Weehawken mourned last week after the passing of Howard “The Big Laddie” Wolf, a man involved in almost all aspects of the Weehawken school district over a 50-year span.
“He was a devoted educator in every aspect of the word,” remembered current Weehawken Superintendent Kevin McLellan, who was once a student in Wolf’s gym class.
Well known for his role as a gym teacher and wrestling coach, Wolf also served in administrative roles as director of athletics, assistant principal, and principal throughout the district.
“He was a devoted educator in every aspect of the word.” – Kevin McLellan
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Wrestling legacy
There’s a good reason why Weehawken High School Principal Peter Olivieri says, “We never had a better wrestling coach here [than Wolf].”
He is considered the father of wrestling in the township both for his efforts in bringing the sport to the district and his for his long-time position of head wrestling coach from 1963 through 1978.
Wolf brought four years of New York University wrestling experience to the job. On the NYU wrestling team, he served as the team’s captain for two years, went undefeated in his senior season, and won several local and national competitions.
But wrestling is not the only sport in which Wolf served as a coach. During his career, he also coached soccer, football, basketball, baseball, gymnastics, and track and field, and taught countless more as a physical education teacher for 23 years.
It was a natural progression for the gifted athlete, who also played two years of football at NYU and was a soccer and basketball player at Weehawken High School in the 1930s.
‘The Big Laddie’
Once described by Wolf as one of his best gymnasts, a record holder for climbing the vertical ropes, McLellan delves into the aspect of Wolf that pushed his students to excel and gained him infinite respect.
“He would never demand you to do anything in Phys Ed. class that he could not do himself,” McLellan said of Wolf, who “led by example.”
But Wolf, he said, was also a man ahead of his time.
Whereas today there is a great deal of emphasis placed on healthy eating habits, preventing childhood obesity, and getting proper exercise, such was not the case a few decades ago.
Wolf, McLellan said, “practiced good health…40 years before it came to the front light in today’s news. His first priority was the student.”
The affection he felt toward his students could be seen through his habit of calling his students “laddie” for boys and “lassie” for girls, which earned him the nickname of “The Big Laddie.”
Wolf later moved onto administrative roles that would entail the care of thousands of the district’s children: director of athletics at Weehawken High School, assistant principal at Woodrow Wilson School and Weehawken High School, and finally principal at Woodrow Wilson School, where he served until his retirement in 1987.
His two loves
Almost four years ago, Wolf was inducted into the Hudson County Sports Hall of Fame as one of the most dedicated and versatile coaches in the history of the county’s sports.
At his side was his wife, Madeline, who he met in 1957 when he was a young coach and teacher in the district and she worked in the Board of Education office.
As the story goes, the their romance started when they both served as chaperones at the 1957 Weehawken High School senior prom and shared a dance or two.
A few years later, they married.
His memory lives on with his wife, to whom he was wed for over 50 years, and family – as well as to the district that loved him for half a century and counting.
“He will be missed,” Olivieri said.