By: John E. Powers
WEST AMWELL Sam Jefferis laughed when asked how much he’d be missed after 40 years as head coach of the South Hunterdon Regional High School football team.
Jefferis never minced words. He was a football coach. He wasn’t one to wonder how much he’d be missed, what his legacy would be or how his absence would affect the Eagles. He simply loved the game and his role in teaching and coaching kids.
"The older I got, the more jealous I became of my time," said the 67-year-old last week. "From September through November, I cut myself off from society, and that’s the only way I knew how to do the job. My wife would say, "We’ve got something to do Sunday.’ And I would say, ‘You have something to do. I have to work.’ That’s the way it was."
He did have a humorous take on his decision to step away.
"I know the officials will definitely miss me," said Jefferis sarcastically. "I’m sure they will."
The process of when he would officially step away wasn’t done overnight. It was something he said he thought about it the last few years. But wins or losses or a star player who was coming back wasn’t going to dictate his decision.
"It didn’t have anything to do with anything like that," said Jefferis, whose teams won Central Jersey Group I titles in 1974 and 1979 and lost in the sectional finals in 1977, 1990 and 1994. "I couldn’t worry about wins, losses, whether I would stay for one particular kid. It’s just about me. I found myself thinking about it the last couple of years. I was aiming to go out this spring."
The Eagles went 0-10 last year and never scored more than one touchdown in a game. In fact, Jefferis’ last win as head coach came Nov. 6, 2004, a wild 42-34 win over Dunellen when the team finished 3-7. The Eagles finished 5-5 in 2003.
Jefferis, who lives in West Amwell with his wife, Claire, was known for doing a lot with so little. The team played much bigger schools like Somerville, Hackettstown and Voorhees. But Jefferis never made an issue of South’s role as David against so many Goliaths.
Back in the 1970s, as a member of the Delaware River Conference, the Eagles would play Group IV giant Hunterdon Central. The Eagles held their own with a hearty and gritty style handed down by their coach, who grew up in Coatesville, Pa., an old mill town.
"I refused to believe we couldn’t be competitive," said Jefferis, a Rutgers University graduate, who retired as South Hunterdon’s athletic director in 2000. "It didn’t matter who we played. I might have started to think about that in the latter part of the 1990s, but up until that point, it didn’t matter. I always thought our toughness would get us through."
He said Lambertville always had tough kids.
"These were just tough kids who were an absolute pleasure to coach," Jefferis said.
Jefferis had the opportunity to leave South Hunterdon not long after he arrived, and he took some interviews with bigger schools.
"When I first got here; our first three years we went 4-20-3 in that time, but I had to be realistic," Jefferis said. "I hadn’t proved myself as a coach. Nobody wants to hear that you have 24 kids on the field and 12 of them are seniors. I just said I’m going to stay here until I turn this around."
He said he’s not sure where he’ll spend his newfound free time in the fall. But it’s likely he’ll keep time for watching football whether it’s a Saturday afternoon Rutgers game in Piscataway or a Friday night game at Jefferis Field where the Eagles play.
