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Schools

Legendary Redwood Football Coach Troppmann Left His Legacy

Bob Troppmann died earlier this week at age 89, but he leaves behind the Giants football program he built from the ground up.

Bob Troppmann always seemed to inspire his players to give their best at Redwood High School. Over the years, the Hall of Fame football coach won three league championships with the Giants and sent a few of his players on to the NFL.

“I remember one day it was really hot. I said, ‘Coach Troppmann, it’s hot out here.’ I was thinking about quitting. He said, ‘It’s only 35 degrees Celsius.’ So I kept practicing. I never quit. It took me a couple of days to figure out how hot 35 Celsius was,” said Greenbrae native Tom Wickert, who played for the Miami Dolphins under coach Don Shula.

The community mourned the passing this week of Troppmann, 89, who died of natural causes, according to a report in the Marin IJ.

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Troppmann became Redwood's first varsity football coach when the school opened in 1958 and continued coaching until 1969. He racked up a 60-40-1 record during his tenure, with Marin County Athletic League titles in 1959, 1960 and 1962. The Giants also won district championships in 1959, 1960, 1962, 1965 and 1969.

"We were all Vince Lombardi fans," recalled Troppmann, who remained a Corte Madera resident. "We didn't coach like him, although we'd liked to have. But we patterned our program after him."

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Troppmann, who also coached at College of Marin, was honored by the Marin Athletic Foundation Hall of Fame, California Coaches Association Hall of Fame, California Community Colleges Football Hall of Fame and the Redwood Athletic Hall of Fame.

— Dave Del Grande contributed to this article

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