“A day I'll never forget...” by Ryan Codrick, LVHS Class of 2001

I don't remember if Brandon Shipley and I were freshmen or not, but we were fairly young members of the Ligonier Valley Golf Team and a little over-confident. We began our round at Ligonier Country Club and not long after, Al pulls up in a golf cart and says something along the lines of, "I'm going to beat you boys today and I'm only going to use a 7-iron!” He proceeded to play the rest of the round, as promised, with his 7-iron. I remember him hitting thin drives off the tee, running balls onto greens, and even turning the club open and hitting sand shots. Needless to say, he won and shot a 42 I believe. 

There were a lot of lessons learned that day. One, be creative. Understand that you can use your clubs to hit all types of shots. A 7-iron leaned forward can be used like a 4-iron just as easily as it can be opened up to hit out of the sand. Using your imagination is key. We also learned how valuable those different types of shots can be when faced with wind and other elements. And most importantly, we learned not to mess with the Chief. He sure gained our respect that day and we never forgot what that guy could do on the golf course with just a 7-iron. I still use this story today when teaching the high school golf team just as he taught me when he was my coach.   A day I'll never forget...

“Some of my favorite memories are much more than memories…they are life lessons, that had a major impact on my life as a young adult, father, and coach.” Tim Cairns, LVHS Class of 1976

Al was “Mr. Ludwig” to me most of my formative years. He was my wrestling coach and shop teacher for 3 years in high school and he became a lifelong friend. He had the ability to read you as an individual and knew what buttons to push to get the most out of you. I’ll always remember and often joke about him being the “One More Time” coach.  

Like it was yesterday, I remember running wind sprints up and down the main hall in the high school at the end of practice on a dark, cold, winter night. You lined up with a partner and the whistle would blow. You would then sprint down the hall and back again with all you had. After running a number of these, he would say, “ok, one more time and we’ll be done.” You didn’t think you had much left, but down and back you would go with all you had. You’re done right, NO, he would look at his watch and say, “ok, one more time.” Then off we would go down and back again. The invaluable lesson was that when you thought you had absolutely nothing left in the tank, there was more in there for another all-out sprint down and back again. What I also learned was, when he said “one more time” he was lying. 

While in the midst of raising 3 boys, 2 years apart with something scheduled almost every night of the week, Al told me it would go by in an instant and to do whatever it takes to spend as much time as possible with them. I took his priceless advice to heart, and did exactly that, with zero regrets.

I had the pleasure of coaching Junior Olympic Wrestling with Keith Daugherty in the mid to late 1980’s. We had great success and also had a lot of fun coaching a sport that we loved. Keith was a wonderful coaching partner.

 Since we spent a lot of time together, we were able to talk about many things including the coaches that influenced us the most. Keith made a comment about Mr. Ludwig that really captured how I felt about him. He said “Coach Ludwig made me feel special whenever I was around him. But when I talk with other wrestlers, they say the same thing. He made us each feel special.”

 It made me realize how unique Mr. Ludwig’s talent was. He coached me in basketball in 9th grade. He coached Keith in wrestling. He coached others in golf and track. It didn’t matter which sport it was, nor how much experience and technical expertise he had in the sport, or whether it was 1969 or 2001. He impacted each of us in a way that was both personal and universal in the way that affected all of us across many sports over the course of five different decades.

 Professionally, I did direct care work with delinquent youth in group homes and later administered behavioral health treatment in a variety of settings. I liked to describe the perfect child care worker or therapist as a person who could balance both developing a relationship and setting boundaries with behavior and thinking. In short, balancing relationships and discipline. It is the quintessential dichotomy of task vs relationship orientation you might read about in textbooks about organizational management. Most people are good at one, but rarely strike that perfect balance of being good, if not great, with both. 

 Mr. Ludwig was one of those rare people that was great at both. He could be incredibly personable, engaging, positive, and instructive. But he also could be one of the most intense coaches, competitive in every way, and raised the temperature in the room any time he stepped into it. He would get in your face if you weren’t focused or performing up to your potential. He would push you to do better than you thought you could ever be. He was inspirational. I remember him saying in a half time pep talk, that any one of us, if we put our minds to it, could play basketball at any level if we worked hard enough. He did it in a way that we all believed it. Even me, who was one of the shortest members of my 9th grade class. He gave you the feeling that all things great are possible.

 Inspiration is a powerful thing. It has a way of creeping into your head at times when you need it most and at times when you expect it least. Sometimes it lasts a lifetime.

Dirk Matson

Class of 1973 

It was the spring of 1973, our senior year. We were only a month or two from graduation. 

We both were from Darlington. Dave lived in Upper Darlington and Boozer lived not far away in Lower Darlington. Yes, back then even Darlington had subdivisions!

On this particular morning, we decided to skip school and go fishing. We walked from Dave’s house to the creek, Four Mile Run. Four Mile run comes from Donegal Lake, with a lot of fish variation in the water. Chain pickerel, mud puppies, rock bass, trout and other species of fish lived in the stream. 

We loved the Darlington area. It was a great place to grow up, not just for fishing but also for the swimming.  Went over the Hidden Valley Bridge, which is no longer there. It was a popular place to fish and swim. The creek was five or six feet deep at the bridge. We started fishing.

Boozer being Boozer, attempted to call the fish in, by calling “fishy fishy, hooky hooky.” It drove Dave crazy. In spite of Boozer’s best efforts to talk the fish onto our lines, we didn’t catch anything there.  We decided to walk to the “Big Hole” to try our luck. It was about 300 yards away. We were heading up stream, and low and behold, who should we run into! Mr. Ludwig and Mr. Nipps!

We were startled. We didn’t know what to think. They were so close, we couldn’t avoid them. They were on the same side of the stream as us, so we could not divert away from the stream. They were too close to run from them. The thought ran through our minds, “what are they doing here?” They couldn’t be skipping school. Mr. Nipps was the truancy officer. Surely he was looking for truants. Maybe they were looking for us in particular. And Mr. Ludwig was such a straight shooter. Surely he was there to help Mr. Nipps catch us.

Then we noticed the fishing rods in their hands.  We decided to talk with them. Boozer was going to do the talking. So without even waiting for us to give an excuse. Mr. Ludwig said “We won’t tell, if you won’t tell!” So we never said a word to anyone until now.

Dave Mignogna and Bruce Long

Class of 1973