Ponies Football mourns the loss of former assistant coach Jerry Foley who passed away on December 14.

Coach Foley was a Butch Nash Award recipient, Assistant Coach of the Year, and All Star Coach through the Minnesota Football Coaches Association. He was also inducted into the Hamline University Hall of Fame.

As a collegiate quarterback, Coach Foley won two national titles (NAIA), leading the nation in both passing and total offense for the 1955 football season. In doing so, he set many national passing records, along with numerous conference and school records, and virtually rewrote the Hamline record book for passing statistics and total offense. Foley’s 33 completions against St. John’s University on October 8, 1955, were national, state, and conference records. His 62 attempts, without interception, was also a national record. He was named the Hamline University “Alumni Football Coach of the Year” for his many contributions to high school football.

In 1990, Coach Foley was selected as a coach in the Minnesota High School All-Star Football Game. He received his profession’s highest award when he was chosen as the “Assistant Football Coach of the Year” for the state of Minnesota in 1990. Upon his retirement, Stillwater Area High School honored Foley with the “Jim McLaughlin Coach’s Award” in the spring of 2000. Throughout Foley’s teaching and coaching career and into retirement, he has participated in numerous football and sports clinics, speaking engagements, and has been a valuable resource for area teams in teams in need of his expertise as a football clinician.

Coach Foley and his wife, Darlene, lived in Stillwater, MN and enjoyed watching the exploits of their multitude of grandchildren provided by Brain, Colleen Halverson, and Kathlene Junker.

Coach Foley remained close to the Ponies Football program after hanging up the whistle. Foley was a fixture in the stands with Coach Thole, especially at Pony Stadium. The two were sure to visit a two-a-day practice and rarely missed an opportunity to visit the team during White Bear Lake week.