Saratoga News Photograph by George Sakkestad Former Saratoga High School football players (from left) Ray Burney, Marko Trapani, Kevin Tanner and Kurt Heinrich, have come back to coach the Falcons. Pierce Players They played for the legendary Benny Pierce. Now they're bringing the magic back to Saratoga By Dick Sparrer Marko Trapani was the new kid on the block. He had grown up in Willow Glen, but his parents moved the family to Saratoga when he was in the eighth grade. So Marko found himself in a new town, in a new school and looking for some new friends. He quickly found a couple ... Kurt Heinrich and Kevin Tanner. They hung out together, playing football, playing basketball, playing baseball ... whatever sport was in season. They were buddies. But that was more than 20 years ago. Times change, people grow up. Boys become men who must put their games aside to seek professional pursuits. Or do they? It's been more than two decades since those three eighth-graders became fast friends. But they're still hanging out together every day after school. However, instead of shooting hoops or tossing a ball around, the three are reunited as members of the football coaching staff at Saratoga High School. On the same field where their friendship blossomed in the late 1970s and early '80s, the three Saratogans are passing on the lessons they learned as Falcons to the high school players of today. And a tradition continues. The three were teammates on a Saratoga varsity team that posted a 13-0 record in 1980 and won league and Central Coast Section championships under the leadership of the legendary Benny Pierce. But their friendship was born many years earlier. "Kevin and I lived around the corner from each other when we were kids," Heinrich, the first-year head football coach for the Falcons, said. "Marko moved to Saratoga from Willow Glen when we were in the eighth grade." "We played baseball together, football together--all the sports," he said. "Not unlike the kids of today." "From the time we were small," Tanner added, "we knew we were going to play Saratoga football. In fact, Kurt was a ball boy for the Falcons when his brothers played." Little did he know at the time that one day he would return to coach the Falcons. Heinrich heads up a staff that includes Tanner and Trapani, as well as Eric Walukiewicz and veteran Saratoga coaches Ray Goñi and Ray Burney. And the new head coach is quick to share the spotlight. "It's not so much Kurt Heinrich," he said. "It's all of us. We're all just as important as the next guy." So far, whatever they're doing seems to be working. The Falcons lost their opener, then began a four-game win streak that included the first two games of the season in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League. But this is more than a story about a high school coaching staff. This is about three boyhood friends who are living out a dream. "We've never been apart," said Trapani. "We've been close friends over the years, and the three of us have been able to stay together. Through the years, our friendship grew, especially through athletics, and especially through football." They were teammates on the Saratoga freshman football team in 1977, and by the time they were seniors, they were all starters for Pierce's vaunted Saratoga varsity. "They were all good ballplayers," Benny Pierce said. "They liked the game, they enjoyed the game." And they were good at the game. All three won all-league honors for the undefeated varsity team, and two of three--Heinrich and Tanner--won college scholarships. Trapani won a scholarship, too, but his was in baseball. "We all went to different colleges," said Trapani, who headed to San Jose State University while Tanner went to Santa Clara University and Heinrich to UOP. "But we stayed close. On weekends, when I wasn't playing baseball, I'd go up to UOP to see Kurt play football, or I'd go to Kevin's games." Tanner was a starting noseguard for Pat Malley's Broncos, and Heinrich was a wide receiver for the Tigers. He was small, but he was good enough to win All-American honors as a freshman. "He wasn't a big kid, but he was a tough kid," recalled Pierce. How small was he? "I remember my freshman year," Heinrich said. "We were playing the Huskies our second game. They were huge, and they came down the tunnel barking. I was just getting on the scale, and I weighed 125 pounds. I went right in and asked for some rib pads." He spent a career protecting those ribs, a career that began in his front yard in Saratoga with his older brother drilling spirals into his chest. Kurt was the youngest of Don Heinrich's three sons. The elder Heinrich was a two-time All-American quarterback at the University of Washington who went on to play professionally with the New York Giants. He actually started at QB ahead of Charlie Conerly in the famous 1958 NFL championship game between the Giants and the Baltimore Colts. Don Heinrich went on to coach for a number of NFL teams before ultimately joining Dick Nolan's staff with the San Francisco 49ers and settling in Saratoga. There was little doubt his sons would turn out to be football players. And pretty good ones, too. The oldest, Kyle, played for Pierce's CCS championship team in 1973 and followed in his dad's footsteps at the University of Washington. He now resides in Seattle. The middle son, Mike, was a quarterback for the Falcons in 1976. His team also won league and CCS titles. Mike went on to play quarterback at Santa Clara University and now lives in Tracy. "We were no different than any other kids," said Kurt. "During baseball season, we played pickle in the front yard. And during football season, we threw the ball around." They were a little different, though. Because they could really play football! "Mike was a quarterback, so all he ever wanted to do was throw passes," added Kurt. "So I always got stuck catching the passes. I'd put on four sweatshirts, and he'd drill them in there." The passes seemed to stick, just as they would through four years of high school and the four years of college football to follow. "No question I had aspirations [to play pro football]," he said. "The Giants, Vikings and St. Louis were interested in me. They said I could catch a ball with anyone they had. They knew I could play, they just said I had to get heavier." He eventually signed with the Memphis Showboats of the USFL, but the league folded before he ever got the chance to play. He had some discussions with teams in the Canadian Football League, but "by then I started working, and I decided it wasn't worth it," he admitted. He settled in the area, and opened what has become a lucrative commercial real estate business. Tanner and Trapani did the same. They played their sports in college, then settled into professional life, Tanner in his own business as an investment advisor and Trapani in his own insurance business. Then along came an opening on the Saratoga coaching staff. Veteran coach Mike Machado, who took over the reins when Pierce retired, chose to move on to take over the program at Valley Christian. "I called Benny and said, 'What about Kurt?'" said Tanner. "He said he thought he'd be a very good coach. So I called Kurt and told him we'd drafted him." But Saratoga officials selected Tim Tramp as the new head coach. "We applied as a staff, and we got the frosh-soph team," added Tanner. "We had a real good time. I think the kids had a good time, too. People really responded to what we were doing." "Doing it together was the first reason we decided to do it at all," Trapani said. "We were pretty successful on the frosh-soph level last year. We had the support of the kids ... they thought a lot of Kurt and us as a coaching staff." So when Tramp left the program after only one season as head coach, Heinrich and his boyhood buddies stepped in to take over. "The plan from the beginning was to bring back the game plan that Benny had used," added Trapani. "We went through 20 years of films." "They wanted to run what we ran," said an obviously proud Pierce. "They've gone back and taken film from many past years. They have a lot of pride in the program." And it shows. "We represent all the Falcons," Heinrich said. "All the guys who played for Saratoga. All the guys who it meant something to. "There is something real, something good, something important about Falcon football." "It's because of Benny," said Tanner, who was a Saratoga assistant coach in Pierce's final five seasons on the sidelines. "There's so much history there." "Coach Pierce is the greatest," added Heinrich. "He's part of the reason we all came back--because of the greatness of Coach Pierce, and so his lessons of life are not lost. He's such a great man ... such a great teacher." To say that Pierce is proud of what his former players have accomplished would be an understatement. And in his own understated way, the coach praised their work. "They've really studied and worked hard," Pierce said. "They're doing a great job." But it's not easy. There's a lot of hard work that goes into becoming a successful coach. "Preparation is huge," Heinrich said. "Doing all the work, putting together the game plan. The game ... that's like the dessert. And it's been more than just watching films. "Kurt and Kevin, kudos to them," Trapani said. "They set up the summer program, and they lifted and ran with [the players]. It got the kids to buy in right away, that we were in it with them. "It's one thing to be an athlete and do the work, but to look over next to you and see your coach there with you. That's unique." Still, it's tough to be an off-campus coach. "No question, that's a challenge," said Heinrich. "Commuting, scheduling meetings so the afternoons are free, hustling to practice." "I'm in my office at 6 a.m. every morning," said Tanner. "I'm usually able to be done by 2 p.m." "Coach Goñi and Debbie Goñi have helped a lot, taking a lot of the administrative work away from us," Trapani added. But once the work is behind them, once the coaches step onto the field, football is the only business they're interested in. And their players understand. "The fact that we get along so well as a coaching staff translates to the kids," said Trapani said. Pierce agrees. "They identify well with the kids," said the former coach. And the fact that Heinrich has taken on the leadership role is a natural. "He's a great motivator," Tanner said. "He's the kind of person who brings enthusiasm to any situation," Trapani added. "He tries to keep things on an upbeat level." So Heinrich returns to the Saratoga sidelines he strolled as a ball boy when he was just a youngster, but now as the new head varsity football coach for the Falcons. "I always had a spot in my heart that said someday I would come back and coach. But I probably wouldn't have coached anywhere but Saratoga. I love Saratoga." And it shows. [ Back to Contents Page | Saratoga News Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Saratoga News, October 21, 1998. ©1998 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.