Lawrence High School celebrates and honors rich tradition and outstanding legacies in academics, athletics and arts. A new legacy is now among those that students and staff members remember– the legacy of Kermit Aldridge, a beloved coach and teacher who died on March 8.

Aldridge was both a lifelong Chesty Lion and successful athlete. Playing football for the both LHS and KU, Aldridge was passionate about the game.

“When I was coaching at Wichita State in the early ‘80s, he was a high school player at Lawrence High School,” football coach and faculty member Dirk Wedd said. “He was just one of those kids that you watched.”

Though Aldridge graduated from Lawrence High School in 1981, his devotion to the school persisted.

Starting in 2011, Aldridge joined the LHS coaching staff. First for the football program, then for the basketball program, Aldridge offered his knowledge about and skill in the sports after school while he worked as a para-professional at Liberty Memorial Central Middle School.

“Once I started coaching at LHS, I would run into him because he played such a big part at Central and with the local youth programs,” Wedd said. “When we brought the freshman up and started a freshman football program, I visited him and asked if he had any interest in coming back to LHS.”

This year marked the fourth football season and third basketball season that Aldridge helped coach. His role as a coach allowed him to meet and interact with many LHS students, families and faculty.

“My son Erick Mayo was a former football player at LHS, and we met Kermit through the football program,” said Lori Howell, a good friend of Aldridge, his fiance and family. “He will always be known as a great role model to all students and athletes.”

His effectiveness as a role model was due to his welcoming personality, strong character and ability to connect with students.

Junior varsity basketball player Anthony Bonner feels Aldridge impacted his development as a player and a person.

“He taught me how to be a better person and to always stay positive,” Bonner said.

Colleagues were similarly affected by Aldridge.

“He was a very hard-working dependable person,” head basketball coach Mike Lewis said. “When you spend time around people like that, it rubs off on you.”

“He was such a caring person,” Wedd said. “He was firm but fair. I think the kids had instant respect for him.”

Besides fostering respect, Aldridge was known for his ability to communicate with students.

“He was only here for four years, but he touched so many lives,” Wedd said. “He had the ability to communicate with all types of kids — kids that needed a swift kick in the butt sometimes and those that needed a pat on the back. He had the unbelievable ability to figure out what that young person needed.”

Communication coupled with hard work and dependability defined Aldridge’s coaching style.

“As a head coach, it’s important for me to have assistant coaches who are self motivated and hardworking,” Lewis said. “He was someone you could count on. He was someone the players could count on. They knew he would be at practice and working hard.”

His dedication to various LHS athletic programs became even more pronounced once he was diagnosed with large-cell neuroendocrine cancer, an especially aggressive type of lung cancer, in April 2013.

“What really stands out to me is that here was a person who was fighting cancer and was struggling the last five-six weeks of the basketball season, but made the effort to be there at the Topeka Invitational Championship game that we ended up winning and at the pink-out game even though he had been in the hospital for the two weeks leading up to the game,” Lewis said.

He exhibited similar devotion to the football program, Lewis recounted, as Aldridge always scheduled chemotherapy treatments on Mondays so he would be able to coach Friday night games.

Though he used medical treatments like chemotherapy, he believed coaching to be an even more effective remedy.

“He was OK with the fight,” Lewis said. “He knew what he was going up against. He used his time coaching as a form of therapy. He didn’t want to sit around and stew about it.”

Even with medical care, however, Aldridge’s form of cancer is often fatal.

“The tumors appeared on his liver, spleen, pancreas and kidneys,” Howell said. “They eventually then went to his lungs and weakened his body.”

Aldridge lost his fight with cancer early in March.

He was honored with a Celebration of Life, held on March 14, and visitation, March 13, at the Warren-McElwain Mortuary.

“The visitation and the celebration of life were both true testaments of what a huge impact he had on students, staff and family,” Howell said.

Student athletes and community members attended both.

“It was sad, but felt good to see how many people he impacted,” Bonner said.

To further preserve Aldridge’s legacy at LHS, a scholarship fund has been set up in his name.

“The first annual Kermit D. Aldridge scholarship will be awarded in 2015, and we will plan to continue fundraisers from here out to continue this in his honor,” Howell said.

Though specific details of the scholarship are still being defined, Lewis explained recipients will likely receive an explanation of the scholarship and of Aldridge in order to honor and maintain his memory: a memory that will include this success as a coach, an educator and a Chesty Lion.

“His love for the school and his ability to communicate with kids will be his legacy,” Wedd said.