If it turns out that Jeff Hesselmeyer died of a heart attack, it is the saddest of ironies. Few people I met in my 25 years as a sports writer at the News-Press had a bigger heart than Hess.
Not everyone got to see that. Hess could project a gruff exterior. He could curse a blue streak and he was a physical presence with his height and broad shoulders. But beyond that standard tough-guy, football coach look Hess was really a softie. He hated to lose but he hated it even more when he felt his players weren’t having a good experience playing football.
He learned that from the master, longtime Dos Pueblos colleague Scott O’Leary, and he learned it well. Sometimes, a good experience meant finding a way to get someone into a game for their “Rudy moment.” Hess did that a lot more than people realize. Sometimes it meant designing an innovative offense that maximized his players’ talents. A lot of people came to realize that when he rewrote the DP record books with his wide-open attacks in the late 1990s.
In my experience, high school coaches often have a super-skill set in one area or another. Some are great motivators, some are great organizers, some are great technicians. I’m sure that Hess was good in all those areas but he was a master of the X and Os. He could look at a film or a game and tell you with uncanny precision the responsibility for every player on the field.
I went to UCSB with Jeff and watched him play a lot of intramural football games. Trust me when I say he was something of a legend as a quarterback in those days. If they had a Mr. Football award, he would probably have won it, and never picked it up. Hess wasn’t about awards or public notice.
I’m going to miss talking to him, listening to a rant about a referee or bungled play and then seeing him flash a knowing grin. It was hard for Hess to smile much since the loss of his wife, Jennie, to cancer around six years ago but I know that football and the players were what kept him going.
He is gone far too soon. I’ve lost a friend and the Santa Barbara sports community has lost one as well.
I still can’t believe Coach Hess is gone. :( He will be deeply missed by all the people he touched, including myself. He was everything you could want in a good coach and I was glad I was able to experience part of that. I wasn’t part of the varsity team he coached during the last season at SM, but he coached the offseason too, which I was a part of. Luckily, for me I got to know him. And behind that tough impression he gave me at first, underneath he was really an honestly good guy. I’ll miss you coach. :( I hope you’re happy where you are.
-Kiki
my name is dave butler and i played with jeff at menlo-atherton high school.68-70. jeff played quaterback. he was a very kind, down to earth kind of guy…. we were coached by another well know person,, coach ben parks… i have to believe jeff picked up alot of his great traits from this man.. ben parks was a big part of my early years.. god bless you jeff.
I graduated from DP in 1990. Coach Hess was and will always be one of the person I will never forget in my life. He was a great coach, teacher, mentor and a great man. Yes, rough on the exterior, but a softtie. He also had a great sense of humor too, that is why he was chosen to do this profession. He will surely be miss by all of the lives he has touched. We love you coach!!!!
Coach Hesselmeyer had a huge positive impact on many people’s lives. It is very sad to see him go at 59. When I played football at DP in ’88 and ’89 he treated everyone from the biggest screw ups to the guys that had done Juvee time in such a unique way that he brought out better people out of everyone. You could tell he liked the people he coached and enjoyed what he did. He was a one of a kind and is irreplaceable. Rest easy Jeff.