Jerry Hicks, Hobart's offensive coordinator from 1975 to 1989, is among the first wave of Brickies players and coaches to be inducted into the Hobart football Hall of Fame on Friday night at the Ambassador Banquet Hall.
"I was surprised," he said of his induction. "I couldn't believe it. I thought maybe in 10 or 12 years I might get nominated. This is something I never expected."
Hicks, a 1955 Gary Edison graduate, was part of a three-headed monster that helped make Hobart into a football powerhouse for more than 20 years.
The Brickies made it to the state championship game five times in Hicks' run as offensive coordinator before they won state titles in 1987 and 1989.
The two guys that got most of the credit publicly -- and deservedly so -- were head coach Don Howell and defensive coordinator Tom Kerr, also among the inaugural Hall of Fame class.
Hicks called Howell the "best offensive and defensive line coach in the state of Indiana."
Kerr, meanwhile, was a defensive wizard with a knack for outscheming opponents.
Hicks was the guy who drove the Brickies' offensive machine.
He was also the guy who was instrumental in changing Hobart's style from straight ahead three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust football to a more diversified attack.
Before Hicks came along, Hobart ran basically a Power I offense. Over time, the Brickies turned into a team that ran lots of traps and misdirection plays. They also threw the ball if their personnel fit that style.
"He was successful in convincing Coach Howell to open things up a little," said his son, Sam Hicks, who played for Hobart in the 1980s.
After attending Franklin College and playing football, Hicks returned to Gary and coached.
In 1966, Russ Deal asked Hicks to coach seventh grade at Hobart.
The move from Gary to Hobart was a pivotal moment for Hicks, particularly when his wife's jaw dropped after he told her he had to take a $1,500 pay cut.
Hicks was making $9,150 a year in Gary back then. In his mind, he was on his way to easy street.
"I figured if I could make $10,000 a year," he said. "I had it made."
But the chance to move to Hobart and coach was too appetizing for a football guy to pass up.
He slowly worked his way through the system at Hobart, coaching the seventh-, eighth- and ninth-grade teams before he finally moved up to varsity.
Howell had to prod Hicks to make the move to varsity. Hicks never quite believed in himself the way some of his mentors, like Howell, Kerr and Hicks' high school football coach, Bill Brasamele, did.
"Don was one of those people who could see good things in you that you couldn't see in yourself," he said.
Slowly, as Hicks became more comfortable in his role, Howell gave him more freedom to operate.
Hicks started to open up the offense about the time that Michigan coach Bo Schemblecher started to diversify his own offense. Kerr, a Michigan graduate, and Hicks had made regular trips to the Wolverines coaching camps to stay educated.
Hicks said there was friction between he and Howell, a smashmouth guy, over play calling at times.
"When it worked, he praised us," Hicks said. "When it didn't, he gave us hell."
Eventually, the coaching staff at Hobart was so in tune with each other that practices during game weeks usually ran no longer than 90 minutes.
Hicks called his 15 years as a Hobart coach a "wonderful, magical time." He recalled a game against Portage where there were 11,000 people at the Brickie Bowl.
After he retired from coaching, Hicks went into administration, where he was the assistant athletic director for two years and then the AD at Hobart until he retired in 1995.
Contact Mike Hutton at 648-3139 or mhutton@post-trib.com
