![]() He helped lay the foundation for what would become a consistent contender. Hutchins’ last head coaching job came at Cheverus, where he directed the nascent girls’ basketball program during the first decade of the 21st Century. One of the last exchanges we had a few days before he passed was about a call made in our (1983) state game, where he said,’ You know, that really wasn’t a foul’ on a call that sent me to the bench.” There would always be six to 10 players from that generation present. We made it a point go get together as a team every year for a cookout all the way through this year. “He was a family member and a coach at the same time. “I can’t say enough about the positive role model he was that for most of us wasn’t realized until our adult years, but thankfully, we did eventually realize it,” Obar said. He loved those kids who didn’t have much.” “He was always a champion of the underdog. “He impacted so many lives,” Andreasen said. He’d say we just jelled as a unit.”īeyond the wins and the state titles, it was Hutchins’ ability to connect with his athletes, boys and girls, and keep that connection long after their time in a Greely uniform ended that makes him remembered so fondly. “That was a special time and a special team,” said Obar, who went on to play at Colby College. Fifty years and five different sports later, I am still trying to make him proud.” Later, in my 20s, he tracked me down to work his soccer clinics. It got me thinking that coaching might be in my future. Surprisingly to me, the players listened. Besides the usual manager duties, he would give me an index card at practice and tell me to take certain players and run them through the drills on the card. “As a freshman, after I didn’t make the cut in soccer, he pulled me aside and said he needed a ‘right-hand’ man, so I became the manager. “I never got to play for him, but he was still a mentor,” Hale said. Rob Hale, a legend in his own right, who has coached the Greely swim program to 13 combined state titles in his more than three decades at the helm, wasn’t talented enough to play soccer or baseball for Hutchins, but he was able to serve as a manager and said that the lessons he learned still guide him today. We wound up beating them because of his influence.” Before the playoff game, he called me at 6 a.m. My first year, we beat Cape in the semifinals (1-0) after they beat us 6-1 and 5-0 during the regular season. I idolized him and still called him Coach. When I took over, ‘Hutch’ coached with me for a few years as freshman coach. Things us old school coaches think are important. Commitment and having kids hold themselves accountable. “The way I coach comes from him more than anyone else. When I was a kid, going to Greely games was an event. We were one of the first fields to have lights. He had bleachers delivered and had us work on them. “They went something like 4-10 the first year and people were so happy they wanted to throw him in the pool in celebration. ![]() ![]() “‘Hutch’ developed the program from nothing,” said Mike Andreasen, Class of 1980, a member of the 1979 championship team and the coach of the Rangers since 1998. He proved girls could play man-to-man defense in basketball too.” He was a real advocate for girls in sports. He’d open the gym and allow the younger kids an opportunity to play with the high school kids. The girls had just started soccer and he took me and others under his wing. I’d ride my bike up and spend the day under his tutelage at the basketball and soccer clinics he coached. I lived three miles from the center of town. “He became a major impact on my life and he did that for anyone he coached. “You hear a lot today about generational athletes, but (Coach Hutchins) was a generational coach,” Obar said. Sue Obar is best known these days as the mother of Brooke Obar (Greely Class of 2020, now playing at Bentley University) and Mollie Obar (Greely Class of 2021, now playing at Brandeis University), who played key roles during the Rangers’ most recent girls’ basketball dynastic run, but more than four decades ago, as Sue Whittum, Obar was influenced by Hutchins’ kindness and his love for all sports, including limited girls’ sports offerings in those days. Hutchins, who passed way last month at the age of 91, has the stadium field at Greely named in his honor, but he also leaves behind a rich legacy of triumph and more importantly, the confidence he instilled and the life lessons he taught generations of athletes. ![]()
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