Bill Monsen (8) was one of the first Nashua North football captains celebrating the Titans' Turkey Bowl win in 2004. (Courtesy photo)

This one was tough.

The area has lost its share of sports figures over the years, but many had long careers coaching, or were part of Nashua or area lore.

But to lose current coaches is devastating. Two years ago, though, Milford’s Dan Murray, ever likeable and a fabulous coach, passed during the boys basketball season, having medical issues that had him not only limited in his coaching duties but eventually hospitalized. He never made it back home, and many were left in shock.

But the passing earlier this week of Nashua South assistant football coach and former head boys lacrosse coach Bill Monsen was simply heartbreaking.

He was young, in his mid to late 30s, a fabulous coach, teacher, and human being. A born leader. The fact he endured a life threatening medical episode on Thanksgiving was shocking enough; the optimism he would survive the medical complications that came with his situation was constant. But it wasn’t to be.

We’ve seen awful accidents claim the lives of our young athletes, and this is right up there as one of the saddest things we’ve seen in local sports over the years. Clearly, gone way, way, way too soon.

Those of us, coaches and journalists, who have been around awhile, watched Monsen grow up. We watched him grow from an gritty, tough as nails, smart athlete in high school with incredible leadership qualities to the same as a head coach or assistant. In football he was a fantastic offensive mind, and in lacrosse he knew talent when he saw it.

He played the bulk of his athletic career at the one Nashua High School, but when The Split occurred he wound up at North, graduating from there in 2005, part of the first ever graduating class. He was one of only three varsity kids from the unified Nashua to be on the Titans varsity. It wasn’t an easy situation, but Monsen grabbed it and ran with it, both on the field as a rugged fullback, and off it in the building.

“He was a huge part of developing a Titan identity here,” former North head football coach Jason Robie, the first ever Titans head man, said. “A great captain. It was tough for those kids to make that change, but he was a leader in the school as well.”

And, according to Robie, Monsen was the only player to score touchdowns for both Nashua High and Nashua North. Part of history.

But as a coach, aEs much as this phrase is starting to get over used, Monsen got it. He promoted his kids as a head lacrosse coach as much as he could. He’d send yours truly an email very now and then with updates on lacrosse players who were doing super things in college.

He’d email in after every game, even had the other team’s info. Hardly ever missed. And after a game, he wouldn’t hold back. Now, he would be diplomatic, but you’d know exactly after an interview how Bill Monsen felt about what he saw on the field.

And he appreciated the job the media had. A couple of summers ago, a good South player whom he had deservedly nominated for Telegraph All-Area wasn’t on the team – the name got accidentally deleted by this clumsy scribe. Can’t remember whether he sent a text or an email, but he clearly knew it was a technical error. No big reaction, he knew it would get fixed, and that’s what he told the parents who had complained.

He had coached lacrosse for 10 years, and one could tell he was becoming disillusioned with the state of the sport in Nashua, seeing how it had fallen apart somewhat at North. Plus, with a young family, it’s likely something had to go. So lacrosse was it.

As for football, Monsen was a great teacher, great offensive mind. If you were going to do a story on the South QB, sure, you talk to the head guy, Scott Knight. But you also made sure you asked Monsen a few questions as well.

He knew kids. He knew his stuff, in such a way he could relay it to young and old. That’s not easy to do.

But Bill Monsen was just a great guy to talk to. His colleagues at South, and in the football and lacrosse worlds, as well as current and former players, are devastated.

An entire city should be.

“Coach Monsen impacted so many lives,” former South QB and current Panthers assistant coach Trevor Knight said in a tweet. “Words can’t really expess this loss for the Nashua South community.

“From watching him as a player, getting coached by him and then coaching with him, every second we spent together was a privilege.”

To have known Bill Monsen in any way was indeed a privilege.

And our loss tells us it was a privilege we should, in the future, never take for granted.

Tom King can be reached at tking@nashuatelegraph.com, or on twitter @Telegraph _TomK.