Memories of Jake Hergert

by Bob New

I was the "manager" (read waterboy) at Vernonia High School from 1943-47. Jake Hergert was coach. Jake had been a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy and came to Vernonia in his uniform to apply for the position of coach and teacher.

We got into the state basketball tournament one year. Solly Hergert came to support his brother Jake.

Jake's favorite song was "Margie." He married Dorothy Voge, who was a teacher at Vernonia High School at same time as Jake. I attended the funeral service for Jake Hergert.

I was at a basketball game in Corbett long after the death of Jake. I saw on the program that one of the referees was named Hergert. I had to go and ask him if he was related. He said — if my memory is correct — Jake was his uncle.

Jake is well remembered (fondly) by those he taught and coached in Vernonia.

When I was in high school it was not mandatory that students continue beyond 8th grade. Between junior and senior years (1946) I was thinking of quitting school. Jake Hergert talked me into continuing on to senior year and I did and graduated. I'll always be grateful to him for that. As I said, we all loved him. He was a good teacher (history was big with him) had a sense of humor, treated all the same, whether they were in sport or not.