he was paralyzed from the neck down.''
Two days later, Witner was admitted to Peoples Hospital to deliver their daughter.
The baby was born at 10:20 a.m. Feb. 9.
Floasin died at 9:30 a.m. Feb. 10.
He never saw his daughter.
''His sister told him we had a girl, and Eli told her to tell me he'd like us to name her Nancy,'' Witner said.
Witner said it probably was a blessing that Floasin didn't come through the ordeal, what with the prognosis of being paralyzed.
Floasin's funeral shut down Copley for the day, drawing more than 1,000 people to calling hours and the service.
Witner, however, didn't have much time to recover — she had a 19-month-old son and newborn who depended solely on her.
''A lot of dreams died that cold February day,'' said Witner, who became a kindergarten teacher in Copley. ''But we all moved on in life.''
Witner married pharmacist Jack Witner, and they've lived in Norton for 55 years. Witner adopted both of Eli's children.
Nancy Floasin Witner Wendt is 56 and teaches at Diablo College in Danville, Calif.
The Floasins' son, John Floasin Witner, is 57 and a geologist based in Billings, Mont.
The Witners also had two sons, Lee and Thomas.
Bill Lilley can be reached at 330-996-3811 or blilley@thebeaconjournal.com.
NORTON: Isabelle Witner knows she's been blessed with a wonderful life.
Get the full article here.
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