A legendary St. Albert soccer coach who led local teams to national glory has died.
St. Albert resident and retired soccer coach Herman Kochan died Feb. 25 at Edmonton's St. Joseph's Auxiliary Hospital. He was 77.
Kochan, a German immigrant who lived through the Second World War, was a dedicated soccer coach in St. Albert and a volunteer with the Royal Canadian Legion. He received the Queen's Golden Jubilee medal in 2003 for his volunteer efforts.
Kochan had been ill for many years, says Gisela, his wife of 49 years, but had held on in hopes of meeting his future great-grandson, Elam.
"I miss him very much," Gisela says, her voice cracked with grief, "but the pain he was in, I couldn't wish that back on him."
Prankster, musician
Gisela flips through a collection of old photos of Kochan as she sits in her Grandin-area home. The story of his life is written all over the walls in the form of family photos, soccer plaques and medals.
Kochan arrived in Canada about 1953 with his parents and seven siblings, Gisela says, settling in around Lethbridge. Kochan would later go on to become a mechanic in Edmonton.
It was there that they met each other, Gisela says. She was a hairdresser and he'd drop by her place every day to pick up the paper and give her a ride home. "We were very lucky to find each other." They married in 1963 and moved to St. Albert.
Kochan's son, Steve, remembers his father as a laughing, cheerful fellow who was always there for him. Even his painful arthritis could never get him down.
Kochan was a popular figure at Cornerstone Hall, says Debby Burr, an administrator with the Royal Canadian Legion in St. Albert, where he worked the ticket booth for about 30 years.
"He always had a joke," and knew many of the Legion's members on a first-name basis, she says. "He could talk the fuzz off a peach."
Legion members knew Kochan as a talented musician known for playing the mouth organ and the accordion.
"He had an incredible singing voice," Burr says — she likened it to that of the famous opera singer Luciano Pavarotti — and would often burst out in song the second he stepped through the door. "I could hear him all the way down the hall and I knew Herman was here."
Kochan was a member of the St. Albert Singers Guild, Gisele says, and would often practice in the car.
"He wouldn't mind taking the mike in hand and belting out a song," she says. "He was not shy at all in that respect."
Kochan was also a prankster, Steve says, and pulled many of his best gags at the Legion. "He would make cat noises," he says as an example, sending everyone in search of invisible felines, and snipe guests surreptitiously with an elephant-shaped water gun. He once sent the bartender on a wild reptile chase when, as an April Fool's joke, he asked her to check on the pet turtles he had left in the sink. (They had 'escaped,' of course.)
Champion
A lifelong soccer player, Kochan spent about 15 years playing for the Edmonton Victoria Soccer Club before he started coaching local junior teams in the 1970s.
Kochan's arthritis became almost crippling during this time, with doctors telling him he'd be in a wheelchair within five years.
"But because of soccer and because of the kids," he told the Gazette in 1989, "I coached and I'm still walking."
Kochan's efforts helped the 1978 Edmonton Victoria Soccer Club's U-16 boys team become the first Alberta team in history to win the Canadian title. He later helped shape the fledgling St. Albert Flyers girls teams into powerhouses that would win seven provincial gold medals.
The U-14 Flyers went on to win nationals in 1987, according to the Gazette's archives. The next year, they became the fifth team in the world to receive the prestigious Adidas-sponsored Golden Shoe award.
It took a heart attack to convince Kochan to stop coaching in 1989.
Kochan was a fighter, Steve says, one who kept his sense of humour right up until the end. He sent many an intern at St. Joseph's off on quests for a "right-handed fork," he notes. He died just two days before the birth of his grandson.
Kochan is survived by his wife, son, daughter Angie, two grandchildren and one great-grandchild. The family wishes to thank all the friends and medical staff who have helped them over the years, and asks that any donations be sent to the Kidney Foundation or St. Joseph's.
