Bob “Coach” Lichtenwalter is shown last November while being honored at a Warsaw basketball game. The longtime former teacher, coach and director of the Baker Youth Club passed away Wednesday night (File photo by Mike Deak)

WARSAW – The Warsaw community lost a true treasure Wednesday night.

Bob Lichtenwalter, the man fondly known as “Coach”, passed away at the age of 88.

Lichtenwalter was a mentor and friend to countless youth in the community for decades as a former teacher and as the director of the Baker Boys Club (now the Baker Youth Club) for nearly 30 years.

“It’s a sad day for the BYC and our community,” said current Baker Youth Club director Tracy Furnivall in a phone interview this afternoon. “Coach was a pillar in this community for so many years. I think about the thousands of lives touched by him.”

Furnivall, who joined the club as a youth when Lichtenwalter was its director, was emotional when discussing his mentor.

“It’s really tough for me to talk about him,” said Furnivall, pausing to collect himself. “I’ve known him since I was a child and he had a huge impact on my life and on so many people who he was a mentor to for all these years.  He was a huge influence on me growing up and as I served as director here.”

Lichtenwalter joined the club in 1936. He was a 1945 Warsaw High School graduate and then served in the Army and attended Manchester College. He was hired as a teacher at Warsaw Junior High in 1949 and spent 39 years teaching in the school system.

Lichtenwalter was an assistant football coach for Warsaw from 1948-88 and also coached track and field. He was the director at the club from 1963-92 and continued working there long after his retirement.

“You just try and carry on his legacy and that’s what I’ve tried to do at the club,” said Furnivall, who became the club’s first full-time director in 2003. “You don’t replace  a man like Bob. You can’t fill his shoes. You just try to continue the legacy he built here and that’s what we will continue to do.”

The club built its own facility in 2007 and the Lichtenwalter Center was opened to honor Coach. The club then relocated this year to the former Kosciusko YMCA on Smith Street to continue to meet its growing needs to serve the youth of the county.

“Bob loved his family,” noted Furnivall. “The thing about him is that no one cared for kids more than he did. He had a belief in every kid that came into the club. He never gave up on any kid and he always believed that there was good in every kid no matter what.”

Lichtenwalter was honored by WCHS last November at a boys basketball game for his decades of devotion to the youth of the community.

Arrangements for services for Lichtenwalter are pending at McHatton-Sadler Funeral Chapel in Warsaw.