Longtime Harwood Union cross-country coach, mentor and science teacher John Kerrigan has self-published a fictional account of his five decades at Harwood Union that might be a memoir or a book of essays or simply a fun romp through decades of Harwood history.
The book features a coach/teacher styled on Kerrigan himself who goes by the name Joe Tepedino. The book organized by chapters, each one focusing on a student/athlete or athletic event or school event or happening. Each of these pieces could be stand-alone short-stories or essays and each ends with a “moral of the story” or uplifting comment.
Tepedino coaches and teaches at Softwood, the first of many plays on words and thinly disguised facets of the communities of Waterbury and The Valley, whose kids attend Harwood. The chapters include Kerrigan’s not infrequent run-ins with authority and also showcase some of Harwood’s more famous alumni.
One thing that stands out in the book and rings true to history is Kerrigan/Tepedino’s rapport with the students he coached and his ability to make athletes out of all the kids he coached, his love of athletics and his dedication and loyalty to them. That cannot be fictionalized and shines through clearly.
The book is available locally and in Waterbury and online at bookbaby.com -search for the title.
Kerrigan, Duxbury, was a teacher and coach at Harwood Union from 1977 to 2023. His varsity teams (cross-country, Nordic skiing and track and field) won 47 Vermont state titles during his 45 years of coaching. In 2019 he was entered into the Run Vermont Hall of Fame. He was selected as the girls’ cross-country coach of the year for Vermont by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association in 2015 and 2021. He received the Golden Apple award for his work with special education student athletes.
