6/25/2023 football Edit

Florida State honors Dave Van Halanger, helps family finish the drill

Jerry Kutz • TheOsceola

Publisher

You won’t find many universities who have done what Florida State did this past Saturday when it opened its arms and its doors to honor the memory of an assistant coach who hasn’t served the university in nearly 25 years.

More than 175 former players, coaches and friends gathered in the Moore Athletic Center to share stories about Dave Van Halanger, a man they said was much more than a strength coach during his 17 years of service to FSU’s men’s and women’s programs.

And the university’s gesture did not go unnoticed by Julie Van Halanger, Dave’s daughter, or by her mother, Michele.

“Florida State, for them to open their arms to us again after this many years, what a tribute to Florida State University, just a wonderful, wonderful place,” Julie said. “The outpouring of love that was received today was more than we could even comprehend. More than anything, it was a tribute to my dad and his love for people. He loved you as a person but wanted you to have eternal security.

“He is up there doing the Tomahawk Chop I know right now.”

A Pittsburgh native, Van Halanger was recruited to West Virginia by Bobby Bowden and became a three-year starter. After an injury ended his playing career with the Atlanta Falcons, Van Halanger returned to West Virginia as a strength coach. In 1984, Bowden needed a strength coach and recruited Van Halanger to follow him to Tallahassee.

“He really came into his fullness here as a coach,” said Michele. “He was the first ever strength and conditioning coach at West Virginia, designed the first weight room, designed the whole program, while he was young. Then he came here and was surrounded by all these great coaches and players and then his talents became refined. He was supported so well by the other coaches and by Coach Bowden. Everything meshed. They had the same philosophy. They had the same belief system. And together there was a lot of power that created national championships.”

More than a dozen speakers gave testimony to Coach Van’s impact in building the Dynasty Era and the effect he had on their lives at the Celebration of Life, which was organized by Clint Purvis, who was the team’s chaplain and Van’s best friend.

There were familiar themes. The most prominent was: faith, family and football, in that order. “Finish the drill,” a reference to “mat drills,” was a close second.

In addition to building young athletes' muscles in his weight room, Van Halanger was a big believer in faith and would invite players to Fellowship of Christian Athletes meetings, his auxiliary “strength” room. Coach Van used both to profess his faith and to assist others on their faith journey.

Sue Hall and Jean Jeune were among those who attended Saturday's Celebration of Life. (Jerry Kutz)

Former defensive tackle Corey Simon (1996-99) was one of the many student-athletes who came to the Celebration of Life.

“Coach Van was the first man who ever told me he loved me and meant it,” said Simon, who has been a State Senator from the 3rd District since 2022. “Coming from where I came from you didn’t hear that very often. When you walked into that weight room every single day, he always met you with a smile, always enthusiastic and then when you left he said, ‘Corey, I love you.’ You don’t know what that meant to me and to other young men who came through the doors of this great institution. So that’s why I am here today. I will never ever forget Coach Van. He has been an inspiration to me, to the man that I am, to the father that I am, and the servant that I am. It’s all because of him and what he was willing to sacrifice – time with his family – to be sure he put his all into helping us become better men.”

Van Halanger died peacefully in his home of a heart attack on April 2, 2023, more than 23 years after FSU won the 1999 National Championship and he accepted an opportunity to go with Mark Richt to the University of Georgia. And here, in an auditorium built on a space that was once his weight room, scores of former players and coaches were celebrating his influence including: former Clemson coach Tommy Bowden, who was his teammate at West Virginia and in each other’s weddings, as well as former FSU coaches Jim Gladden, Wally Burhham, Mickey Andrews and George Henshaw, who had recruited and coached Van Halanger at WVU and administrative assistants Sue Hall and Carol Moore, track coach Dick Roberts, swim coach Bill Shults, women’s basketball assistant Theresa Gernatt, orthopedic surgeon Tom Haney and several dozen former players.

“In coaching you have highs, and you have lows and we had a low at (the University of Georgia) but coming back here, it closed it out with a real redemption,” Michele said. “It has really made us feel like we have come full circle. We were really loved on. Dave’s legacy, what he always wanted to stand for, was recognized today. That makes us really feel like we have come full circle.”

Or as Coach Van would have said, Saturday enabled the Van Halanger Family to “finish the drill,” which is a good day’s work.