Why coach retired midseason: 'I made a promise to my wife... I would not let this job kill me.'

Why coach retired midseason: ‘I made a promise to my wife… I would not let this job kill me.’

Posted by author February 10, 2025 Basketball

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Jerry Bomholt was an assistant coach at Anderson Highland when coach Bob Fuller suffered a heart attack during halftime and died in 1980.
Bomholt was the fifth-winningest active coach before his retirement.

Jerry Bomholt planned on this being his final season coaching high school basketball. He did not plan on finishing before Jay County’s season was over.

Bomholt, 71, stepped away last week — an official retirement — after experiencing chest pain for a second time this season. He went to the hospital voluntarily prior to Jay County’s game at Blackford on Feb. 1. He left a Jan. 11 game against South Adams early after experiencing similar health conditions.

“My wife and I have been married 47 years and we’re wanting to spend our retirement together,” Bomholt siad. “I’d planned on coming back here for five years and finishing up at Jay County, but with these physical issues it seemed like it was time.”

Bomholt retired with a career record of 602-393. He recently became the 19^th coach in state boys basketball history to win 600 games. He was fifth-winningest active coach before his retirement, trailing only Bloomington South’s J.R. Holmes (924 wins), Washington’s Gene Miiler (775), Connersville’s Dave McCollough (637) and Triton Central’s Mark James (626).

Bomholt’s decision to step away has roots in a personal experience early in his career. He was a 26-year-old assistant at Anderson Highland when coach Bob Fuller suffered a heart attack and died during halftime of a game at Lapel in January of 1980. Fuller was 43.

“I made a promise to my wife right then that I would not let this job kill me,” Bomholt said. “It was time to walk away. I had a great career and worked with great coaches and kids.”

After his experience at Anderson Highland, where the Scots finished that season 23-1 and the sectional champion, Bomholt was hired the first time at Jay County. He coached there for four years before bouncing to Northwestern (1984-85), Shenandoah (1985-87), Columbia City (1987-90), Princeton (1990-96), Southwestern Hanover (1997-2002), Shawe Memorial (2002-11), Franklin (2012-14), Southwestern Hanover again (2014-19) and then back to Jay County.

Bomholt once joked he was the “Larry Brown of high school coaching,” comparing his journey to the well-traveled former NBA and college coach. Now it appears that journey has come to a stop.

“I can’t afford to wait around and continue to coach,” he said. “Enough is enough. I love my family and kids and grandkids. My lovely wife. It wouldn’t be fair to her to continue. I’ve coached for 50 years. The priority has to be to see what’s going to on with my health. I couldn’t not have been at a better place than Jay County. The kids and parents and the administration in the building was great.”

Brogan Gary, previously the Jay County junior varsity coach, led the Patriots to a win in his first game as coach in a 77-25 blowout of Southern Wells on Thursday.