By BUTCH HARMON
The Owosso community lost long-time coach and teacher Tom Harkema on Jan. 6 when he passed away from cancer at the age of 56.
Harkema, a native of Owosso, had been a fixture in Owosso from his playing days to being a coach and teacher at Owosso High School. The loss was compounded, because Tom’s older brother, William “Bill” Harkema, passed away the same day after battling multiple sclerosis for several years.
Coach Harkema was a 1975 graduate of Owosso High School, where he played football and was a member of the track team. Following high school, he attended Grand Valley State University where he played football. Harkema was named the Scout Team Player of the Year during his career with the Lakers.
After graduating from Grand Valley in 1979, Harkema served as a graduate assistant coach at Grand Valley under his older brother Jim Harkema. He was the head coach at Dexter High School, and he also coached in Texas for six years.
Harkema served two stints as head coach at Owosso. He coached the Trojans from 1988 through 1998, and he returned to the sideline in 2010 and coached the Trojans since.
Along with coaching football, Harkema served as the Owosso boys’ track coach for the last 17 years. Harkema led the team to Capital Area Athletic Conference (CAAC) titles the last two springs.
“I have known Tom since we were 13 years old, and I have worked with Tom for 25 years,” said Owosso softball coach and administrative assistant JoEllen Smith. “It is not going to be the same without Tom, but it could be better because of Tom if the community comes together as a team the way he taught it will be better.”
Along with coaching, Harkema was a math and physical education teacher at Owosso High School and also served as the public address announcer at Owosso basketball games.
“Tom was definitely an Owosso person,” Smith said. “If he was cut, he would bleed blue and gold.”
In 2012, Harkema led Owosso to its second-ever playoff appearance. Owosso defeated Cadillac 27-14 in the first round of the playoffs for the first playoff win in school history.
“Coach Harkema was very excited, and everybody was very excited,” said Brody Eddington, a running back on that team. “We made history. I just remember the look on his face. Everything was amazing.
“Coach Harkema was very passionate,” continued Eddington, who was also a sprinter on the track team for Harkema. “He always pushed every player to be the best they could be.”
Coach Harkema compiled a record of 50-49 during his first stint as head coach of the Trojan football team and was 16-22 the past four seasons for a career record of 66-71.
Harkema impacted many lives as a coach, and even helped some of his former players enter the coaching profession. Former Charlotte High School and current Forest Hills Eastern High School head coach Eddie Ostipow is one such coach who was helped by Harkema. Ostipow graduated from Owosso in 1992 and played on Coach Harkema’s team.
“I was fortunate enough to play for Coach Harkema and to also coach on his staff,” Ostipow said. “He was also pretty instrumental in helping me get my first head coaching job. We have stayed in contact and talked to this day. I would usually talk with him at least once a week. He was a very good guy; they don’t come any better.”
Ostipow served for four years on Harkema’s coaching staff. Ostipow and Harkema also worked at each other’s football camps during the summer. When Ostipow’s Charlotte teams qualified for the playoffs, Harkema would make the one-hour drive to Charlotte two or three times a week to help at practice or to scout from the press box during the game.
“Tom loved Owosso and loved the high school and loved the kids,” Ostipow said. “He was in his element around kids, and it didn’t have to be football. If a student happened to be a cross country or track runner, he was the kind of guy who would do anything to help him. Tom was one of those guys that any time you needed something, you could count on him.”
Harkema also was known for never forgetting his former players. “Even when you graduated and left the program, you did not end the relationship with Tom,” Ostipow said. “If it was a little thing or a big thing, Tom was willing to do it. If 10 years later he heard a player needed a job, Tom would make the phone call.”
Owosso athletic director Dallas Lintner is now faced with the task of replacing his football and track coach, and he knows what a challenge that will be.
“Tom has been a mentor and a friend of mine for many years,” Lintner said. “My job now is to replace the irreplaceable. Tom was such a fair and loving man that it is quite a tall order. What I have to do is find a coach that will carry our program forward in a way that honors Coach Harkema’s legacy and what he put into the program.”
Harkema cared about all the sports in the Owosso school system, not just the sports that he coached. “Tom helped organize competitive cheer years ago when no one was willing to step up,” Lintner said. “He also started our middle school swim program. He talked to swim coaches from other areas and started a program for middle school kids so they could swim. He was always there to support anything.”
Harkema’s legacy in Owosso spilled over into all aspects of life.
“There was standing room only and 2,000 people in our gym for the memorial service,” Lintner said. “There were players from his first team, students who never played a sport, parents, community members, members from his church; there were just so many different types of people that he impacted. That was real indicative of the man he was.”