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Farewell to a coach whose lessons will always be remembered

By Tom King - Staff Writer | Feb 22, 2018

He was old school.

That is probably the best way to describe the coaching methods of Norm Burgess, another longtime fixture of the Nashua sports community that we’ve lost. The retired Burgess, who taught and coached for decades in the Nashua school system, passed away recently and it’s a yet another loss of a coach who touched lives.

Word began circulating a week or so ago that Burgess’ health was failing, and at 75 he is gone too soon. The current Nashua athletes don’t really know him, but the ones who played back in the 1970s and 1980s certainly do. Yours truly got to know him when we worked together on WSMN radio broadcasts of high school football and basketball. He certainly knew his stuff and was an absolute pleasure to work with. He was always graciously willing to hang around and guard the equipment while a certain scribe was off conducting post game interviews.

A night calling a game with Stormin’ Norman doing the color was something to look forward to – just like it was working with his friend, legendary Nashua girls hoop and also former football coach John Fagula. You always learned something new.

Burgess did some of his best coaching at the middle school/junior high level – Elm Street, Spring Street, etc., coaching football, basketball and baseball. He was an assistant coach on the 1986 Nashua High School Class L boys basketball championship team, the club under head man George Noucas that upset a heavily favored Bishop Guertin team.

A lot of times it was tough love from Burgess, but his athletes look back on that now as a plus.

“I learned more from him than all my coaches put together,” said former Burgess disciple Bob Desmarais in an email. “Not only was he a great practice coach that prepared us for any situation in a game, he was also an exceptional in-game coach.

“He coached a lot of kids over the years and taught them the right way to play. He taught all the fundamentals.When a kid played a sport for him they were well-equipped with the knowledge to compete in high school.”

That was what many say about the role Burgess played. We’ve lamented the loss of some successful high school coaches with all sorts of title hardware, but Burgess worked mainly on another level, making his mark preparing the younger athletes for what was to come.

“Great guy,” said Bishop Guertin girls basketball coach Brad Krieck, himself a top Nashua athlete in the 1980s. “He was my football and baseball coach at Elm Street.

“He was one of those guys, very tough old school-type of guy. But I’ll tell you, I hate to say it, 35, 36 years ago, I still remember a lot of the lessons that guy taught me.

“He was one of the great, great coaches in the history of Nashua youth athletics, a fantastic coach.”

Then Krieck chuckled.

“Tough though,” he said, smiling and chuckling at his memories. “Tough guy. Real tough guy.”

Farewell, Norm. You have an undeniable place in Nashua sports history, especially where it counts – the memories of your former student athletes.

Tom King can be reached at 594-1251, tking@nashuatelegraph.com., or @Telegraph_TomK.

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