When coach Dave Marendt walked onto the football field -- and he walked onto many football fields in his nearly five decades of coaching from the high school to the college level -- he was a beautiful, tough mixture of motivator, practical jokester, trash talker, detailed instructor and a father figure who never let his players forget that football is a game. Nothing more and nothing less.
That didn't mean Marendt didn't want to win. Through his career as varsity head coach at Lebanon, Mt. Vernon, North Atlanta (Georgia) and Edinburgh high schools, Marendt racked up 112 wins. At Franklin College for the final 21 years of his career, he was an assistant as head coach Mike Leonard became the winningest coach in the program's history and won more than 140 games.
Perhaps, though, Marendt was best known for his "Tough as Nails" mantra, carrying a bag of gold nails around that he would give to players he thought were deserving of the gesture. Those gold nails were like real gems to the players, worth more because of who they came from.
"This was his special way of letting them know that he witnessed them being tough as nails," Leonard said. "That was something those guys will always treasure and remember for the rest of lives."
Especially now.
Marendt, a current nominee for the Indiana Football Hall of Fame who would have learned this spring if he was an inductee, died Monday after a lengthy illness. He was 76.
"He cared for others much more than he cared for himself," said Leonard, who will speak at Marendt's funeral Monday. "He was a jewel."
Marendt was one of those coaches who never expected anything from his players that he wouldn't do himself. Even in his late 60s and early 70s, he would drop to the field and rip off perfect push-ups, said Leonard.
Coming in as a freshman wide receiver at Franklin, Kyle Linville was coached by Marendt, the receivers coach at the time. He remembers being in awe of how much attention Marendt gave him as a first-year player. It was the same attention he gave to him when he was a senior entering the playoffs.
"The sheer amount of constant effort this takes, not to mention the number of lives he must have touched during his extensive coaching career is astonishing," Linville wrote in his letter nominating Marendt for the hall of fame.
After his final snap played at Franklin, Linville received a handwritten letter from Marendt, as did all the players he coached throughout this career.
"I didn't do much to deserve Dave Marendt's investment into me, both as a player and a man," Linville, now a firefighter who coaches football, wrote in Marendt's hall of fame nomination. "I will never be able to repay him that debt. I can only attempt to express how grateful I am and pay it forward to the next generation of young men, the way he did every day of his long coaching career."
'What a great mentor to many'
Marendt was born on July 7, 1948, to the late David J. and Wilma J. (Schaekel) Marendt and graduated from Howe High School in 1966 where he played football with his longtime childhood friend Willie Lenzy.
After high school, the two decided they were going to go together to a junior college in Chicago. On their drive up there, the night before they were to report for training camp, they went to check into a hotel.
"Well, it being 1967, the hotel owner or somebody at the desk said, 'Dave you can stay here, but Willie you won't be allowed to stay here,'" Leonard said. "So, Dave doesn't like that at all, and he says, 'We're together. We're either both staying here or none of us are staying here.'"
The two found a local park not far from the junior college where they slept on benches and under bushes. While the two ultimately ended up going their separate ways for college, Lenzy to Ball State and Marendt to St. Joseph's College in Rensselaer, Lenzy never forgot what Marendt did for him that night.
He loved to tell the story, said Leonard. Years later, Leonard invited Lenzy to a Franklin College practice where Marendt and Lenzy reconnected.
"They got to relive some old times together," Leonard said. "It was special."
At St. Joseph’s, Marendt played receiver for coach Bill Jennings, who he later said had a great impact on his own style of coaching, especially as a motivator. He then earned a Master of Science degree from Indiana University.
Marendt taught physical education and health for 41 years and he coached football for 49 years. Throughout his career, he also had stints coaching wrestling, track and basketball and, for 25 summers, he coached at Ohio State University's football camp.
"What a great mentor to many," Reggie Hayse posted to Facebook with a photo of him and Marendt. The post received dozens of comments.
"What an incredible mentor, teacher, coach," Steve Carroll wrote. "You touched and had an impact on so many lives, including mine."
Lafayette Central Catholic High players, whose coach Brian Nay played at Franklin, will wear a decal of gold nails on their helmets Friday in their game against Logansport in honor of Marendt.
Marendt is survived by his wife of 42 years, Deb (Sheets) Marendt, daughters, Audi (Matt) Shivers and Ali (Ryan) McElwain, brother, Tom Marendt, sister, Pat Miller and two grandsons Remy and Tripp.
Visitation will be 4 p..m. to 8 p.m. Sunday at G. H. Herrmann Greenwood Funeral Home at The Gardens of Olive Branch, 1605 S. State Road 135. A Mass of Christian Burial will take place 11 a.m. Monday at Saints Francis & Clare Catholic Church, 5901 Olive Branch Road, Greenwood, IN 46143.
A scholarship fund through the Indiana Football Coaches Association has been set up in honor of Marendt. The scholarship will be awarded annually to a son or daughter of a high school football coach. Donate here .
Follow IndyStar sports reporter Dana Benbow on X: @DanaBenbow. Reach her via e-mail: dbenbow@indystar.com
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Tough as nails, soft heart: Longtime high school, college football coach Dave Marendt dies
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