Late Vermilion coach still has impact

Vermilion living by his motto ‘Believe it, do it’

I remember exactly where I was when I got the news Vermilion football coach Matt Kobal had suddenly passed away.

It was Nov. 17, 2017, and Olmsted Falls was facing Avon in a high school football regional final at North Ridgeville.

Somehow someone in the press box got the news and word traveled quickly before my colleagues and I all looked at each other in disbelief.

I didn’t know Kobal personally. I had a handful of interactions with him in his time as head football coach and corresponded with him mostly by email as he sent me box scores for every volleyball, basketball, baseball game — you name it.

Once, I joked on Twitter there was no one better at his job than Kobal after covering a Vermilion sectional final basketball game in 2017 and having a write-up and box score in my inbox before I had even finished interviewing players and coaches.

He made my job infinitely easier and I can’t imagine how many other jobs he made easier just by being who he was — a loyal, dedicated member of the Vermilion community whose work ethic made those around him better.

It has been a little over five months since Kobal died, and on May 4, the Vermilion softball and track and field teams honored the late coach in their own special ways.

The track and field team held a moment of silence before the Vermilion Invitational while the softball team held a ceremony prior to the first pitch in which the team gave a brief presentation honoring Kobal’s lifelong service to the Vermilion community and recognized his parents, Edward and Barbara, sister, Joanne,

daughter, Gracie, who were all in attendance.

The team also wore commemorative jerseys featuring Kobal’s picture and his motto, the saying everyone in Vermilion knew him by: “Believe it, do it.”

“To do something for their family, it was wonderful,” Vermilion softball player Maria Keller said after the game. “(His death) touched us all personally. It was a really big loss for all of us.”

Keller, teammate Corah Peterson, and even head coach Bill Matthews mentioned after the game that neither of them knew Kobal personally other than short interactions during the school day.

Matthews even said other than the athletic director, Kobal was the first person to greet him and his wife when they first

got hired at Vermilion.

“I think people will definitely remember him by his character,” Peterson said. “He was super funny and loving.”

Five months later and “Believe it, do it” is as relevant to the Sailors as it was the day Kobal first introduced the phrase.

It was exemplified in the way the softball team nearly mounted an incredible comeback the very day it honored his legacy by scoring four runs off five hits in the seventh inning before falling just a bit short, and was shown in the way the team carried itself after a disappointing loss.

Now, a simple phrase meant to inspire athletes to victory inspires a community to “believe it, do it.”

JEN FORBUS — THE MORNING JOURNAL Vermilion softball coach Bill Matthews shakes hands with Matt Kobal’s sister Joanne during a ceremony at the start of Vermilion’s game against the Margaretta Polar Bears. From left are Kobal’s father Edward, mother Barbara and daughter Gracie.