Kentucky coach Mark Stoops with LeeAnne Schlarman and her children at the recent Schlarman Strong golf scramble. (UK Athletics Photo)
LeeAnne Schlarman admits it is both “hard and bittersweet” when it is time for the annual Schlarman Strong golf outing each year that honors the legacy of her late husband, former UK football player/offensive line coach John Schlarman.
“It’s always such a special day for us. We all just embrace it and are excited to see everybody,” said LeeAnne. “The kids (three boys, one girl) look forward to seeing so many of John’s former players, teammates and friends. It’s really a great day.”
This year’s golf scramble had a record turnout and included current NFL players Luke Fortier, Benny Snell and Landon Young along with several UK coaches.
“It’s such a great time for my kids to hear the stories about John from so many people,” she said. “We keep in touch with a lot of his former players. We love to see them and cheer them on. It’s fun for my kids to reconnect with guys who meant so much to John.
“For a guy like Benny Snell, who was not an offensive lineman coached by John, to come out and support this was very special.”
LeeAnne Schlarman was actually nervous that the turnout might be smaller at Keene Trace Golf Course in Lexington because “time marches on” and it had been almost three years since John Schlarman’s passing at age 45 from cancer.
“As people were leaving they were saying they could not wait to come back next year,” LeeAnne said. “That’s the kind of impact John had on so many people. This lets my kids see that John’s legacy keeps living on and we are all very proud John is still being mentioned.
“We love hearing John’s name brought up with the Big Blue Wall. He took so much pride that he was able to build such a strong foundation with such good kids.”
Kentucky coach Mark Stoops said he knew John Schlarman would “hate” that the day was all about him.
“He just liked just doing his thing and staying under the radar and having close relationships with players, but he didn’t ever really want it to be about him. But I know he’s looking down and smiling and very proud to have these guys back,” Stoops said.
2 Responses
There are still good people in the world. As long as Stoops is here (a long time I hope) No one will forget who built the Big Blue Wall.
I’ll never forget Coach Schlarman. He wrote my wife who had cancer when he had it bad. We need more people with the class of Scharlman
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