A public memorial — a celebration of life — for former Amphitheater High School football coach Vern Friedli will be held Aug. 5 at 3 p.m. inside the school’s gymnasium, the George Genung Activity Center.
It seems so appropriate. Friedli, who won a then-Arizona record 331 games over 36 Amphi football seasons, did his student teaching at Amphi in the early 1960s; Genung, the school’s Hall of Fame basketball coach, was Friedli’s supervising teacher.
Delton Orr, one of the players from dominant Panthers teams of the early 1980s, will speak at the service. He is a pastor at Faith Community Church. One of Freidli’s leading players, Ironwood Ridge state championship coach Matt Johnson, will also speak at the service.
On the day before Friedli’s death, at 80, he was visited in a Tucson hospice by former Amphi running back Jon Volpe, the player who probably most defined Friedli’s career. Volpe was a 5-foot -7-inch, never-give-an-inch tailback who was not recruited by Arizona. He went to Stanford and led the Pac-10 in rushing, gaining more than 1,000 yards.
“Jon sat next to Vern in the hospice for five hours one day,” said Sharon Friedli, Vern’s wife. “It was very touching.”
Amphitheater expects a large crowd and will have floor seating as well as handicapped seating and about 1,500 bleacher seats available.
