Success is the achievement of something desired, planned, and pursued which is not an objective one can achieve over night, but instead takes years of hard work and dedication. As for outstanding success in my community, Coach Tom Hasbrouck can be considered as just that. Because of his hard work and constant dedication during his teaching and coaching careers, Coach Tom Hasbrouck is the perfect example of true success.


Coach Hasbrouck was born and raised in Rutherford, New Jersey where he started and completed his high school career. He attended Rutherford High School and throughout his four years of high school, sports were a very important aspect. He participated in baseball, basketball, and soccer. After graduating high school, Coach Hasbrouck attended West Virginia Wesleyan College to pursue an elementary education certification and received his Master of Teaching graduate degree. With these education certifications, Coach Hasbrouck could finally have the career he always loved. He was inspired to become a health and physical education teacher through his interests in sports starting when he was young. His love of sports has stayed with him all throughout his career as he retired as a physical education teacher at a local elementary school.

Along with a love for teaching young children physical education, coaching is very important to Coach Hasbrouck. The enjoyment of sports and working with younger people to teach them about sports are his main reasons for coaching. Coaching for over forty years shows how dedicated Coach Hasbrouck truly is. At the age of twenty, Coach Hasbrouck began his coaching career; since then, he has coached or directed some sport every year at both the youth and high school age levels. At the high school level, he has coached wrestling, swimming, softball, girls soccer for seven years, and boys soccer for twenty-three years with three consecutive state championships. His coaching career continues today as he is the current head coach of both the girls’ soccer and softball teams at Buckhannon- Upshur High School and coach of a youth soccer team. The forty years of coaching all of these numerous sports is important to Coach Hasbrouck because of the interaction and influence he has had the chance to make in an athlete’s life. He has realized through the years that coaching is not about winning or losing, but instead more about teaching the techniques and tactics of the sports, making lasting, influential impressions, and creating life-long bonds and friendships with students and athletes.

Coach Hasbrouck has had numerous accomplishments from his Master of Teaching degree to three consecutive West Virginia state soccer championships, but the number of wins or championships is not what he is most proud of. Coach Hasbrouck considers the thirty-five years of marriage to his wife Nancy and the raising and growth as adults of his three children Greg, Jamie, and Marcy as his biggest accomplishments. As for his careers of teaching and coaching, Coach Hasbrouck expressed that his greatest accomplishment is when a former player or student goes out of their way to ask him advise or thank him for his influence.

Of the forty years of coaching and several years of teaching, Coach Tom Hasbrouck has made an impact on the lives of many students and student-athletes, including my own. I consider him as the most influential coach I have ever had, for he has taught me not only the skills and direction needed for soccer but also life lessons to use now and in the future. Along with his influence on students and athletes, Coach Hasbrouck’s success has made a large impact on our community. With his three soccer state championships and his development and love of the Upshur County youth soccer program, Coach Hasbrouck will always be known and remembered for his outstanding teaching and soccer coaching success.