President Dwight D. Eisenhower said, “The supreme quality for leadership is unquestionably integrity. Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section gang, a football field, in an army, or in an office.”

Trinity and St. Xavier lost a legendary athlete, teacher and coach when Mr. Jerry Denny passed away May 7, 2014.  On the heels of Trinity’s renowned cross country invitational — held this past weekend for the 59th time — it’s fitting to remember this giant.

Denny, who was born Apr. 29, 1931, graduated from St. Xavier in 1949. He started out playing only football and was tremendous, to say the least. During the football season, Denny’s backfield coach encouraged him to run track as well.

Denny’s track coach knew exactly what what the backfield coach was talking about as Denny ended up winning the state 440 his sophomore and junior years. Throughout his upperclassmen years, Denny received multiple football scholarships, one from Alabama coach Bear Bryant. Unfortunately, during his senior year, Denny discovered he had back problems that eliminated his possibility for college athletics.

Denny decided for his first semester of college to attend Xavier University. However, for his second semester, he transferred to the University of Louisville. After that first year of college, Denny decided to spend the remaining three years of college at Bellarmine as part of the “Pioneer Class.”

After his college years, Denny started the first track team at Providence High School. His tenure at Providence was a good one, but Denny’s true coaching ability shined when he got a job at Trinity in 1955.  Denny started as an assistant football coach, then became track and cross country coach — head coach of the Rocks’ 1957 and ’58 cross country state champions.  The ’57 team was Trinity’s first state champion.

When asked what differentiated coach Denny from other coaches, Dick Bealmear, one of the team’s top cross country runners in 1957 and ’58, said, “He was a great motivator.”

To appreciate what Denny did for Trinity, you have to go back to the first years of Trinity’s cross country team. At the time, Trinity had limited resources and limited athletes; it was a school that was often scheduled because the opponent knew they would most likely win. Denny helped change that perception.

The cross country team’s first year was 1955. By 1957, they had a state title. Denny’s wife, Jeanne, tells the story of one of Denny’s runners, Greg Larkin, who had a meet early in the morning. Larkin was also a paperboy, so he was not going to be able to run in the meet. Denny had other ideas. He got up that morning at the crack of dawn and ran with Larkin to drop off the papers.

When asked about how Denny handled the roles of husband, father and coach, Jeanne said, “Family was always first, first this family, then his Trinity or St. X family.”

After his many accomplishments at Trinity, Denny switched coaching jobs to take over as head coach for St. Xavier. Longtime St. X teacher and coach Joe Kroh commented on Denny’s tenure at St. X: “Jerry Denny had one of the most successful runs as coach anywhere. He won four state titles in cross country and one more in track.”

Kroh worked to emulate Denny’s coaching philosophy. Kroh said, “He always put the team first. I also learned that in an individually performed sport like track or cross country, the runner can put the team first. It really needs to come first. Lastly, the biggest thing I learned from him was to have the kind of intensity that it takes to be a champion, but to do that in the right way, the fair way.”

Denny could be considered one of the great coaches in Kentucky high school sports history, but one thing that cannot be forgotten is his time in the classroom. Jeanne said, “Jerry was a born teacher and coach. Jerry felt so happy when a guy who might not have had as much potential could move along; the idea was to keep besting themselves.”

Jeanne spoke of her husband’s love of teaching and coaching: “It’s one of those things where we give, but we get back more than we give, and if he was here now, he would say, I got as much as I gave, which was a lot.”

Kroh’s description of Denny brings to mind Eisenhower’s formula for success: “Denny had honesty, being honest with the people around him; and as a coach, honest with the people he was going to lead. He had sheer honesty, the kind that didn’t hide the truth. He was a frank, honest man. To describe coach Denny in one word, he had integrity.”