Paradise Found : Ex-Coach Sherbeck Feels Right at Home in Montana

POLSON, Mont. —  It’s best to call for directions when trying to find the Montana home of Hal and Dona Sherbeck.

The house is on the southwest shore of Flathead Lake, about 65 miles north of Missoula and light years from the congested world of Orange County.

“Go across the bridge on 93 and make a right at Rocky Point Road,” Dona Sherbeck tells visitors. “It’s about 4 1/2 miles until Pinewood Drive. If you see King’s Point, you’ve gone too far.

“You really can’t miss it. Our name is on the mailbox and if all else fails, there is a sign in the trees out front that says ‘Hornet Haven’ ”

Some friends from Montana were confused by the sign. They wondered if there was really that big a wasp problem.

But to those who followed community college football, even in the most cursory way over the last three decades, there is nothing confusing about the blue and gold sign.

The hornets in question are the Fullerton College Hornets, the football program Sherbeck guided for 31 years from 1961-91.

Sherbeck retired as the nation’s winningest community college football coach. He had a mark of 241-71-8 and won national championships in 1965, 1967 and 1983. His teams also won 16 conference championships. Fullerton went 47 consecutive games without a loss from 1964-68.

There is a second item on the front of the house that gives its owner away, though.

Herbie Hornet, the metal mascot logo, is nailed above the garage.

“It had been around the college for years,” a member of the Fullerton athletic staff said. “No one else wanted it, so when he left, it just went with him. It wasn’t like anybody objected.”

Sherbeck has an office full of trophies and other awards, as well as films and boxes of papers, all of which make up the history of the program.

He has started organizing his memorabilia and figures completing the project will help to pass the time this winter.

Sherbeck doesn’t sit around pining for his days at Fullerton, but there are things he does long for.

“The players,” he said. “That’s what I miss a lot. We were always so close. That’s been the hardest part.

“It was always so much fun to see how they would react after their first year. It was exciting to see who would step forward as more responsibility was given to them.”

Retirement has given Hal and Dona a chance to return to the state of their births; Hal was born in Big Sandy, Dona in Billings.

They met at the University of Montana, where Hal was a three-sport standout.

After graduation, he was a high school coach and then an assistant football coach and the head baseball coach at Montana before he took the job at Fullerton 32 years ago last month.

Now, he continues to run into friends from school or former athletes he coached in various places. His new next-door neighbor is a retired brigadier general he coached in freshman baseball at Montana.

He was recently out for dinner and a retired minister from Big Sandy, whom he last saw more than 40 years ago, recognized him and came by his table for a visit.

It seems as if almost every time he plays golf, he runs into someone he either played against or coached.

“The only trouble is that I start to mix up the eras,” Sherbeck said. “I think that’s what they call getting old.”

The Sherbecks arrived in Polson in July, 1992, and started work on the home on which Dona did the primary design work. Hal and two carpenters did most of the work, from pouring the foundation to the framing to the finishing touches. Construction was completed in February.

One of the carpenters was a graduate of Santa Ana College (now Rancho Santiago), Fullerton’s long-time rival.

“Once I found that out, I wasn’t sure if I was going to let him in the house,” Sherbeck joked.

For many years, Sherbeck displayed endless devotion to the college, where he was also the athletic director and the dean of physical education.

He and Dona have brought the same quest for perfection to their home.

In building the house, Sherbeck had little trouble replacing his daily routine of going to work in Fullerton.

The couple lived in a two-bedroom apartment a few miles from the construction site for the nearly eight months it took to finish the house.

The house, which sits on a hill above the lake, features a large living room with several windows that offer a view of pine tress, the lake, the mountains across the lake and the city of Polson, which has a year-round population of 3,500.

Sherbeck has a weight machine--a gift from the Fullerton College staff--in his office and still gets up early almost every morning to work out.

“Sometimes when I’m working in the yard or someplace,” Sherbeck said, “I just stop and look around and think about how really lucky we are and how fortunate we are to be able to have the things we do. The only trouble is that we can’t share it with everybody.”

During construction, Hal started his days at his usual 5 a.m., but instead of going to Fullerton to work out with assistant Al Feola, then firm up practice and game plans, he was getting tools ready for another work day.

He learned to cut lumber to exact measurements, or do it again. He became skilled at several other facets of construction.

He also gave himself his first case of tennis elbow from pounding nails on the large deck along the back of the house.

But it’s not exactly life without football for Sherbeck, who is constantly getting calls from friends, former players and coaches.

Sherbeck also had direct contact with Montana’s football program last fall at the request of Coach Don Read, who asked him to observe at home games.

Sherbeck would come into Missoula on Friday afternoon and go to meetings and practice. He would go to group meetings Saturday, then watch the game from the press box.

Among those who visited Sherbeck this summer was Larry Mac Duff, the defensive coordinator at Arizona. Mac Duff’s unit, nicknamed Desert Swarm, was among the best in the nation last season.

He played at Sunny Hills High School, then went to Fullerton College in 1966-67. The Hornets were 11-0 and won a national title in 1967. Mac Duff received a scholarship to Oklahoma and was Sherbeck’s defensive coordinator from 1974-80 before becoming an assistant at Stanford.

“He and Dona were dedicated to giving so much to others their entire lives,” Mac Duff said. “It’s great that now they can have a place to just relax. I saw a real peace about him up there. He gave his best every day for so many years and he can feel good about that.”