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Updated Jan 20, 2009 1:30 PM ET
     
 
Tom Dunlap said goodbye to his "best friend" yesterday by retiring as football coach at Beechcroft. In 23 years as coach, Dunlap led the Cougars to the playoffs 13 times and sent many players to major-college football, including Bob Niemet to Bowling Green, Butchie Washington to Akron and Antonio Smith to Ohio State. "Beechcroft football has been my best friend and family," Dunlap wrote in an e-mail to The Dispatch. "Working with staff, parents and athletes always has been a privilege and a pleasure. I am fortunate to have had a career where I could be part of shaping young lives through the game I love." Longtime assistant and defensive coordinator Bruce Ward is expected to take over as coach. Dunlap broke into coaching 35 years ago. He became an assistant at Beechcroft four years later and never left, finishing with a career record of 174-70 for a .705 winning percentage. The Cougars won their first City League championship in 1987 and made the playoffs for the first time in 1988. "The first City League championship is one of my most memorable accomplishments," Dunlap wrote. "We defeated Brookhaven 39-3 that season. I also will remember our first playoff victory in 1991. That came against Portsmouth, and coach Ward was a player on that Portsmouth team. That season, we opened with victories over Worthington Kilbourne, Thomas Worthington and Westerville South." While Dunlap ranks among the best coaches in central Ohio, he never forgot his humble beginnings as an assistant. It was ritual for him to scrub the locker room lavatory, right through his final season. \ \ mznidar@dispatch.com
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