Sports

Beloved Teacher, Coach Passes Away

Coventry teacher and basketball and volleyball coach Matt Hurlock passed away at age 39 after a yearlong battle with cancer.

After fighting a yearlong battle with cancer, passed away on Wednesday at home in Coventry.

Hurlock, 39, was a very well known and loved physical education teacher and coach in Coventry and will be much missed.

"He touched the lives of so many in and around this town!," said Pam Green, whose two sons had Hurlock as a teacher. "Our kids are so fortunate to have grown up with him as their P.E. teacher and coach!"

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The Matt Hurlock Facebook page is full of condolences and love for the former teacher and coach.

One person wrote, "When I first heard that Matt died I came to this Facebook page and there were 429 people who "liked" it. That was before any people knew he had passed away. Now, days later it's at 923 and growing. What a testament to how many lives Matt touched and positively effected."

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Hurlock coached boys basketball at the high school from 1997 through 2009 and won four conference championships and three conference tournament championships along the way.

In 2001, he started the volleyball program and won Class S state championships seven of the last eight years, including last year during cancer treatments.

He was awarded High School Coach of the Year for Girls Volleyball in 2008 by the CT Sports Writers Alliance and was named Girl’s Volleyball Coach of the Year in 2010 by the CT High School Coaches Association.

Michael Stiles coaches the Ellington volleyball team and coached against Hurlock. He said that although there was always the competition aspect, Hurlock would graciously share coaching strategies and drills with him each time they met on the court.

"Matt was great guy and a terrific coach," Stiles said. "I had the pleasure of coaching against him for eight seasons and learned something new about the game of volleyball each time our teams faced one another. I valued the talks we had and considered him a friend. He built a volleyball dynasty at Coventry, but more importantly, he had a positive impact on the lives of hundreds of kids."

Megan Ward, a 2010 CHS graduate, first went to one of Hurlock's volleyball camps when she was in eighth grade. She then played volleyball all four years of high school. She said she also had Hurlock as a teacher in third through fifth grade and then when she went to middle school, Hurlock did also so she had him there as well.

"I remember him telling me in third grade that I was going to play for his team when I got up to the high school," she said. "Little did I know, our team ended up being a dynasty, and it was due mostly to him. He's an excellent coach because he's there for his players in season and off season, and he tells it like it is. If he sees potential in one of us, he's even harder on that person."

Ward said that while playing volleyball for Hurlock, he instilled more in the team than just the mechanics of the game.

"He pushed all of us to do our best at everything, everyday, and most of us still carry that with us now," she said.

She added that it was amazing amazing to play under someone who cares so much about your life and your dreams and your goals off the court, as well as on.

"There was something about him that just made people want to play on his team," she said. "It didn't matter if you were sitting on the bench or if you were on the court. He would occassionally butt heads with a girl on the team, she would get kicked out of practice, but be there the next day playing harder then ever. Girls get there early for practice, and stay late, because he put in so much time. It wasn't even an obligation, it was a choice because that's just what we did."

Ward said that there's too much that can be said about how good of a person he was, how inspiring he was to so many of the kids growing up in Coventry, and how he truly cared about his players, students, community, friends, and family.

"I've never met anybody like him," she said. "I've heard a few people say this before, and I'll stand by it until the day I can see him again, 'Coventry, CT and this world are a better place because he was in it.'"

After Hurlock was diagnosed with colon and liver cancer in 2010, residents in Coventry and throughout the North Central Connecticut Conference came together and held .

A concert entitled "Music for Hurlock" was scheduled for Saturday and Ward said that the concert is still on.

"I just want to let everybody know that this concert is still on, and I hope everyone can get together at Patriots Park to celebrate the life of Matt Hurlock!," Ward wrote on the Facebook page. "I am blessed to have known him, and I know plenty more people that feel the same."

Hurlock is survived by his wife Julie, son Colby, 4, and daughter Katelyn, 3. He also leaves twin brother Michael, and sister and brother in-law Stacey and Michael Carl and their children, Lindsey and Jacob.

Relatives and friends are welcomed on Sunday for "A Celebration of Life" at the Tolland Memorial Funeral Home, 375 Merrow Rd. (Rt. 195), Tolland, CT 06084 from 2 p.m. until 6 p.m. Burial will be held at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the American Cancer Society, or the Hurlock Family Fund at the Rockville Bank, 1671 Boston Tpke. (Rt. 44), Coventry, CT 06238.

For online condolences, please visit www.pietrasfuneralhome.com.

For a great story about Hurlock, click here.


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