RAN A GREAT RACE
FRANKLIN TWP. — If there was anyone who could get the most out of the athletes he coached by sheer personality, it was longtime cross country and track and field coach Lanny Conner.
Conner, who coached for parts of 35 years at Southern Columbia, Berwick and Bloomsburg University, died Saturday evening at age 70.
But not before sharing his passion for running and turning that into success as both a competitor and coach.
A three-year runner for Berwick, Conner helped the Bulldogs claim the 1967 District 4 track and field title his senior season.
He then went on to have a stellar collegiate career at Greenville College in Illinois. While competing for the Panthers, Conner was a three-time national meet qualifier and conference champion in cross country. He was also a conference champion in the mile run in track and field — an event in which he once held the school record.
He was inducted into both Berwick’s and Greenville’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2008.
Upon graduation from Greenville, Conner returned to his old stomping grounds in Berwick to lead the Bulldogs. He was a natural at it early on, duplicating his coaching style after that of his varsity mentor, Bill Heller.
“Bill Heller was a great guy and Lanny kind of modeled his career after him,” WHLM sports broadcaster Jim Doyle said. “Bill never raised his voice; he motivated you because you never wanted to let him down because he was a good guy. That was what Lanny shaped his career after.”
At BU, coaching both sports, the men’s cross country team finished in the top-five at the regional meet in 1992 and 1993. The ’93 squad is the program’s most successful, placing third at regionals before finishing 14th at nationals — each marking a team-best.
After six years as men’s coach, Conner took on an additional role as women’s coach. His most successful season with the women’s cross country team came in 1997 as the Huskies placed fifth at the PSAC meet and fourth in the regional meet.
From there, Conner turned his attention to Southern Columbia, coaching the Tigers for 20 years. He made quite the lasting impact, compiling stats that are more than worthy of consideration for the district’s newly formed Athletic Hall of Fame.
According to the News-Item, Conner had an overall record of 122-30-3. He oversaw 28 individual District 4 champions, 95 state qualifiers, 36 state medalists (two being state champions) and 13 school records topped.
He ended his tenure at Southern with the Tigers placing third in the team standings at the Class 2A state meet in 2019.
“He was amazing with the knowledge he had for the sport,” Southern Columbia Athletic Director and Conner’s former assistant coach Jim Roth said. “Most people don’t understand the diversity in the sport, but he could have a discussion about distance, sprints, hurdles, jumps and throws.
“It’s rare to find someone like that.”
Maybe even more impressive is that Conner did all of that while being a competitor in the annual Run for the Diamonds race from 1966-2012. He left a legacy there, too, being the first local finisher in four races (’68, ’70, ’74 and ’76).
Lasting impression
Seemingly everyone has a tale about Conner, and they are all fairly similar: the man was kind to everyone he came across, making everyone feel special.
“The trips to states were always so much fun,” Southern boys track and field coach Tom Donlan said. The two have had a close relationship since Conner gave Donlan his first coaching gig at BU in 1989.
“There was always so many people that knew him, and he knew them back. Most of them were coaches at other schools stopping to talk to him. It was amazing to see. All the time spent there with him was amazing.”
He was also a natural when it came to talking running, showing off his skills with WHLM the last three Thanksgivings.
“He had a feel for the race,” Doyle said. “He could talk about it in ways I couldn’t since he had run the race so many times.
“He could articulate what [the runners] were feeling at different points of the race, what it felt like to be ahead at certain points. He knew so much about the race and running at every level.”
And in the end, Conner just couldn’t get too far away from the sport or helping mold young runners, as he was hired in January to be an assistant coach for Berwick’s track team.
“He retired this year, but now back in his backyard, he said ‘hey, let me come back,’” Donlan said. “He coached up until his last day and that doesn’t surprise any of us.”
Link to story: https://www.pressenterpriseonline.com/daily/051120/page/9/story/ran-a-great-race
